Food Store - Deli Cafe, West Perth - 80%

The Food Store on Hay St in West Perth is a very popular lunch destination for people working in the area. It is always a special treat to come here for lunch. Their delicious display contains fritters, tarts, and salads; and once, a sausage roll as big as my head. The lineup is so seductive that it took me some time to get around to indulging in one of their steak sangas.

On the menu, this steak sanga is billed as: Prime grilled steak on toasted sour dough with salad, spicy tomato relish, homemade aioli and chips.

The first visual of the sanga was striking.

A knife thrust into the heart. Maybe to ensure it was dead?

I had asked for rare and they promised "as rare as they could possibly make it". It was a generous slab of tender flavorful steak, all good apart from one fatty, gristly edge at the end. Wouldn't be a big deal, though I do like to save the best bite for last!

The bread was sourdough with grill marks from toasting. It was good quality bread and held together the contents and accumulated juices well. Though I don't love crusty toasted bread being used in a steak sanga. I find the crusty edges are relatively tough to get through and the sharp edges scrape the roof of the mouth. That is a personal thing; the other fellow who ordered the steak sanga quite liked the bread.

The salad was excellent with a varied selection of baby lettuce leaves and a few generous slices of a very flavorful tomato. The aioli and relish tied the entire thing together, and I loved the fact that we had both. The cheese was also a welcome surprise addition, because steak and cheese go together like sweet chilli and sour cream.

Altogether an enjoyable steak sanga experience. I really enjoyed it, though my mate who was also eating the sanga wasn't as enthused. He rated it about a 7, with the caveat that he doesn't love tomatoes. I personally enjoy tomatoes, so will rate this accordingly higher.

Steak: 4.5 / 5
Bread: 3.5 / 5
Salad: 4 / 5
Condiments: 5 / 5
Surroundings: 3 / 5

Steak Sanga Score: 80%
Price: $21.50

Food Store - Deli Cafe

1251 Hay St 

West Perth, WA 6005

 

Grass Espresso Bar, West Perth

 Finding a venue for a spontaneous birthday lunch for Dr S was always going to be challenging on Melbourne Cup day, but Grass Espresso Bar came to our rescue. We don’t normally venture further east than the West Perth Food Court, so coming across this welcoming cafe was a happy surprise. The menu had many enticing options on the menu, but my fate was sealed as soon as I saw the GrassSteak Sanga.

There were a lot of things I enjoyed about Grass Espresso. The setting on Hay st was lovely. The service was excellent. The French-accented waiter was charming, and we weren’t left waiting too long for our meals to be served despite the business of the afternoon. The steak sanga came out ‘medium’ between two halves of a lightly toasted Turkish bun, embellished with a light salad. Chips, salad, and a cute little jar of tomato sauce accompanied. The size of the meal was impressive and I tucked in with relish.

Unfortunately the steak sanga didn’t live up to its promise. I thought the steak, a medium-cooked minute cut, was rather salty, though tender enough. The salad consisted of two lonely slices of tomato and two of capsicum, plus a few greens. There may have been a light dressing, but I didn’t taste it. A great steak sanga is juicy and is a naughty, messy, affair. This steak sanga was dry, and even a schmear of the provided tomato sauce on the last quarter didn't do much to perk the sanga up.

I really wanted to like my sanga, as I loved the venue, the setting, the chips I had on the side, and the service. Unfortunately, while they did follow the recipe for a steak sanga and all of the components were there, the whole didn't transcend the sum of the parts. I might be back, but not for the sanga.

Steak Sanga Score: Not the best steak sanga (but lovely chips). 
Price: $18, with chips and salad.

Grass Espresso Bar
1238 Hay Street
West Perth, WA, 6005