sandy's notes

I should probably explain this a little better – these are non-fast food burger places in Perth. And if I have a pub grub burger that is particularly good, they’ll get a mention here too. I don’t normally order burgers in pubs, though, so don’t expect to see many.

Retro Betty’s Cafe – 127 Oxford Street, Leederville, (08) 9444 0499
Big diameter burgers, juicy filling, buns are light and fluffy.

The Burger Bistro – 16/884 Hay St, Perth (next to Durty Nelly’s in Shafto Lane), (08) 9485 1729
Medium diameter but tall burgers, dense juicy filling, dense bread. Can’t recommend the potato salad, stick with burgers, they’re ace.

Flipside Burger Bar – 294 Cambridge Street, Wembley, (08) 9287 2288
Good bread, good meat, a good eat. Chips are cooked juicy & crispy; awesome sauces, aioli very garlicky and natural-tasting. Mini burger is the size of a normal-person burger – good value.

Jus Burgers – Subiaco & Leederville (both equally as good as each other)
Burgers are awesome, massive, meat is really dense. Prepare to wait, call ahead if you can. Seriously, the food is good. That said, I’m not a fan of the Jus experience. Venues are trendy and small, crowds put me off.

Fire & Ice Bar – Subiaco Train Station (directly behind Wagamama)
Can’t stress enough how awesome the service is at their place. They really make you feel special, and they’re reasonably priced for a Subi venue. Their burgers are delicious. Juicy, stunning combo of meat & veg, not over-done, my cold anti-pub-burger heart melted. I’ve had my eye on the sliders for ages, but still haven’t had one. Will let you know when I have.

Where to buy blank t-shirts and other blank clothes.

• American Apparel Australia
• Urban Outfitters – Basic Tees
• AS Colour – nice prices

Have not yet tried these shops. Just noting them down on my “to try” list.

Places in Perth where you can find nerd games, nerd toys & nerd books – stuff like Magic: The Gathering, Warhammer 40k, sci-fi & fantasy stuff, board games, jigsaw puzzles, etc.

• Games Workshop – Warhammer 40k & LOTR (store finder on website)
• Empire Toys – figurines, comics & books (heaps of anime & manga stuff)
• Tactics – D&D, M:tG, role-playing stuff, miniatures, wargames, boardgames
• Al’s Card Shop – trading cards of all sorts
• Games World – board & puzzle games, not uber super nerdy
• Gamesity Harbour Town – same stuff as Games World

More to come as I visit and buy from them. :)

Takeaway menus.

• Avanti Pizza Cafe menu (website) – Vic Park
• Cafe Italia menu (pdf) – East Perth
• Flipside Burger Bar (website) – Wembley / North Fremantle
• Korner Cafe menu (pdf) – East Perth
• Royal Siam menu (pdf) – East Perth
• Toba Oriental menu (website) – Mount Lawley

Notes on good household shopping if you live in East Perth.

Woolworths enex100 – 100 St George’s Terrace, Perth (extended weekdays, late night fridays)

• Awesome quality produce
• Big range of everything
• Self-checkout with cash, eftpos & credit

IGA East Perth – Cnr Plain St & Royal St (open til 9pm, 7 days)

• Lovely meat
• Decent vegetables
• Asian ingredients
• 5m long extension cords

Carlton Fresh – Shop 10, 246 Hay St, East Perth (6am-midnight, 7 days + public holidays)

• Good meat
• Cheese & dairy
• Thermos flasks

Golden Hay Supermarket – 274 Hay St, East Perth (8am – 8pm)

• Bigger selection of Asian ingredients

Wembley Supa IGA – 320 Cambridge Street (Cnr Cambridge & Jersey), Wembley (normal hours + late night Thursday)

• Really shit awesome selection, fresh as anything
• I love this IGA

Terrarium containers:

• brandy balloons from antique & kitchen shops

Drainage layer (gravel or pebbles):

• Coles pets section – $3 for 1.5kg aquarium pebbles

Filter layer (sphagnum moss):

• Waldecks – $15 for a 5L bag

Plants (pre-potted):

• Waldecks – FANG venus flytrap – look for ones with no flowers (or sproutlings you can cut off)

Sorry there’s not much detail – these are just my notes. For a tutorial on making a terrarium, check out the following links:

• How to Make a terrarium (stormthecastle.com)
• Burke’s Backyard Terrarium Fact Sheet (Australian!)
• Venus Fly Trap terrariums (flytrapinfo.com)
• Terrariums @ the Fern and Mossery

In Perth…

Seizan Japanese Restaurant & Karaoke Bar – 566 Hay St, Perth, (08) 9325 5980
Mon-Fri lunch 11:30am-2:30pm, 7 nights for dinner 5:30pm-10pm. Simple lovely Japanese food, airconditionned, comfy ambience, staff dressed in kimono & geta. Beer, wine & sake available. Food favourites:

• Gyu teriyaki set lunch – beef scotch fillet shavings in teriyaki sauce + salad, rice & miso ($12.80 lunch)
• Wafu steak set lunch – juicy garlic steak cubes + salad, rice & miso ($14.80 lunch)
• Chirashi sushi – huge bowl of rice with mixed raw tuna & sashimi bits + salad & miso ($14.50 lunch)
• Plum tea – hot or cold ($3.50 per cup)
• Plum wine served with ice ($7.50 per glass, you can get it by the bottle too, but I forget how much)

Edo Shiki – Shop 17, Forrest Chase, Murray St Mall (next to Forrest Chase entrance of Myer), (08) 9225 7022
Mall opening hours. Sushi & dim sum train. Very open plan, seating a bit squishy, recommended for a quick good-value satisfying bite. Particular foods you can find there:

• Standard sushi you can get everywhere, except for the potato salad stuff they have at Jaws
• Char siew bao – bbq pork steamed bun
• Siew mai – pork mince dumpling with the yellow-brown skin and the orange bit on top
• Takoyaki – octopus balls
• Chicken feet – actually, we call them “phoenix claw” ;)
• Deep fried squid – yes!!

NAO Sushi & Izakaya – 117 Murray St, Perth, (08) 9325 2090
Business hours. Especially for ramen – but they serve a heap of other stuff too, BYO alcohol. Tiny shop with table, bar and outdoor seating. Cosy, simple decor. Takeaway outlet. Good for:

• Ramen!

POPPO – 137 Barrack St, Perth (a couple doors river-wards from the Wellington St intersection), (08) 9325 5997
Open from 11am 7 days. Menu is a 60/40 split on Korean/Japanese food. Very tasty, good value. Quite crowded during mealtimes. Recommended for:

• Bulgogi – Korean style sizzling beef
• Dolsot bibimbap – Korean mixed rice in a hot stone bowl
• Dynamite roll – delicious seafood sushi roll
• Gyoza – good for a cheap lunchtime snack

Mr. Samurai – 83 Barrack St, Perth, (08) 9221 3600
Open Tue-Thu 11am-6pm, Fri 11am-8pm. Really tasty freakin cheap student dining. You can get yummy generous-serve lunches for $5-7. My favourites:

• Omuraisu – chicken bits in tomato sauce rice, wrapped in a flappy Japanese omelette.
• Agedashi tofu – really good.
• I don’t know what anything else tastes like, I only ever get the two above cos they’re bloody nice.

Yoshiya Japanese Restaurant – 1-7 Pier St, Perth, (08) 9325 6009 – street view
Open Mon-Fri 11am-2pm & 6pm-10pm, Sat 6pm-10pm, Sun closed. Slightly pricey, but quite fresh. I ordered:

• Chirashi – was very fresh

Around Perth…

Edo – 320 Barker Rd, Subiaco, (08) 9382 1608
Open everyday from 11am til late.
This place is MADE OF WIN. Any donburi dish on their menu can be re-vamped as a bowl of ramen for just $3 more – so clever. Average prices, but great value. Food is presentable and good quality.

Ha-Lu – Shop 4/401 Oxford St, Mt Hawthorn, (08) 9444 0577
Open 7 days from 6pm, bookings recommended.
Really, really lovely clean modern decor, but still keeps a fairly casual feel. Very good food, delightful presentation. Very, very un-cheap, take it as a treat.

Tsunami Japanese Restaurant – 18 Glyde St, Mosman Park, (08) 9284 7788, online booking form
Open Tues-Sun for dinner from 6pm, same day online bookings must be made before 4pm.
Cosy, dim-light decor. Fancy furniture, wooden floor. Outdoor dining & function area available, pretty Japanese garden to look at. Expensive prices, but the food is freakin good. They do beer, wine, cocktails, sake and apertifs.

Wagamama – Cnr Roberts & Rokeby Rd, Subiaco, (08) 9388 6055
Open Mon-Sun 12noon-10pm. Indoor & outdoor seating, modern decor, noisy. Japanese fusion food, great selection & generous serves of ramen and noodles, $15-20 price range. Serves beer, wine, cocktails and sake.

Zen Japanese Restaurant – Shop 2, 1 Seddon St, Subiaco, (08) 9381 4931
Open Tues-Fri for lunch 12noon-2pm, Tues-Sat 6pm-10pm and Sun 6pm-9pm for dinner. Contemporary decor with cute Japanese trinkets. Simple layout & comfy, casual setting, fully lit. Don’t expect a rush. Lots of variety on menu, generous mains portions. Not cheap, $15-40 price range, but delicious. Tataki is lovely, comes with cut chilli. Serves beer, wine, spirits and sake.

• Places to eat in Subiaco – has more Japanese places around Perth
• Where to get ramen in Perth – more Jap places

Budget:
Low-end, good feed, great backup plan when you just need to make it to payday.

• soon – i only just got here and i’m not broke today

Casual:
Average prices, casual dining, no need to dress up, could do everyday – you get the idea.

• Bamboo – authentic Singaporean & Malaysian hawker food, really good
• Edo – good value japanese food; they do ramen!
• MYO – make your own sandwiches, wraps, pizza & salad
• Paddy Maguires – Irish pub, big serves, rich flavour
• Sicilian Café at Lunch – $10-15 pizza/pasta special, pizzas are huge for cheap, Tues-Fri

Above average:
Not ridiculously expensive, but the upper end of affordable, couldn’t do everyday, bit of a treat.

• Mooba – pricey café, food’s a bit fancy, they take sms coffee orders
• Wagamama – Japanese fusion food, lovely ramen

Takeaway:
Places that don’t really have sitdown space.

• Nippon Fare – sushi takeaway, opens at 9 if you fancy breakfast :)

Links to sites with good advice on money.

• Saving Money Guide Australia – savingsguide.com.au
• SmartyPig – direct debit towards your savings goals

Learned while touring a jade factory in China. Hope it is useful for you. :)

There are 2 types of jade – hard jade and soft jade. Jadeite (hard jade) is worth more and is usually used for jewellery, while cheaper soft jade and agate (a type of jade) are used for sculptures because they are easier to carve.

To spot a fake is simple – jade has 4 properties to look out for: temperature, sound, texture and hardness.

Temperature
Real jade is cool to the touch. Plastic and glass, popular counterfeit materials, would not be as cool. This may mean you need a basis for comparison, but say if the ‘jade’ you’re touching feels warm under the display case lights, you can probably assume it’s not real.

Sound
Real jade makes a lovely TINK sound when you strike it. The higher the pitch of the TINK, the harder and better quality the jade.

Texture
Hold a piece of real jade up to a light. In the translucent parts, you should find a snowflaky texture. These are known as jade flowers. Over time, green jade worn next to skin gets greener – this is told in Chinese storytelling as “the flowers blossoming”, and happens quickly if the wearer is in good health. Holding marble (another popular fakey) and plastic up to a light, you would not see jade flowers. Meanwhile, holding glass up would likely present bubbles from when the fake jade was made.

Hardness
Finally, real jade is hard – yes, even soft jade. A diamond blade is required to cut it. So if you’re suspicious of a fake, scratch your jade against a piece of glass. Real jade would scratch up the glass and emerge unscathed.

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