I love eating and I think I know it all, so you would think that I would happily recommend restaurants to all and sundry. Not so.
I have a serious case of restaurant performance anxiety. Recommending a restaurant makes me feel like I'm standing naked with only my favourite children to protect me - but what if they don't? What if the restaurant is so spectacularly awful (and hell, it is Perth so that is hardly a mean feat) that you think I have awful taste too?
I recently was forced to recommend a restaurant to my cousin and his new wife. This was particularly fraught with danger because she asked me to suggest a good Indonesian restaurant - and she is from Java. (From, as in arrived in Perth 3 weeks ago). Luckily, the recommendation produced under duress (Sweet Java in Grosvenor Street Mt Lawley, in case you are wondering - and if you start going there and I can't get a table I will be very cross) came good. But I can't handle the stress.
On that basis, I'm going to offer up some non-recommendations. These Perth restaurants are so consistently rubbish in my view that I feel secure enough to say it aloud.
- Sienas
- Sicilian Subiaco
- The Olive Tree
- The Jolly Frog (this one might be scandalous)
- Almost anything claiming to be Mexican
- I can't believe I forgot it earlier - Pines Grand (that isn't) Buffet and Carvery
If you disagree, tell me so.
Edit: Thanks to the feedback of the good people of Perth, decent Mexican can be had at The Flying Taco and That Little Mexican Place, both located in Perth's very own little Mexico. You can also have a good time at Panchos in Vic Park or Zapata's in Freo with the addition of a cocktail or forty.
The Good Bad and the Ugly is best forgotten, and the Shed is the perfect example for why most eatingwa restaurant reviewers should not have access to a computer.
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Tags: anxiety, bad food, cafe, recommend, restuarant
Beyond Beeton is a post-modern guide to household management inspired by Mrs Beeton’s 1861 Book of Household Management.
I agree with your choices 100%! Mind you 'The Good The Bad and The Ugly' does have a place in my heart - if only I could remember why!!!!!
Not everything that claims to be Mexican is bad... though my only stand outs are "That Little Mexican Place" and "The Flying Taco"... both located in what I am now dubbing Little Mexico (North Perth).
I would however like to add
- The Witches Cauldron
- Any place serving Vittoria coffee
- Anywhere with photos on the menu that isn't Asian.
You're right Matt, both That Little Mexican Place and the Flying Taco are notable exceptions to the crap Mexican rule (and both are within walking distance of my house - bonus).
Additions duly noted!
Oh Kim I think the Good The Bad and Ugly needs to remain in the forgotten recesses of the brain.. I'm having flashbacks to cheap jugs and ruined shoes.
Incidentally the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly was also where the Shed is now... 4 stars all round
I'm coming out and confessing I'm rather partial to Pancho's in Vic Park. Just for the lemon margharitas, you understand.
100% behind you on Witches' Cauldron, Matt. I never got why that place was so popular.
I'll allow that exception, JSL, on the basis that I have not been there but a look at your blog suggests you know what you are doing!
Matt: The Shed is quite obviously carrying on a fine tradition. 4 stars indeed.
Further in support of restaurants claiming to be Mexican, I was quite taken by Zapata's in Freo, which has the added delight of cheap cocktails on Tuesdays.
Thanks Stephanie, I have added Zapata's to the exception list.
The photo of you on your blog looks remarkably familiar, so while I work out why, I'm just going to stare lovingly at the rendangfor a while.
This is my blog and I'll be weird if I want to.
During my student days (a few years back), I actually for some odd reason started writing on a Word document about which places I thought were "Good, Bad, and the Ugly". Funnily enough, some of those places on the ugly list have closed down, and the places on the bad list are still bad!
* Totally agree with Sienas - cheap and nasty. * Sicilian was... ok I guess, but it took like an hour for food to come out.
* I actually used to work at the Olive Tree Garden Restaurant as my first job. It was..... let's just say it was interesting :p
* Pines... I'd rather stick with my buffet at the Hyatt (although I haven't been there since they started the renovations at Cafe at the Hyatt...)
This is hilarious...and SO true, sadly I have eaten at everyone of your hit list...how hard should it be to find good food???