A Very Mild Guide to Halal Eating in Perth

As some of you would know, kamidisini likes to eat. And no matter how I’d like to think that my culinary skills has improved (out of necessity basically) since we got here, there’s only so much cooking (mis)adventures kamidisini can take.

 

Hence, after almost a year of being here, we present to you the Kamidisini’s Very Mild Guide to Halal Eating in Perth. Why mild? Because we erm…are quite mild people, and can’t bring ourselves to give scathing comments about food. Tak baik kan, orang tu nak carik makan (but then again kita pun memang tengah literally carik makanan eh? but nevermind).  Also, we are non-connoisseurs and taste-wise we are quite easy to please.

 

[Disclaimer: Some of these eateries are not ICWA-certified halal, but are owned by Muslims or are basically seafood)

 

Fish and Chips

Cicerellos (Fremantle)

This is probably the first place first-time visitors to Freo will head for, cos it’s more visible and..hmm..iconic? and it’s got this 22-m gorgeous aquarium which will enthrall kids and makbapak kids alike. But, menu-wise I think they have limited choices as compared to…

 

Kailis’ Fish Market Café (next door)

I love the market section where you see cooked fat red lobsters and prawns on display. The café side has oohlala cakes while their core business of fishchips has a better selection of sets.

 

Malay

Insan’s Café (Perth City)

One of the first Malay restaurants we went to. The owner’s from Cocos Island. Wide selection of dishes; boleh tahan jugaklah. I like to see the nenek cooking in the kitchen.

 

Al-Noor (Spencer Village, Thornlie)

Far from our place, but quite worth the drive there. Very friendly husband-wife team from Singapore. The first time we were here we wanted to order EVERYTHING on the board – macam-macam ada and the pictures are very tantalizing. Sedap jugaklah. Plus point: epok-epok dia gemuk dan sedap, dan ada kuih dadar. Cheapest kuih too, $1 each.

 

Makan-Makan Cafe (Vic Park)

Pretty overrated, we think, and standards have slipped, the Nasi Goreng Kampung used to be Nasi Goreng Kampung, but not anymore. Very good the-tarik (standard price here $3). Frequented mainly by students, the place to see and be seen.

 

Indonesian (we always love their keropok and iced teh sosro)

 

Latansa Cafe (Vic Park) – Aceh/Sumatra

I wrote an entry on them once. We used to love coming here, mainly because of the big LCD TV showing Indon sinetron. But hey..a dose of Hikmah can’t make up for the tiny portions. Sorry Ilhan.

 

Batavia Restaurant (Vic Park)

Very nice, macam-macam ada. Very nice Mie Ayam Jamur Pangsit Bakso (ha kau…triple whopper..haha…that’s Mee Ayam Mushroom Wantan Bakso for you). Very nice tahu telur, gado-gado, nasi kuning set with the balado and all, ayam penyet, you get the idea.

 

Bintang Café (Vic Park, next door to Batavia)

I personally prefer this tiny eatery. They offer the same thing as Batavia but they have this warung-feel to it. You’d almost feel like you’re in some warung in Jakarta complete with the 70-s Indonesian pop playing softly on the background. Very nice Mie Ayam Jamur Pangsit Bakso too.

 

Djumbaran Bali (off South Street)

Jauh (dah dekat Freo), and the one time we went there itu takde ini takde. Don’t you hate when that happens. A waitress hands you the menu which you drool over and then goes “Oh we’ve run out of that” to the first 3 things you ask for. So too bad, we can’t really comment.

 

Thai

 

Supreme Thai (Girrawheen)

The first Thai place that we tried. Thai-owned. Nice selection, but a bit lacking in the dessert department. And by dessert I mean my favourite pulut with mangga which I so love. Generally ok.

 

Sara Thai (Karawarra, very near Curtin Uni)

Just got to know this place, and we think we prefer this one. Owned and run by a former SQ stewardess. They have kick-ass tomyam and after eating our main dishes we didn’t have any room for dessert unfortunately. But I think they have my pulut mangga.

 

Indian

 

Singapore Indian Muslim

We come here only for the the-tarik and mee goreng mamak, which is the best mee goreng mamak we’ve ever tasted, even better than any in Singapore (and I’m not a mee/nasi goreng mamak fan mind you). Everytime we have the mee goreng here we’d be trying to guess apa dia letak sampai sedap macam ni, and try as we would, we couldn’t replicate it at home.

 

Sinbad Curry House (Spencer Village, Thornlie)

Also Singapore-family owned, and oh they’re really good! Worth the long drive, cos they really taste like mamak stall back home. Their the-tarik murtabak, briyani, prata cheese/banana (the whole range) and especially their thosai is wunderbar! And best of all, they are the cheapest of them all (eg murtabak $7)! And did I mention their masala thosai is as good as it tastes back home?

 

Maya Masala (Malaga Markets and Mirrabooka Square outlets)

This Northern Indian joint is quite good. The nasi+dishes sets are nice and the naan and butter chicken is yummy. And the Morley outlet baru buka and I have my $8.50 thosai fix there (cos it’s only 5 minutes from home and Sinbad is too far away).

 

Note: in all these mamak restaurants, do not order the prata. It’ll cost you like $2-$3 per piece while you can buy the frozen Kawanku-brand Paratha and fry them yourself at home ($2.50/pack of 5).

 

Chicken

 

Charco’s and Charcoal Chicken (Carousel, Inglewood, Vic Park, outlets)

I dunno if they are under the same company, but they all serve the exact same thing and taste so I guess they. Love their Portuguese chicken, and go for the Slimmer’s Pack. I have no idea why they call it the Slimmer’s Pack since the set consists of a huge quarter roasted chicken and your choice of 3 ‘salads’ which is really enough for 2 hungry people. For my ‘salads’ I love their crème potatoes (which I can’t replicate at home), seafood salad and Caesars salad. Their ribs set is nice too, but it’s an indulgence cos you’d probably need to swallow a whole bottle of washing detergent afterwards to get rid of all the fats and grease you can feel sticking to your digestive system afterwards.

 

Chooks (Mirrabooka Village)

Sells fried chicken, chicken burgers. The Hasbern loves it, but I find it a bit salty. But when the craving for KFC gets so bad, it’ll do.

 

Turkish/Kebabs and Pizza (they are everywhere here, so I’ll just mention the worthy ones. Oh..and our favourite sauces combo for kebabs anywhere is sour cream and sweet chilli.)

 

ISPA Kebab (Harbourtown)

The best kebab, I think. Wonderful after you feel spent (physically and economically) shopping at Harbourtown. Go for the baked potato combo..very worth it.

 

Istanbul Kitchen (Fitzgerald Street, Mt Lawley)

They’ve got nice pizza, especially the cheese pizza which I ate for the first time when Zaqy and Filzah were here (Filzah’s a cheese fan too, right Fil? She ordered this). It’s purely 2-3 types of cheese. But the downside is they use Turkish bread (which is thick and spongy) as the base.

 

Ali’s Pizzeria

The Kite Runner is one of my most fascinating reads, and Ali and his 3 brothers happen to be Afghans of what I think are the Hazara tribe. I read this book Tales from a Suitcase – The Afghan Experience which documents the survival stories of Afghan refugees in Australia, and the Hazara story rings a bell. Everytime I eat here I wish I could ask Ali and his brothers their story, but macam kepo kan?

 

Oh, anyway, their thin-crust pizzas are the best!! They serve very Italian-sounding thin-crust pizzas (not the pizza hut or Turkish varieties) and pastas like gnocchi and ravioli parmagiana which you can’t get halal anywhere else.

 

Ok, so that’s it for now. Hope you found this very mild guide helpful in some way :)