Mt Hawthorn | When your friends mention food - listen......
Sage advice really. The Uber Blonde regularly catches up with her friend D who lives north of the river. Their discussions led us to a great afternoon of food and wine discovery in Mt Hawthorn.
As usual we piled into the car ready for lunch on Saturday, with a predetermined venue in mind. On checking the web it seemed that the place, Small Talk, opens late afternoon, four hours into our future. Time for a Plan B.
The Blonde mentioned one of the places that D had spoken of so we hit the freeway north.
As a dedicated foodie twosome, Scarborough Beach road - among others up north - has never been on our food radar. Those days are over.
This strip hums after Oxford Street with literally any cuisine you want.
We had one target in mind, The Cabin, but saw so many other worthy prospects on the way there. More on that later.
Park the car, up a couple of flights and we enter the next episode of CabinPorn. No lie.
On their website they quote themselves as "quirky". Yep, they totally nailed that description!
It's the most wood, and I mean bits of tree, I have ever seen in one room, let alone a forest.
So we sat at an uppity log and got stuck into the vibrant menu. And it’s a great list, covering almost every taste and food group.
Scallops, blokey prawn dishes, pork belly, kangaroo loin and a bunch of vegetarian and gluten free options. Basically if there's nothing on the menu for you then maybe you should stop eating out.
The wine list is also extensive with many Italians and Spanish wines to be had for less than ten bucks.
We ordered the Baharat Spiced meatballs, Crispy Snapper Bao buns (pictured) and the Rocket, pear, walnut and blue cheese salad.
Baharat is Arabic for, well, spices and the flavour in the half dozen firm, sugo drenched balls was spot on. Great beer food.
The Snapper Bao were a revelation, about as far from the traditional Vietnamese bun as you can get.
This crisp lightly crumbed fish was backed up with a house made spicy veggie pickle of fennel, carrot and cabbage. Superb food.
The rocket salad was also spot on - peppery leaves offset by an excellent blue cheese crumble. It should be noted that our choice of dishes were only tapas size, for us perfect, but there are larger meals available.
For a first time visit we were very impressed and will return.
As we waddled down the stairs the Blonde suggested we hit the Italian place we ogled on the drive in. And always up for an Italian wine I could not decline her kind invitation.
So into Southern Italy we strolled two minutes later. Seriously, walking into Spritz Spizzicheria took us straight back to our trip to Italy in July. Warmly greeted by smiling staff we weaved through tables covered in tall, bright glasses of Aperol concoctions.
Italian was the dominant tongue by staff and quite a few customers as is the wine list. And once again dirt, cheap prices.
With a fabulous Verdicchio in hand we checked out the excellent menu and watched mountainous serves of pasta go by to be plonked on the sunlit roadside tables outside.
Late in the afternoon this a great place to sit and people watch. And as we sat and reminisced about all things Italy, a complimentary mini charcuterie plate was plopped in front of us. Nice style really.
As we headed back to the car we swung through a vacant Lupo Lab across the road and checked out the menu. Two Italian restos across from each other, both with widely varied dishes and wines.
And definitely two more places to visit in the (very) near future.
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