perth – Page 12 – Abstract Gourmet

W.A Barista Competition

So over Easter I was forunate (or unfortunate depending on your point of view) enough to be asked to help out with the running of the Western Australian Barista Competition. It was held at the Western Australian Barista Academy, and co-ordinated by my good mate Ben.

I was a runner for the day, which meant i was running (or ambling…with a bit of a sashay every now and then) around after the competitors, helping them get their competition spaces set up with cups/trays/saucers/cultery, and anything else they wanted to use.

The format of the competition is pretty simple. The baristas had to make 4 espressos, 4 capucinnos, and 4 signature drinks.

The signature drink is basically an espresso based drink of the competitors own creation, and believe me when i say there are a lot of creative people out there.

Each competitor gets 15 minutes to prepare their workspace, then 15 minutes to make their drinks and serve them, then 15 minutes to clean up.

They are judged by a panel of 4 sensory judges, who are testing for flavour, body, acidity, mouthfeel of the coffee, and 2 technical judges who are watching them pull the shots, use the grinder, and doing a few shot timings etc, to see how quick its coming out.

This is (essentially) the first time a competition of this nature and composition has been run in WA. In the past other company’s have run their own flavour of competition, but none of them have been AASCA (AustralAsian Specialty Coffee Association) approved. AASCA abides by all the WBC (World Barista Championship) rules and regulations, and also requires a completely independant group of judges.

So there were probably about 15 or so competitors over the course of the day. Lots of nerves, lots of good coffee, lots of amazing signature drinks, an occasional spillage, and a lot of encouragement from the crowd.

All in all it was a great day, and it panned out like so:

1st Place: Jeremy Hulsdunk, Muffin Break
2nd Place: Nolan Hirte, Lemon Espresso
3rd Place: Vanessa Moore, Core Espresso
4th Place: Tim Grey-Smith, X-Wray

Must say 1st place was very much a dark horse. If you’re not familiar with Muffin Break, they are basically a muffin shop, that sells…umm, muffins… and stuff. Pastries, sandwiches, things like that. They are not exactly known for their coffee, so for a guy who works there to win the state heats of the Australia Barista Competition is pretty friggin good. I watched Jeremy’s performance though, and must say he knows his stuff. I believe his family owns the Muffin Break store that he works in, which probably explains why his barista skills are not being put to use in a more well known cafe, but if anything it proves that you can get a decent coffee wherever you go… it all depends on the barista :)

Congrats to Nolan and Vanessa too, Nolan gave what i thought was easily the performance of the day… throwing in a few behind the back bar tender moves with a sweet Kiwi dub soundtrack (Kora i believe).

So a great day all up, met some lovely people, chatted and hob knobbed with all sorts of WA coffee & food personalities, and saw some excellent skills on display.

I’ll hopefully get some more photos off Ben to post up.

WA Barista Academy

Just been hanging out with Ben of the newly formed Western Australian Barista Academy. Soon to be holding the WA state heats of the Australian Barista Championships.

Here’s a nice shot taken a few short minutes ago on my phone. Trying to put them roughly in sequence to show a bit of the technique Ben uses to dose, tamp and pull shots…

Dosing

Levelling

Tamping

The Linea

The shot (not the best one we pulled)

The latte art… just after Ben had almost knocked the cup over :)

Where to buy fresh yeast ?

To the person who’s searching my site looking for where to buy fresh yeast in Perth, i can direct you to a great little shop in the Dog Swamp Shopping Centre in Yokine, i can’t remember what the shop is called, but the lady who owns it is called Jan, and she sells a whole range of bread making supplies and equipment, as well as some really good fresh yeast.

I’ll try and find more details.

Drop a comment if this is you.

Cheers.

** Update **

Just saw someone searching for this again. The place to check out is call “All About Bread“, they have a shop in Osborne Park, another in Marangaroo, are supply the aforementioned kitchen supply store in Dog Swamp Shopping centre in Yokine with a whole range of excellent specialty flour and yeast and bread making paraphenalia.

Aussie Aussie Aussie

What is patriotism but the love of the food one ate as a child?
Lin Yutang

So i sat and watched the sky being blasted with arrays of vibrant colour, silently grimacing each time the hoarse drunken chant of “Aussie Aussie Aussie” went up around the crowd.

Australia Day, a very confusing time for me in some respects. I love Australia, i think it’s a great country, and it’s definitely got a lot going for it. The nature of Australia Day itself has always bothered me though. It basically seems like a celebration of all the things i like the least about Australia.

Public barbeques in every park are packed with fat laden sausages and charcoal encrusted steaks. Drunken yobbos roam the streets with painted faces and Australian flags adorning various parts of their anatomy, looking for someone “unAustralian” enough to pick a fight with. Thousands of people flock to see a massive fireworks show celebrating the replacement of one culture for another more “civilised” one.

Being a migrant to this country, but now also a citizen, i can see both good and bad things about our way of life, and how its “under threat”, in these times of world terror, by non western immigration. One the one hand i do think we need some kind of bridge between the various ethnic minorities that make up the population, or else we’re really just creating mini versions of Italy, Greece, China, Vietnam, and Lebanon on Australian soil. On the other hand i find it the height of hypocrisy to suddenly turn around and say we no longer want or need immigration, because that’s what this country was built on.

Without migrant labour half of our cities wouldn’t exist as they do today. Without migrant influences on food and culture we would be nothing more than a convict remnant of British society. Whereas today Australia as i know it is a culturally diverse environment where people of all ethnic backgrounds are able to celebrate their customs with the freedom they deserve.

My personal thoughts on the whole thing are possibly summed up by this quote:

To me, it seems a dreadful indignity to have a soul controlled by geography.
George Santayana

The fireworks are pretty though.

This is Australia after all… apathy always prevails.

The Prophet

No, im not referring to myself… (bom! bom!). The Prophet is a great little Lebanese restaurant in Victoria Park that i used to frequent when i lived in area.

The Prophet is a nice cosy restaurant near the Balmoral Hotel in Victoria Park, it’s run by a cool old guy called Jihad who makes his own garlic dipping sauce from a secret recipe. You get a bowl of it along with some flat bread and pickled beetroot (i think, it could be anything?) free with every meal… it’s a really tasty way to start… the garlic dip is strangely moreish and tastes best when you dip the pickled beetroot into it and then wrap this little package with the flat bread.

In terms of the menu itself, there’s a whole range of traditional Lebanese foods, and some more western oriented ones. For the die hards there is a Lamb Kibbeh (raw minced meat in a ball with wheat and spices), and for the light weights, theres the Shish Tawook (garlic chicken shish kebabs). Most meals are served with chips and a tangy salad (kind of similar to a Greek salad, but without feta and olives). There is also a few other lamb dishes, and a ‘hot’ fish dish, basically a whole fish with scarily hot chillli sauce over it.

There is no wine list as it’s completely byo, but if i recall correctly they dont charge for corkage. The meals aren’t what you’d call fine dining…they’re simply presented but quite filling (especially when you’ve eaten a stack of flat bread to start with), and are really cheap. Most meals range from $14 – $20. I think last time i went the bill for two of us came to $28, very low in my book, and for what you get, amazing value.

As always, check it out for yourself :)

The Prophet
907 Albany Highway
East Victoria Park, 6101
Tel: (08) 9361 1101

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Pronto

Pronto is an excellent little restaurant nestled (well not exactly, but it feels nestled) away on Bay View Tce in Claremont.
It is also T’Anne’s (my colleague, fellow food lover, and soon to be contributor to this site) favourite restaurant at the moment.

Having worked in Claremont for around 6 months earlier this year, it was a regular spot to go for long lunches. Not that i need any excuse to take a long lunch, but having nice food to eat, wine to drink, and a pleasant atmosphere tends to lessen the guilt of not being at work.

Pronto’s is classic Italian food. They do great wood fired pizza’s and freshly made pasta. My personal favourites are the Pizza Pronto (below), the Pizza Calabrese, and the Rigatoni Bosciola (below)… All really tasty, and if you’re not too hungry the pizza’s will feed two people. Of course i’m always hungry…so when i go i eat a whole pizza by myself and then steal food off other people who look like they need it less…

The wine list is decent. It’s mostly Western Australian wines, and a few Italian reds. I personally think they should have a much larger selection of Italian wines, and offer more wines by the glass. The Australian wine selection is nice, but possibly not as appealing or eclectic as i’d like, perhaps catering to an older crowd. Then again perhaps i just go there too often and get bored easily.

The best thing about Pronto’s would have to be the atmosphere and the service. Despite the reputation Claremont has for being the hangout of the pretentious ‘old money’ types, Pronto is always bubbling with laughter and people having a good time, enjoying great food. This is because the staff make you feel like you’re old friends. Maybe it’s an Italian thing, but everytime you go there you get smiles, kisses, and the odd pat on the back to say thanks for coming.

The only downside about the place would be that you can’t book…and so if you get there at the wrong time you could be standing outside for a while (our record was about an hour) before you get a table. It’s a testament to how much people like the place that they’re prepared to wait so long. Also they use Segafredo coffee (which is bad), so i’d definitely give the coffee a miss, but then you can’t have everthing it seems. If you want great coffee in Claremont, head down to Lemon Espresso on St Quentins Ave. The excellent barista Nolan makes a mean short macchiato.

I just realised i’m starting to sound like an advertorial, which is what i didn’t want to do… But i don’t have enough bad things to say about the place… I’m sure they make bad food sometimes… but not since i’ve been there… I’m still working out how to finish these reviews nicely… And i’ve got to stop using so many ellipsis…

Pronto
16 Bay View Tce
Claremont 6010, WA
Phone: (08) 9284 6090

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Cinnamon Club

After a tiring volleyball game on a dark, cold, late night, Matt and I decided to drop in to Cinnamon Club in Leederville to feed our empty stomachs. It was only a few weeks prior that we saw a sign on the vacant room advertising for “exceptional waitstaff” for this restaurant, so we were quite curious to find out what it would be like.

Well, unfortunately it didn’t meet my expectations as I feel that indian restaurants trying to be different and unique, have to ultimately achieve this goal – which I feel Cinnamon Club does not (well not yet anyway).

We ordered a couple of standard indian dishes including butter chicken, an eggplant curry and a lamb vindaloo. The food was nice, but didn’t differentiate itself as much as I thought it should have to match it’s pricing. I felt the food was not as cheap as what you could get at other indian restaurants but for the price you pay, I didn’t feel the food was that much better either.

The music didn’t set the appropriate mood for the restaurant as it sounded like a cheesy 80’s “best duets with a saxophone” CD. This was a pity, as the restaurant looks great with its stone walls, suede booths, and unique red lamps but this atmosphere is quickly destroyed by the music which made me cringe with memories of my Dad’s St Elmo’s fire and Kenny G music.

However, the waitstaff were friendly and attentive and the food arrived quite quickly, which still made it a pleasant dining experience.

To summarise, the restaurant wasn’t bad, but wasn’t exceptional either. You can try Cinnamon Club at:

228 Carr Pl
Leederville 6007 WA
Phone: (08) 9228 1300

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