Just to give you an idea of how adventurous of a traveler I am, I spent three out of my six days in Perth in the city area. In my defense, there
are many interesting people, shops and hot chicks in the city. None of which I've managed to capture on the camera because I'm neither a photographer nor creepy.
Fat white guy, Nigerian guy, Asian guy and workers slacking off in the background. This, is Perth.
The main reason why I'm wanting to study in Melbourne is because of how international it is, and while Perth isn't exactly a perfect example of a metropolis, there was still a good selection of food from all around the world. I asked around on a forum about cheap ethnic restaurants, preferably opened by immigrants, and I got a couple of recommendations in the city area from this University of Western Australia student.
Ahh mista samulai you sell much cheap food yes? According to the guy, this place's prices can't be beat but "the girls behind the counter don't speak much English". Hey, I'm there to eat and not to find a future wife so it works.
Well it does look pretty cheap and there are lots of Asians eating there (not pictured in the photograph), which is a good sign. Check out the generic grey plastic chairs, classy. Seriously though, that didn't dissuade me because some of my favourite meals were had in places with peeling paint on the walls and cockroaches scampering across the greasy untiled floor.
There were tons of notes pasted on the cork board, mostly regarding accommodation, jobs and "five dorra rove you rong time". Alright, I'm not really sure about the last one but judging by engrossed the three guys look, it's not that unlikely.
Not too long after placing my order at the counter (which had a water cooler beside it for free water, I like), the waitress brought the food over and said something like "Sorrytokeepyouwaitinghere'syourcurrybeefkatsuriceenjoyyourmeal". They may not speak much English but whatever they know, they say it with efficiency.
If you have eaten Japanese curry before, this isn't any different from what you've eaten. If you haven't, Japanese curry is more of a sweet stew than anything, with just enough chili and spices to be qualified as curry. Being average is nothing wrong in this case because I love Japanese curry even though it wouldn't have hurt them to give me a little more rice.
I always order fried tofu at my pseudo-Japanese restaurants, I'm not sure why. However, this was pretty bad because the skin of the tofu wasn't light and crisp. Also, the sauce lacked the savoury sharpness that would have added so much to the dish. I've had better at Sakae Sushi, which is what I use as benchmark for how low Japanese food can go. After this fried tofu and my one attempt at chanwanmushi, I might have to reconsider this method of judging.
The meal cost me around seven Australian dollars, which translates to around nine dollars here, which in turn translates to "Way too fucking much for a normal lunch" but I was on holiday, so I didn't feel the pinch as much. I can see why the restaurant was recommended though, it
is cheap compared to the average price of a meal over there, and the food's solid. But shit, that was some crap tofu.
