North Lake BBQ (Invited)
North Lake BBQ is a very family oriented restaurant with a lot of huge round tables consuming majority of space inside the restaurant. Due to the proximity to my workplace, I frequent this restaurant since a year ago and got to know the owner, Kitty. I wasn't aware that Jiaxin from The Food Enthusiast Perth is Kitty's daughter until I recommended the restaurant to her at one of the food events.
Kitty used to own a restaurant called Eureka Chinese Restaurant in Wilson which was very famous for their roast duck. She decided to move her business to a bigger place and sold Eureka to someone else. A lot of Eureka's loyal followers also moved to dine at North Lake these days, especially because of the famous roast duck that need to be ordered 24 hours in advance.
Famous Roast Duck with loyal followers
Honestly speaking, the roast duck was the best in Perth followed closely by Hong Kong BBQ. I really love the crispy skin, thin layer of fat, the herbs that was rubbed into the meat and how tender the flesh was.
Two-way fish
Another outstanding dish from Eureka that has gained new followers was the Fish Cooked Two Ways. On one side you get the fish cooked with stir fry vegetables while on they deep fried the fish on the other side with salt and pepper batter.
Steam Chicken with Ginger and Shallots
My two favourite dishes from North Lake BBQ weren't the fish and duck though. I really love the rich flavour of steam chicken with ginger and shallots. As simple as it sounds, the fragrant chicken dish was actually marinated for close to 24 hours and rubbed in a lot of ginger. This was a perfect homey dish to eat together with a bowl of warm steam rice.
Spinach with Mushroom
The title of 'Spinach with Mushroom' in the menu might be a turn off for some people but I remembered the first time Kitty introduced this dish to me during the lunch time. My friend and I couldn't finish the big bowl! Just like the chicken dish, this dish actually combined three to four different mushrooms (I spotted enoki, wood ear, white button), generous amount of dried bean curd with heaps of spinach (hidden underneath all of those ingredients). This dish was another one of my favourite to order at North Lake BBQ.
I think North Lake BBQ offered a bigger portion of meals compared to other Chinese restaurants especially with the price that they charged. They also serve $9.50-$12 lunch special during weekday where you can get to try one of the Chef Specialty dish, the tender Beef Brisket. There was one week where I had beef brisket everyday for lunch as witnessed by Kitty... (hahaha).
I almost know the lunch special menu by heart now and without a doubt, Mr Chef was always able to make my taste-buds happy!