Food here is interesting. It’s really not that different than you’d find in a large American city, and, of course, there are the typical chain restaurants – McDonalds, Subway, Hungry Jack’s (i.e. Burger King), and they’re apparently patronized sufficiently to warrant their frequency.
There are lots of little restaurants, though, that appear to be family owned, non-chain and somewhat unique. We’ve gotten in the habit of going to one immediately next to the hotel every morning for coffee and breakfast. Generally, 2 Flat White Mugs, 2 Long Black Mugs (the former being coffee with lots of steamed milk, to which I’ve become addicted, the latter being simply black coffee, and a “mug” being the word for “large”) and 2 ham and cheese croissants run $18.50 Australian – about $12.50 US. Not far off of typical big city prices that we’re used to.
In Australian restaurants, an “entrée” is what we typically call an “appetizer”, and a “main” is our “entrée”. Another interesting thing is that it tends to all come out at once, especially if you order a salad – it’s brought with the meal, not ahead of time. In Perth we noticed a couple of the restaurants served the salads French style – after the meal.
Portions here, unless the restaurant is geared toward the tourist industry, are slightly smaller than in the US; they’re more in line with what a person actually SHOULD eat, rather than what we can stuff into ourselves. The food tends to be somewhat healthier as well, with more stir fried veggies and fish available. Part of that seems to be the Asian influence here, too.
