Sunday, 7 April 2002

More Tales of the Missing. Despite the two best kitchen tools brands, Rösle and OXO, vanishing from the stores in Perth that used to carry large ranges of them, I managed to find OXO’s excellent Jar Opener last week in a tiny range of OXO products at the new David Jones store in the city.       "Zis does NOT EXIST!"       I asked a salesman there why they are carrying such small ranges of so many of the best products and he told me they are replacing many quality goods with cheap Taiwanese knock-offs of the real things. He reckons the public won’t know the difference. The mushroom theory in vivid practice.       If you are a pickle person you have got to get yourself one of these OXO Jar Openers. They will open anything, first time, in one twist. No more soaking in boiling water to force the lid to loosen eventually.       My stepfather runs a little family business making custom-built products to aid the infirm and people afflicted with arthritis and rheumatism in hospitals and at home, and so I have a special interest in quality design for that purpose. All of OXO’s products are well designed and made, and would be terrific for any household. If only you could easily buy them here.       Wheel&Barrow was the store to get the superb Rösle kitchen tools, and they used to have a very good range of them. But, like David Jones, they have replaced all their quality brands with cheap, shoddy, Taiwanese knock-offs. There is another store to strike off the list. Thank God for the Peter’s of Kensington website, not to mention The Essential Ingredient and Victoria ’s Basement in the QVB.       Just because we are getting screwed by too many local retailers, it does not mean we have no eye for quality in this country. A firm in Brisbane makes the best kitchen knives in the world—Füri. I spotted a small selection in David Jones in Karrinyup, and their prices are better than all the European imports. If I did not already have enough good knives then I would have bought Füri’s East/West knife then and there. 12:49:16 PM    Add a comment.

Not Yet A Foodie Paradise. I have simple enough tastes when it comes to food, especially when I am living on my own. I do know what I like though, and there are certain food products that make me happy if I can keep a regular supply of them. They are comfort foods, in a way, as well as staples. If I can find at least 66 percent of them wherever I am living then I feel more comfortable about living there.       It has proven surprisingly difficult to meet that percentage on Perth even though you can get almost all of them in any supermarket in the other states. Coles supermarkets are the biggest and most widespread, in the east as well as the west, but that does not mean they carry the same stock everywhere. You have a much smaller choice in WA, and the prices here are higher than even in Tasmania, apparently. Bread and baked goods: Bagels—have never found them on Perth. Multigrain—the best ever, Vogel’s, has vanished, but my mother is making something similar at home. You can get multigrain muffins in the stores. Sourdough—they have never heard of it here, so far as I can tell. Pastries and fruit tarts—average quality and limited choice. All of Australia needs more real pastry chefs from France and Italy. Friands are an entirely Australian invention, and the friands on Perth are awful, like globby pancakes. Pasta: La Molisana—the best mass market brand second only to De Cecco (unavailable in Oz). I have not found it on Perth. Barilla—third best brand. Some shapes are available in small packages but not my favourite, Spaccatelle. Milk products: Jalna yoghurt—cannot get the two best and most popular flavours, Swiss Creamy Custard and Coffee, anywhere on Perth. Ask about them in supermarkets and they think you are making the names up. Jalna Chocolate Drinking Yoghourt also does not exist on Perth. "Zis does NOT EXIST!" Mozzarella di bufala—you can only get either the yellow fake industrial cow’s milk mozzarella that is vaguely shaped like a real mozzarella, or something called bocconcini that is just a bleached version of the same with whey added. The real thing is impossible to find. Sara Lee Rich Chocolate ice cream—the one and only mass market ice cream, and available in Perth. I missed it desperately in England—the Brits do not seem to be ice cream eaters of any distinction. Pickles and preserves: Sauerkraut—imported from Germany at ruinous prices, and only available in specialist delicatessens. Fig Jam—limited distribution but available. Rose Hip Jam—I just found a big jar of it yesterday, at long last. Overpriced though. I love this stuff, and it is my favourite jam of all. Pickled Roasted Red Peppers—grossly overpriced and only sold in small jars in supermarkets, but you can occasionally get them in big jars in delicatessens. Anchovies—you can only get tiny horribly expensive bottles of them preserved in oil, or little cans. I have not seen the big jars that are available in most places in Sydney anywhere here. Tea: Twinings Earl Grey and Irish Breakfast—thank God, you can get them here.       So Perth does not score particularly well on the food scale. Not even the two specialist European food stores in the inner city have very good ranges, or prices. I managed to get Rose Hip Jam and Roasted Red Peppers yesterday, so I am getting something of a fix of my favourites.       Another big difference here is the prices in the food halls that dot the CBD and that are only open for lunch weekdays. They charge a third more than the most expensive Sydney inner city food halls, and of course have much more limited choice. Why? WA has its own market gardens and horticulture and agriculture industries, and a terrifiic fishery. Do these foodhall places so grossly overcharge simply because they can?       Restaurant opening hours are a real mystery as well. Weekdays they seem to close their kitchens from 8:30PM or 9:00PM onwards, and shut up the whole place as fast as they can eject patrons out the door. There might be exceptions but I have yet to find them. You can tell I do not go out much at night on Perth as a result. 10:29:10 AM    Add a comment.