adventures in utopia, northbridge

I was only in Perth for five days, so it was hard to see everyone that I wanted to see. With that in mind, I organised a drop-in dinner at Utopia in Northbridge. I've posted about Utopia previously, and have mentioned before that people either love Utopia, or they hate it. It is all fake meats and deep-fried mushrooms, and karaoke, if you're in to that sort of thing. It's a very Taiwanese place, and everyone loves their bubble tea, though you should be wary of the milk in some of their tea products. And the whey in some of the beef products - to be on the safe side, I never order mock-beef at Utopia.

ANYWAY, Utopia. I used to go at least every second Monday with my friends Alex and Liz, and we'd order approximately the same things every time, and then Alex would proceed to eat everything in large quantities. As a result, I started ordering on reflex when I got to Utopia, even though Alex and Liz couldn't join us!

We all shared, of course, because that's the way you do Chinese food.

I started by ordering us a whole lot of salty fried 'chicken' and crispy fried mushrooms, because that's always my primary reason for eating at Utopia. The salty fried chicken is, well, salty and fried and crispy mock chicken pieces. They are sort of like the LotF nuggets, but a lot crispier and thinner. The crispy fried mushrooms are so soft and squishy when you bite in to them, coated in a crispy batter. It is my favourite, and Liz and I are both on a mission, from opposite sides of the country/planet from Utopia, to try and work out how they do it. Because it is the best.



Also the best: the spicy houtou mushrooms. The I love how spicy these mushrooms are, and I always fight over the cashews at the end because they're so delicious.



Other things we shared included more mushrooms, some bok choy, some curry, an assam 'fish,' and a laksa and a char kuay teow. The ckt is ok, but the laksa is pretty good, and it was fun to share. The laksa is a see-through-time sort, so be warned if you can't take it!



Oh Utopia, how I have missed your mushrooms and your crispy 'chicken.' You continue to be delicious. If slightly expensive. I worried for half a second that you had changed your menu, but my fear was for naught: I don't think you ever will.


utopia/formosa
utopia square
shop 14 (upstairs)
109 james street
northbridge