Mary's, Highgate, Western Australia (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

While Degustations and Noodle Shops are clearly food genres for which we have high levels of enthusiasm, Alissa and I rarely go out for breakfast. Being more a fan of the kinds of food available at lunch and dinner and somewhat bored of the conventions that define breakfast foods, I'm usually a bit utilitarian in my approach to breaking the fast to save more room for the lunch foods I really want to eat. Plus, with long weekend queues at the places that do serve interesting breakfasts, I'm more likely to end up grabbing an early Banh Mi or heading out nice and early for Dim Sum just as they open than stand around for an hour at all the breakfast hot spots.

For this reason, breakfast at Mary St Bakery has long eluded me. Alissa has been and raved about how good the food was, and blogger friends continually spruiked its greatness in conversation. So when I received an invite to attend a blogger's dinner at Mary St Bakery's nighttime alter-ego Mary's, I jumped at the chance - even when it turned out it was a night Alissa was unable to make it to.

La Sosta, Fremantle, Western Australia (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

In spite of (or perhaps because of) Fremantle's Cappuccino Strip's long association with Italian food and culture, its surprising how hard it is to find an impressive Italian restaurant in the Port City. Being an Eat Street that predated Perth's recent leap forward in terms of food quality and authenticity, The Cappuccino Strip has fallen victim to the very thing that made it a success in the first place - its relative safeness and catering for Australian tastes may have made the street, but with increasingly discerning and demanding tastes the term 'Fremantle Italian' is often said with an underlying tone of derision.

Having recently enjoyed some excellent meals in Fremantle at The Modern Eatery and The Raw Kitchen, I became increasingly curious to find out if there actually was an Italian restaurant along the main strip worth trying out. Consulting the Index of the 2015 Good Food Guide, I was surprised to find in this year's guide that a Fremantle Cappuccino Strip restaurant actually made the cut - La Sosta. With some expensive dinners planned for our July trip to Sydney, Alissa and I decided to forego what would have been my birthday degustation in May, and instead made a reservation at La Sosta for a decidedly more low key celebration.

McDonald's (Create Your Taste Menu), Willetton, Western Australia (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

Let's face it - McDonald's are a pretty soft target when it comes to criticism. During the late 90s/early 2000s, McLibel and Supersize Me did not do wonders for the image of the massive multinational corporation as they were justifiably criticised for unhealthy food in unhealthily large portions. While I myself stayed away from McDonald's for a number of years, I felt some sympathy for the company when Ronald McDonald seemed to become the sole posterboy of all things unhealthy in the world, while companies like KFC and Hungry Jacks were able to continue business as usual without the same level of critique - especially when McDonald's actually took major steps to address the unhealthiness complaints (in Australia at least). Additionally, while the majority of so-called gourmet burgers that I have eaten have been tasty, many have often left me thinking; 'yeah, but is this really any healthier or that much better than McDonald's?'

The Brisbane Hotel, Perth, Western Australia (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

Although I'm obviously a very active supporter of the culinary arts in Perth, my early to mid-20s were more focused on the performing arts. Studying Fine Arts at university, working on music projects and knowing a lot of performers meant I went out a lot to shows, happenings and exhibitions around town, and one of those semi-regular haunts was the Brisbane Hotel. Having friends in comedy and friends who had friends in comedy saw many a Tuesday night at the Hotel's Lazy Susan's Comedy Den for Shapiro Tuesdays, seeing new comedians performing for the first time or experienced comedians testing out new material all for an affordable door fee. Its been quite a few years since last seeing a show, so when Alissa and I were invited for a dinner and show at The Brisbane, we immediately jumped at the chance to take a nostalgic trip as well as try out dishes that we had heard good things about.