Bada Bing Cafe is one of the most memorably friendliest places I have eaten at in a while. The staff are all so pleasant and the smiles on their faces suggest to me that they really do enjoy where they work and that’s always a delight to see. Back in the day, many, many moons ago I worked in the cafe at the Terry Tyzack Aquatic Centre. And during summer it was so busy – a blur of hot chips and ice creams and the aroma of chlorinated pools filling the air. Was it a glam job? Not particularly, but I have some really happy memories about working there because the people I worked with were lovely. It totally makes a difference.
GG and I wound up there on a recent Saturday for a bite of lunch. We knew we also had dinner plans, on what was a fairly lavish day for eating out, so wanted to keep our lunch selections on the lighter side. There were many tempting options that on another day I would have been all over, but we kept the focus on the salad section and I decided to go with the Thai Beef Salad – Asian style marinated beef strips, red capsicum, snow peas, orange segments, roasted cashews and Spanish onion tossed through mixed leaves and Thai dressing $26 (with the recommended matched rose, hadn’t had a rose in forever) and GG ordered the Spicy Lamb Salad – Moroccan marinated lamb cutlet with roast capsicum, sweet potato, grilled eggplant, Spanish onion, crisp pita and cherry tomatoes served with mixed leaves and a spiced sweet couscous in a herb vinaigrette dressing $27 (with the matching Shiraz. I liked that they suggest a wine with each dish). We also ordered a serve of the Crispy Crab – Smokey paprika dusted Soft shell crab served with pork belly, jasmine rice, green apple relish and fresh avocado $21 to share.
The place was fairly full, but the staff were never far away if you needed anything and as meals were delivered and we eagerly started they followed up to check we had everything and that we were happy with everything. It wasn’t intrusive, it was just the right amount of attentive.
We started with the lovely crab dish and its crispy pieces had been artistically arranged next to stack of white rice and then dressed with a drizzle of dressing and some chunky avocado and greens. It also came served with a few dipping sauces. There was a nice spice to the crab, didn’t need much of the sauce at all really and it paired well with the creamy avo. It was a very nice starter and ticked the box for being on the lighter side.
We then turned our focus to our salads, each a mountain of enticing mixed greenery. GG eagerly grabbed one of the plump lamb cutlets. They were a very decent size and had been cooked well, still a bit pink.
I really enjoyed my salad selection. Tender, marinated beef strips with sweet orange segments and crunch from chunky cucumber pieces and a generous sprinkle of cashews. They had also added some crisped up carrot, which was both flavoursome and a little bit pretty. I enjoy a side of pretty with my salad. It was filling and tasty and was exactly the type of lunch I had fancied that day and GG concurred.
Friendly staff, relaxed atmosphere and tasty food. Three ticks! So if you find yourself near Woodlands in need of a bite one day (or some cake actually because their cake then remember
perthmunchkin 
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