It Just Has To Be Delicious

Posts tagged ‘Perth CBD’

Wildflower, Perth CBD

For a long time now Wildflower has been one of Perth’s most talked about fine dining venues. Chef Matthew Sartori is famed for his skilful use of native ingredients and in-season ingredients to create a gastronomic journey for the diner. The restaurant is situated in the distinctive Treasury buildings and the lighting was quite subdued on our visit so please excuse the dim photos.

This venue had been booked for quite a while for a big birthday meal, but the pandemic rules changed just before our visit, so with short-notice, we were downgraded from a 6 course menu to a 4 course version with a shorter sitting time, but we decided to continue with the plan as it was too late to book anywhere else. The waiter enthusiastically showed us to our table and promised us an amazing meal. I chose a sparkling rose from Voyager Estate to start with.

The amuse bouche was a light bun with eggplant and nasturtium leaf, quite pleasant.

We asked for a dairy free menu and WIldflower were very accommodating with this, bringing olive oil and balsamic instead of butter for the bread.

The first course consisted of marinated heirloom tomatoes with fresh curd, anise myrtle and miso. The lovely intense tomato flavours danced on the tongue, and I happily finished the plate.

The second course was cured line caught snapper with Geraldton wax, finger lime and ginger. The waiter explained that it usually came with creme fraiche, but as we were having dairy free, they’d leave off the creme fraiche. To be honest this annoys me. In this day and age it’s easy to find suitable dairy alternatives, and I would much have preferred a substitute rather than leaving it off altogether. It was a nice dish, but it did need another element.

For the third and main course we could choose between duck and lamb, and we both chose the Wagin duck with gem lettuce, fig, liquorice root and anise myrtle. A nice dish, and good flavours, but it didn’t blow my mind.

Dairy free dessert was an off-menu special. Marinated strawberries, strawberry sorbet and strawberry gum mousse. Again, nice, but not memorable.

Birthday petit fours were served with a candle, a jelly and a fudge.

It was a nice meal, a good example of fine dining, and a great use of native ingredients which have quite a unique flavour. The waiter kept telling us how magnificent everything was, but really, honestly, I don’t think it lived up to the hype. I’ve had better fine dining in Perth at several other venues, and at $139 per head it really needed to blow me away. It wasn’t the gastronomic journey that I was hoping for.

Last visit date – February 2022

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Fleur, Perth CBD

Fleur is a superb fine dining restaurant inside the Royal Hotel on the corner of WIlliam Street and Wellington Street near Raine Square in the heart of Perth central. We booked a Saturday night table and the vibe outside was buzzing with people heading out for drinks, food and parties. The Royal is a traditional pub and the restaurant is in a separate section but still has the dark pub atmosphere, hence the poor quality of my photos.

The inside is lovely, cosy and intimate with walls of attractive drink bottles that make you want to try them all.

The staff are lovely and knowledgeable, the barman was very helpful with cocktail choices, and there really is something for everybody. My partner was on antibiotics and not drinking, but there was a whole page of appealing alcohol free cocktails to choose from and he couldn’t go past the rhubarb sour. So he had a rhubarb sour and I had a citrus martini.

The menu is a degustation, but you can add to it. There are a few extra dishes you can add, you can have the whole menu ‘truffled’ if truffles are your thing, and you can also add some caviar dishes, ranging from the expensive polanco oscietra grand reserve sturgeon ($120 for 30g) to a $12 10g portion of yarra valley salmon smoked roe in a brik pastry tart. There’s also a bar snack menu for those who want to pop in for cocktails and a sophisticated bite of oysters, lobster toast, and a cheese board.

We decided to stick with the main degustation, no additions and were delighted with the amuse bouche selection of salted orange soda, spicy togorashi popcorn and pickled daikon. The popcorn was addictive and has inspired me to make some spicy popcorn at home. The menu has a Japanese twist, and we knew that we were in for a treat.

The starters consisted of: Skull Island king prawn tartlet with green apple and Geraldton wax – a really yummy mouthful with light crispy pastry, fresh prawns and crisp apple.

Kangaroo tsukune, salted egg, tare (a thick soy sauce) and native dukkah, another gorgeous light bite with great flavour:

Shiromi (white fish), sushi rice, nori (seaweed), garum (Roman fish sauce) and sesame – this is the dish that we’ll be talking about for years to come. It doesn’t look much but oh boy it delivered on umami, umami tenfold! Such amazing savoury, moreish flavours with beautiful fresh fish hidden inside. I could have eaten ten of these little bowls of goodness:

Next came a fish course of ocean trout, native saline, sudachi (a citrus fruit), ancient grains and a smoked mussel broth. Another sublime dish, fresh quality fish, an incredibly tasty broth and the great crunch of the ancient grains – more perfection from chef.

The main course was aged duck breast with five spice, apricot, cabbage and umbles (a little offal – ‘umble pie). The picture doesn’t show it well, but the skin was crisped to perfection, and the duck beautifully cooked. Every little item was meant to be on this plate, and it was a triumph of menu design.

Next came a pre-dessert jasmine tea and fennel granita with lemon myrtle – a great palate cleanser.

Last but certainly not least was the main dessert 64% single origin dark chocolate with a Davidson plum mousse (they made this version especially for us to avoid the usual dairy version) and coconut. What a supreme dessert with so many good textures and flavours, and a super moist sponge, I scraped every last spoonful from the bowl.

I managed to squeeze in a second cocktail – a delicious floral prosecco spritz with cherry bitters.

I also loved the Fleur cutlery:

So wow. Fleur definitely has the wow factor and a menu brimming with umami. If you don’t do anything else this winter, please visit Fleur – you won’t regret your visit because this treasure of a venue has so much to offer.

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Last visit date – July 2021

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High Tea at the C Restaurant, Perth CBD

We have dined at the C before and had high tea there before but never a vegan high tea, and on a lovely Easter Sunday, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to try one of the few vegan high teas available in Perth. To be honest, it didn’t really have to be vegan, but it did have to be dairy free, so sometimes with a dairy heavy option like high tea, it’s easier to go vegan. If you don’t already know, The C is on the 33rd floor of St Martin’s Tower on St George’s Terrace, and it revolves, so you get a full view of the Swan, King’s Park and beyond as you rotate around at the top of the CBD.

We were seated by the window and given water, but it was some time before we were offered tea. My partner chose to have coffee instead, wanting a soy decaf flat white, and we were quickly told that this ‘wasn’t included in the high tea package’, only percolated coffee was included and we would have to pay extra. At the end of the meal we found out that this was a full price coffee, not the difference in price between percolated and other coffees, which seemed a bit mean of them. Anyhow, I chose a green sencha tea which was very good.

When the three tier stand arrived, we anticipated a lovely tea.

The savouries consisted of rice paper rolls, spring rolls and sliders. The first one we tried was a slider with vegan cheese and tomato. The roll was nice but the filling was under-seasoned and a little bland. The spring rolls were filled with mainly cabbage but some other vegetables, but again seasoning was lacking and we sought out a salt pot to help. The rice paper rolls contained tofu, noodles, carrot, onion and cabbage, and came with a dipping sauce, but again they were bland. The fourth item was a roll with avocado and grated carrot. I didn’t try this but my partner said that the roll was tasty and the avocado nicely ripe.

Scones were good, with a choice or fruit or plain, served with jam and coconut cream. The coconut cream was quite runny, but the scones were nice and I enjoyed them.

The desserts were a bit of a mixed bag. Fruit kebabs were simple but nice. The cashew cheesecake was grainy and not really pleasant to eat. The chocolate caramel slice was sweet and heavy.

So what was the verdict? It was nice but not special, and to be honest a bit of a lazy menu. They really could have made a few minor tweaks to make it a great menu. Instead of vegan cheese and tomato in a roll, how about a vegan tart with caramelised onions, vegan cheddar and tomato. How about a slice of crispy tofu bahn mi – that would have been so tasty! A finger sandwich with vegan pesto and roasted veggies would have been superb. Some tasty mushrooms in the spring roll and some more seasoning would have elevated it to another level.

Instead of dense vegan cakes, we could have had a little vegan lemon meringue, the fruits could have been arranged on a little vegan flan, the cheesecake could have been whipped strawberries and coconut cream. Vegan isn’t all about grated carrot and dense nutty desserts!

Will we go back? I doubt it, unless they lift their vegan game.

Last visit date – April 2021

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Old Faithful, Perth CBD

Old Faithful is a pub and BBQ restaurant at the Wellington Street end of King Street. Walking in, it looks like a typical bar with wooden tables and chairs, and we received a friendly greeting as we were allocated a table.
The menu is full of grill bar favourites, ribs, burgers, sandwiches etc. and there are beer specials on the chalkboard.
We chose to share a rack of pork ribs, 100g of brisket, fries, coleslaw and pickles. The food arrived on a platter to share, and everything was full of flavour.

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The brisket was the star with a lovely smoky flavour, and the smoked and char grilled ribs were really good, although just a little longer would have seen the meat falling off the bone. They were the kind of ribs that you have to chew off the bone. Nonetheless, the ribs were full of flavour, very slightly dry, but I think that was due to the cooking method.
Fries were spicy and tasty, coleslaw was good quality and the pickles all disappeared very quickly thanks to my pickle-addict companion. I really enjoyed Old Faithful and will definitely return for more barbecue creations.

Visit Date – October 2019

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The Apple Daily

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The Apple Daily Bar and Eating House is part of the Print Hall complex in Brookfield Place on St. George’s Terrace in Perth CBD. We had some difficulty finding it and couldn’t see a signpost, so I asked one of the bouncers at the downstairs bar, and he directed me up the stairs to the first floor. Even on the first floor it wasn’t obvious that the restaurant was Apple Daily, and we had to check again as we walked in.
We were directed to our table, and sat down to peruse the menu. We ordered a Xabregas Riesling while we were deciding, and it was a really lovely crisp apple flavour with a soft honey citrus and apricot bouquet – one of the best rieslings I have tasted.

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The menu is a mixture of small, medium and large plates, and we keenly chose the raw kingfish with black bean and ginger dressing, green onion and coriander.

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This was a lovely dish. The onions had been marinated in the dressing so they weren’t too hot and overpowering, and the black beans weren’t too salty. It was really fresh and flavoursome.
We also chose pork spare ribs with tamarind, lime and chilli. The flavours were really good, but the pork needed a little more cooking time. It didn’t have that satisfying ‘fall off the bone’ quality, but the ribs were very enjoyable nonetheless.

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We chose the duck with spring onion, cucumber, hoisin and flower bun. I think I
would have preferred pancaked because it was difficult to wrap the long slices of duck in the thin bun dough. The duck was also a bit tough in places and hard to digest, but the majority of it was nice.

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For the main dish we chose the lamb shank mussaman curry with sweet potato, confit shallot and peanuts. The curry was a nice flavour, and the lamb was still on the bone, but it was lacking something, maybe a squeeze of lime would have helped.

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We also ordered a green papaya salad, which was lovely and fresh if a little hot, and a roti and some rice.

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All in all it was a good meal, and a little on the expensive side, but with a bit more attention to detail it could have been a fantastic meal.

Visit Date – October 2018

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Tea Woks, Perth CBD

Tea Woks is another little casual cafe on Hay, and this one sells Malaysian food. They also serve great value bubble tea. The menu has a tempting list of Malay favourites, noodles, chicken wings, bak kut teh etc.
On this occasion I chose Hainanese chicken rice. The chicken was lovely – melt in the mouth, and had been cooked really well, The rice had the wonderful chicken flavour, and the chilli sauce was a great accompaniment. The soup was a little weak though and could have been better.

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This is definitely a popular cafe, especially with workers and locals. I’ll be back to try the noodles!

Here are some pictures from my second visit. I had combination rice which was yummy.

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Here’s a picture from my third visit – hokkien mee – great flavour, lovely noodles, prawns and chicken.

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Fried kway teow:

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Fried kampua:

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Last Visit Date – November 2019

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Public House, Perth CBD

Public House opened in November 2013, serving South American food in Perth. It is quite a large establishment on the corner of Adelaide Terrace and Victoria Avenue with alfresco tables as well as indoor dining. Nowadays it has more of a Modern Australian menu, but when we visited, the South American vibe was strong.

The drinks menu is fairly comprehensive and includes cocktails. I chose the Lichi Sueno which is gin, cointreau and lychee – absolutely delicious.

All of the dishes are served so that you can share them. There are small, medium and large dishes, and the large dishes are quite generous. We chose 3 smaller dishes and one large dish with a side vegetable. To start we had a tomato and avocado salsa with coriander and pink salted chips.

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This dish was very nice, however the salsa would have been better served in a bowl – the quirky jar was top heavy and kept tipping over. The salsa was chunky and tasty. We also chose meat empanadas – nice short pastry filled with a lamb ragout.

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There was a choice of two ceviches, we chose the sword fish with lime, coriander and chilli. I did not like this dish – it was drowned in hot chilli sauce. I would have preferred a citrus marinade with small pieces of cut chilli. I ate the fish but scraped most of the sauce off.

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For the main course we chose slow cooked pork with crackling, pineapple and guava. This dish was very nice and tender, the crackling was lovely and crisp and the fruits added a nice contrast. My only criticism would be that maybe it had been cooked a little too long and was therefore not quite as succulent as it could have been.

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The side dish to accompany this was corn puree with charred corn salsa and chilli salt. This was really delicious and I would have liked a bigger portion.

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All in all it was a very nice meal and with a few minor improvements it could have been outstanding. If you want a meal with new and exciting flavours and a good cocktail list – this is a place that you will enjoy.

Last Visit Date – January 2014

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People’s Inn Dumpling House, Perth CBD

People’s Inn is at the East end of Hay Street, and serves a variety of traditional dumplings and soups. All dumplings are hand made, you can see them being made as you walk in. It’s a casual cafe, where you order first and then sit down.
This is a fairly short post because I tried the fried cabbage and pork dumplings for my lunch one day. The steamed dumplings look really tempting, but they come in a portion size of 12, which is a bit much for me for lunch, so I chose the fried ones.

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They were really delicious, the table had a good supply of soy, red vinegar and chilli sauce to accompany them.
This cafe also serves pies like pork and leek pie – and the soups being served to other tables looked really generous. I must return so that I can update this post with more pictures and thoughts.

Last Visit Date – October 2019

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La Veen, Perth CBD

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I had heard that La Veen did great coffee, and today we were in the centre of town so decided to have lunch there. It is on the corner of Wellington and King Street, quite a spacious cafe.

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We were quickly seated and decided to order coffees first – a flat white and an iced latte. They serve Five Senses coffee here and the house blend is delicious. Five Senses is the brand of coffee that we have delivered to home, so we know that it’s the best in Perth.

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Both coffees were smooth and rich with a lovely caramel finish. For lunch I chose the pulled pork burger with chips. This was a little disappointing – the pork was quite sweet, so I had to eat it with the chips to add a bit of blandness to the strong sweet flavour. I would have liked more slaw, and the bun was also quite sweet.

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My companion chose the Boston beans with a poached egg. The beans were nicely cooked and tomatoey, but a little sweet, the cheese was a perfect amount and the egg was nicely poached. The potato skins were a nice touch, although it was quite a small portion for the price.

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When we left, I had a look at the cake cabinet which seemed quite appealing.

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So will I be going back to La Veen ? Not for lunch, but definitely for coffee and cake if I am in the area. I think there are better food outlets in the city.

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Visit Date – November 2017

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Mount Street Breakfast Bar, Perth CBD

Mount Street is next door to King’s Park, a pretty leafy area of Perth, and it’s a very steep street. Luckily we visited on a Saturday when parking was free, but midweek the parking will set you back $4+ per hour.

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We ordered coffee while we perused the menu. The coffee was nice but quite rich and slightly bitter, suggesting a South American blend.

The menu is a mish mash of breakfast and lunch items but everything is very appealing. I had a shortlist of 5 things but ended up choosing the prawns with scrambled egg, garlic shoots, prosciutto and baguette. This was lovely but quite bold flavours and probably more of a lunch dish than a breakfast dish.

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My partner chose the crushed avocado, with roasted paprika pepper, goat’s feta, rocket, soft boiled egg and multigrain. This was a nice combination of textures and flavours and he thoroughly enjoyed the meal.

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Other menu items on my shortlist included:

  • pumpkin, potato hash, labneh dukka ball, crispy bacon, poached egg on rye bread
  • pan-fried yucca & spinach gnocchi with walnuts, shitake mushrooms, sage and egg yolk in a spicy, creamy peruvian sauce
  • french toast, caramelised banana, strawberries, crispy bacon, maple syrup
  • omelette: spinach, sweet onion& herbs, topped with sun blushed tomatoes, feta and pinenuts with pecorino tomato dip and turkish breadDefinitely a venue to return to with inventive dishes galore.

Visit Date – June 2018

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