Perth’s eating and drinking scene is more vibrant and diverse than ever, with chefs committing themselves to creating the restaurants diners have always deserved.
Batavia Corner (3/912 Albany Highway, East Victoria)
A much-loved fixture of East Victoria Park since 1998, this is the place for the nasi goreng of your dreams, where special fried rice is topped with beef ball slices, and a perfect fried egg.
Little puffs of crisp beef lung served alongside green chilli sambal are super moreish and a perfect side snack if you’ve brought a few cold beers with you. Not to mention tender, juicy beef rendang and possibly the most delicious roast peanuts you’re likely to become addicted to.
It’s just a little corner restaurant on the Albany Highway but the heart and soul of this place speaks magnitudes.
Yiamas (26 Denis Street, Subiaco)
Here’s a fact about Subiaco, and how it got its name: Benedictine monks settled here in 1851 and built an homage to the Italian town they were originally from
The result is a village-y, neighbourhood mediterranean vibe reflected at the likes of Yiamas – a cute, Levantine-inspired restaurant, where the olive tree-lined courtyard rules the dining area and the chargrill rules the kitchen.
The menu traverses Greek, Turkish and Cypriot cuisines. Mezedes might include sour cherry dolmades, and local, lightly pickled sardines dressed in olive oil. Perhaps it’ll be lamb keftedes, or whatever the chefs have butchered and put on the spit that day.
The whole idea is to share, and to graze. Taking over from the popular old Greek mainstay George’s Meze, Michael Roach, Laurence Greenfield and Philip Arnold have created a restaurant that pays homage to the past while looking to the future.
Next Door (79 Angelo Street, South Perth)
Ex-Rockpool Bar and Grill chef Elliot Sawiris is serious about steak. In fact, he’s devoted his career to it, here at this woodfire-centric restaurant. It makes perfect sense, really.
Next Door is the neighbour and side-project of Olsen’s – one of the city’s most celebrated butcher shops.
Think of Next Door as a temple to meat, and Sawiris its priest, serving communion such as rib eye on the bone, rump and skirt steaks. After something particularly special? The chef also champions the lesser-seen, ultra luxe Denver cut. A tender, flavoursome, heavily marbled cut from the upper portion of the chuck. Rare, rich, delicious.
Lulu La Delizia (5/97 Rokeby Road, Subiaco)
Chef Joel Valvasori is the man behind the plan, but the man behind the pans these days is young chef James Higgs. This is smart, gutsy food, inspired by Valvasori’s Friulano heritage, where pasta is made in-house each day against all odds in the galley kitchen.
Tagliatelle is coated in a sticky veal ragu, enriched with red wine and complete comfort in a bowl. Buttery, cheesy polenta is punctuated by chubby meatballs (affectionately referred to on the menu as “nonna’s”).
Other nonna-y touches include the pretty lace curtains in the windows. It’s very similar in vibe to the places you’ll find in the back streets of Florence or Bologna on a little cobbled lane somewhere where people spill out chatting with glasses of wine and don’t leave till the lights go off.
Big Don’s Smoked Meats
Don’t mess with Big Don, or his barbecue. He’s running a shop that looks half like a timber yard in Wisconsin, and partly like an abandoned car factory in Detroit but is, in fact, the most serious barbecue operation in WA.
It’s only open one day a week, you’ll need to bring an Esky with your own beers and a chair to sit on, and you’ll need to order ahead. They often sell out before you can tune in. They’ll also only supply the address once you’ve ordered. This is the barbecue you’ve been waiting for. Make it a priority if you’re in Perth with a free Saturday up your sleeve.
Casa (399 Oxford Street, Mount Hawthorn)
An ode to a Euro wine bar, plonked in New York City, removed King Kong style, and placed in Mount Hawthorn. All your favourite natural-leaning drops are on hand here, plus plenty you may not have heard of, making this a perfect glass-and-a-plate drop-in centre. And if the plate happens to be the burger, all the better.
Just on that, though, it’s only available one night a week (currently Thursday) for Burger & Burgundy night. The chef responsible for this masterpiece of a bun painted in beef fat, with a wagyu patty, comte cheese, beef fat chips, a pickle and sweet onions is Paul Bentley. Somewhere between French onion soup and a hamburger, it’s a reason to fly to Perth alone
Ethos Deli (88 George Street, East Fremantle)
House-made everything down to the Vegemite scrolls. The ethos behind, um, Ethos is ‘use everything, waste nothing.’ Based on chef Melissa Palinkas’ Eastern European heritage, the little shop on a beautiful, leafy Fremantle street is run by her and wife Susan Whelan
It’s an ode to the delis of New York, mixed with the beautiful pastry and cured meats of Eastern Europe. Charcuterie is all made in-house, as are the breads, pies, pickles and dips. If you can put it in a jar, chances are it was made here.
The breakfast plate is a must order: A potato latke acts as a mattress for thick slices of peppery pastrami, a frilly sunny side up fried egg, mustard, sauerkraut and dill pickle. Serving suggestion: take a vigorous swim first and work up an appetite.
Bread in Common (43 Pakenham Street, Fremantle)
There’s nothing common about it, actually. A huge warehouse space that was originally a pharmaceutical centred around the wood-fired oven, a range of their own condiments for sale as well as a large bar means you could pretty much camp here at lunch and see yourself through to dinner.
Especially with fun snacks like the lamb gravy (essentially dipping stew for their house made bread) and the salty, limey, bright and verdant lamb ribs – on the menu from day dot, and for good reason