STM Hottest 100 restaurants, bars and cafe
STM foodies Gail Williams, Max Veenhuyzen and Fleur Bainger sat down in the finest bars, cafes and restaurants around WA to come up with our 100 hottest dining and drinking venues.
Now its over to PerthNow readers for your verdict.
Today, we look at breakfast. Do you agree with their choices or did they miss you favourite out?
Breakfast
Sayers Sister, Lake Street in North Perth.
Sayers/Sayers Sister
224 Carr Place, Leederville, 9227 0429; 236 Lake St, Northbridge, 9227 7506
Sayers in Leederville has long been Perth’s go-to spot for flavour-rich brekkies created with primo local, organic ingredients. Now its twin, Sayers Sister, is pumping out similar nosh in Northbridge.
The chocolate and banana bread has cult status, with the poached eggs and potato rosti, the coriander and cumin-spiked bean tagine, and the Italian sausage not far behind.
Wild Poppy
2 Wray Ave, Fremantle, 9430 8555
Sitting on the corner of boho Wray Ave, Wild Poppy fits right in, with its granny-chic look and vintage art. The South African owners/operators blend their own culture with global flavours.
The fried chilli and masala eggs are a favourite, as is the black thai rice pudding paired with a banana fritter.
Sweet-tooths will adore the scrumptious belgian waffle with salted caramel and ice cream. Everything is made in-house using organic and free-range ingredients, catering for gluten and dairy-free diets.
Who’s Your Mumma
cnr South Tce and Wray Ave, Fremantle
Brekkie and bars aren’t always synonymous, but at Who’s Your Mumma the mix works. There’s everything from pork belly, fried egg and paratha bread to marinated eggplant with yoghurt and eggs.
They don’t open for brekkie during the week, but it’s on from 8am Friday, Saturday and Sunday until 2pm. The coffee may get you there early, though – it’s $2 until 10am.
The prices are a major drawcard, with most dishes ranging from $10-$15, and the industrial chic decor oozes cool.
Ootong & Lincoln, 258 South Terrace in South Fremantle.
Ootong & Lincoln
258 South Tce, South Fremantle, 9335 6109
Outside is a giant, multicoloured zebra mural. Inside, colourful communal tables are surrounded by dividers made from plumbing pipes, and vintage tricycles line a shelf.
Foodwise, everything is made from scratch. Go for the free-range poached egg and smoked salmon dish brimming with diced avocado and a corn and zucchini fritter, dolloped with hollandaise.
Toast
Shop 21/60 Royal St, East Perth, 9221 0771
Slept in to 4pm and craving eggs benedict? No problem. Toast serves breakfast until 7pm! It has a huge selection of breads on offer for toasting, too.
There are 14 to pick from, with potato and parmesan, banana, rye, raisin and gluten-free competing with the usual favourites. The chef is happy to customise his regular dishes, or you can just choose your toast and add ingredients to it.
Taylor’s Art & Coffee House
510 Great Northern Highway, Middle Swan, 0447 441 223
If you’re not won over by Taylor’s rustic, arty feel or its sun-dappled alfresco dining area, you will be by the heartwarming, home-style fare.
It’s made predominantly with sustainable, local produce – often plucked from the resident garden. Customers queue for the “eggs fabulosa” – smoked salmon piled with poached eggs and spinach, drizzled with house-made hollandaise.
The bacon and mushroom bruschetta comes a close second, with its tarragon-infused fetta and poached egg.
Taylor’s is a family affair – mother Jude is often found in her on-site art gallery, son Michael brews coffees and works the front-of-house, and daughter Caroline whips up tasty fare in the kitchen. Visiting during asparagus season is a highlight.
City Farm Cafe, 1 City Farm Place in East Perth.
City Farm Cafe
1 City Farm Place, East Perth, 9221 7300
One of the city’s best-kept secrets, this early-rising cafe is hidden behind vertical vegie gardens, chook roosts and herb patches. Splurge on french toast, caramelised banana and mascarpone, or keep it simple with their expertly scrambled, delicious eggs with sourdough.
Fresh-baked muffins and tarts are hard to pass up, as is the oozy croque monsieur. The cafe’s preference is for organic and free-range, and it pumps out plenty of almond-meal-rich, gluten-free options.
Moore & Moore
46 Henry St, Fremantle, 9335 8825
They have a strange rule at this perennially popular brekkie haunt: They don’t do scrambled eggs. Why, you ask?
Because the kitchen is pan-free – everything is cooked on a barbecue-style hotplate, which just doesn’t mesh with scrambling. It’s all part of the quirky charm at this gallery-cum-cafe, which extends out to an open-air yard of distressed wooden furniture, greenery and market umbrellas.
What it does do is all-day fried and poached googies. Terrific tummy pleasers include the burnt butter, sage and roast pumpkin mash with poached eggs on turkish bread, and the tomatoey pot of eggs, parmesan, chorizo and tuscan herbs.
Moore & Moore often has live music and a row of retro bikes is invariably lined up out the front, adding to the comfy-cool feel of the place.
Mary St Bakery, 507 Beaufort Street in Highgate.
Mary Street Bakery
507 Beaufort St, Highgate, 0499 509 300
Fancy pork belly on beans to start your day? How about amaranth and rhubarb porridge? Or would you rather stick to a toasted bacon and avocado roll? It’s all on offer at this new bakery-cafe.
The bakers use stone-milled biodynamic Eden Valley flour in their bread, which is baked on site as are the flaky pastries. Being the brainchild of four guys who between them preside over El Publico, Ace Pizza, Cantina 663 and Fibber McGee’s, is it any wonder Mary Street is always packed?
The Beaufort Street Merchant
488-492 Beaufort St, Highgate, 9328 6299
It’s hard not to get hunger pangs just from walking past The Merch, what with its promise of green eggs and ham, its truffled eggs and toast soldiers, and its chorizo baked beans.
The low-lit venue is a microcosm of Beaufort St, with hipster-types draped over every surface from dawn to dusk, squeezing between the fashion-forward girls and baby boomers all vying for table space.
It often feels like a squashy, loud, busy house party that’s so cool you just want to be inside, even if the door girl’s unfriendly. Nab a naughty treat from the table of baked delights on your way out.
Source: The Australian, 30 September 2013
Sunday Lunch
Little Creatures Brewery in Fremantle is a popular haunt for a lazy Sunday lunch.
STM foodies Gail Williams, Max Veenhuyzen and Fleur Bainger sat down in the finest bars, cafes and restaurants around WA to come up with our 100 hottest dining and drinking venues.
Now PerthNow readers can have their say.
This morning, we look at Sunday Lunch. Let us know your favourite spot or if you agree with our choices.
Little Creatures
40 Mews Rd, Fremantle, 9430 5555
Pale ale and pizza – a casual lunch that’s hard to beat. That’s why it’s a tad difficult to get a table on a Sunday for those coming down after a big Saturday night.
But it’s worth the wait to while away an afternoon looking over Fishing Boat Harbour. Newcomers all tuck in heartily after raising an eyebrow at the unusual pizza toppings.
There’s also a great hangover cure of steak sandwich with beetroot relish and frites.
Barque Restaurant
125 George St, East Fremantle, 9339 5524
It’s always a festival atmosphere on historic George St, and never more so than over Sunday lunch in Barque’s laidback courtyard.
Shared plates of Asian-inspired food take centre stage on long timber tables while a jazz combo provides background tunes.
Try the roast duck and spiced quince and pork ribs with turmeric, and down a lemongrass martini.
Millbrook Winery Restaurant in Jarrahdale.
Millbrook Winery
Old Chestnut Lane, Jarrahdale, 9525 5796
Chef Guy Jeffreys has been wooing Perth food lovers to make the hour-long trip to Jarrahdale for some time now.
Not only are Sunday drivers rewarded with produce plucked that very morning from his vegie garden; they also get to eat it in a divine setting overlooking the vineyard, olive grove and a sparkling lake.
Jeffreys’ viognier-braised Baldivis rabbit risotto is a conversation stopper and in spring and summer you can also buy a picnic hamper and settle in for the arvo on a rug on the picturesque property.
Dear Friends
100 Benara Rd, Caversham, 9279 2815
Owner-chef Kiren Mainwaring likes nothing better than a good old forage.
He’s sniffed out eucalyptus for his ice cream and stinging nettles for his gnocchi – just two of the dishes on his nine-course degustation menu.
Taking his “dego” is a must on any Perth food-lover’s bucket list. At $117, with an extra $70 for seven very generous pours, it is worth it to try it once.
And a long, Sunday indulgence, surrounded by Swan Valley vines, is just the ticket.
Rustico Tapas & Bar, 61 Rockingham Beach Rd in Rockingham.
Rustico Tapas
61 Rockingham Beach Rd, Rockingham, 9528 4111
Tapas by the sea is reason enough to make an afternoon of it in Rocko. Add the lure of a live acoustic band and you’ll want to settle in for the long haul.
The band, which starts at 2pm, varies each week. But the consistency of the dishes prepared by Shannon Whitmore is perennially above par.
Look out for scallops and chorizo with pear puree and candied jamon, and a particularly good tempura with soft-shell crab. While in Rocko you must eat a crab.
Il Lido Italian Canteen
88 Marine Pde, Cottesloe, 9286 111
The person who invented the lazy Sunday afternoon probably had been looking out at Cottesloe’s norfolk island pines.
Add a prawn risotto and a limoncello, vodka and Campari martini to the mix and you’ll be staying ‘til sunset. It’s another successful player in the Nic Trimboli stable and a firm favourite with the well-heeled western suburbs set.
With good reason.
Mrs S, Whatley Crescent in Maylands.
Mrs S
178 Whatley Cres, Maylands, 9271 6690
According to Lonely Planet, this little strip of Maylands is the Next Big Thing. And fans of Sunday lunch at Mrs S can understand why.
Mrs S, aka Sarah Schwikkard, has cooked her way into their hearts with pulled pork between buns – known as her manwich.
She also tempts with homemade brioche, caramelised pineapple and whipped ricotta. Wash it down with some of the best coffee in the Perth ‘burbs and Mrs S is your new BFF.
It’s simple, hearty fare with the emphasis on heart. It’s a BYO that has a loungeroom vibe. You’ll feel like you’ve been adopted by a friend.
Bib & Tucker
18 Leighton Beach Blvd, North Fremantle, 9433 2147
Service and lengthy wait issues aside, this has become THE lunch spot since Eamon Sullivan and crew opened the doors in April.
The tasty, fresh menu has everything that is hot on the food scene right now – beef sliders, fish tacos and pumpkin salad with pomegranate and goat’s cheese.
Of course there’s old favourites like fish and chips, too. Worth a try for the idyllic North Fremantle setting alone.
The Beach Club in Cottesloe.
The Beach Club
Cottesloe Beach Hotel, 104 Marine Pde, Cottesloe, 9383 1100
In a former life this was a beer garden. Now it has a more sophisticated vibe but the ambience is still laid-back.
The food matches superbly, a simple mix of Alan Spagnolo classics such as fish and chips, using local snapper and marinated meats cooked over coals. This is the life.
M on the Point
1 Marco Polo Drive, Mandurah, 9534 9899
Plan a long lunch overlooking the relaxing estuarine setting.Try Wesley Raymond’s roast pork with crackling and apple sauce. Anywhere else that would be humble. Here it’s spectacular.
Source: The Australian, 1 October 2013
BYO
The STM have selected their top Perth BYO restaurants.
STM foodies Gail Williams, Max Veenhuyzen and Fleur Bainger sat down in WA's finest bars, cafes and restaurants to come up with the 100 hottest dining and drinking venues.
Now it's over to PerthNow readers for your verdict.
Today, we look at BYO establishments. Do you agree with their choices or did they miss your favourite out?
The Prophet Lebanese Cafe.
The Prophet Lebanese Cafe
907A Albany Highway, East Victoria Park, 9361 1101
The lure of robust Levantine flavours and smiley service keeps this casual, cash-only favourite packed. While crunchy balls of falafel are rightly lauded (they were hailed by Feast magazine as Australia’s best), there’s depth to the entire playing squad.
House-made dips – the smoky baba ghanoush in particular – are invariably good. The kitchen is equally proficient with the fleshier stuff, as evinced by skewers of juicy chook and lamb. Finish off with the crunchy baklava – a must.
University Asian Restaurant
Basement, 88 Broadway, Nedlands, 9389 1168
When it comes to lazy susan fun, this western suburbs stalwart delivers big-time. During winter, it’s all about the slow-braised pork belly served with fluffy mantou buns, but the extensive menu and specials sport plenty of highlights.
In particular, there’s the excellent Singapore-style chilli crab, fragrant chicken and vibrant seasonal vegetables lit up with a piquant house sambal. Just as the cooking is of a higher order, so too is the service, led by charismatic owner Richard Choo.
Cecchi’s
965 Beaufort St, Inglewood, 9271 6366
Picking up where Da Bruno’s left off, Cecchi’s is another family-owned Italian restaurant looking beyond the greasy-spoon staples. Here, patron-chef Mark Cecchi serves an entree of quail as a crunchy fried ball of boned-out bird served atop parmesan custard.
Then there’s his take on zuppe de pesce that pairs a fat slab of barramundi with prawn and mussels in a tomato broth. This is contemporary, thoroughly enjoyable cooking, and reason aplenty to put Cecchi to the top of your restaurant watch list.
West End Deli.
West End Deli
95 Carr St, West Perth, 9328 3605
After earning his stripes in Nic Trimboli’s stable of fine diners (Balthazar, Il Lido, Duende), Justin Peters set his sights on doing something a little smaller, a little more local and a little closer to home.
Enter West End Deli. From great coffee and baked brekkie goods to satisfying dinner fare such as terrine of Baldivis rabbit, everything this deli does is tailored towards its loyal regulars. Fixed-price menus on Wednesday and Thursday evenings are an excellent introduction to the restaurant’s brand of modern Aussie cooking.
Northbridge Chinese Restaurant
26 Roe St, Northbridge, 9328 9288
When it comes to dim sum options, Perth eaters have it good, especially if they’re queued out the front of this prosaically named favourite. Don’t be put off by the numbers – lines move fast and before you know it it’ll be your turn to get stuck into excellent siu mai, har gow, char siu bao, congee and other winning examples of dim sum wonderment.
Northbridge Chinese’s liu sha bao (salted egg-yolk custard bun) is one of the city’s best, while the restaurant’s dinner menu offers equally impressive Cantonese dining thrills.
Clarke’s of North Beach
97 Flora Tce, North Beach, 9246 7621
Despite recently acquiring its licence, the northern corridor’s finest diner still offers BYO from Tuesday to Thursday. The question now is what to bring? Do you go hard with big-textured whites in anticipation of the lush confit salmon or deconstructed crab sandwich? Or do you look to the honey-roasted duck and bring along a top-shelf pinot noir?
Still, for fans of technique-heavy cooking, it’s a quandary worth struggling with, not least because of the eatery’s recent renovations and much-improved service.
An’s Kitchen
305 William St, Northbridge, 9227 9667
While Cantonese flavours have long dominated the local Chinese food discussion, Perth is home to a growing number of restaurants specialising in regional Chinese flavours. At An’s Kitchen, for instance, the focus is on the tastes of mainland China.
While solo diners can choose from dishes-for-one, such as Shanxi-style sliced noodles, dining with friends really is the best way to go exploring, especially with the offer of deep-fried lamb ribs and chewy pieces of beef tendon bathed in a tingly “ma la” (“hot and numbing”) chilli oil. Crunchy pickled vegetables, mercifully, offer some respite from the chilli sweats.
Senoji
1/885 Albany Highway, East Victoria Park, 9362 2979
Sake with Japanese food, wine with Western. Or so the rule used to go. In this age of cross-cultural dining, eaters from east and west are exploring what the other brings to the table.
Decide which you prefer (at least with Japanese food) at this homely eatery – you bring the grape wine, they’ll supply the rice wine. As well as hosting all the food and drink matching games you desire, Senoji’s food is a draw in its own right. Best are the share dishes where the likes of juicy chicken karaage, gyu tataki (rare seared beef) and sashimi rule.
Cantina 66.
Cantina 663
663 Beaufort St, Mount Lawley, 9370 4883
Hanging its hat on the seasonal and the delicious, Cantina 663 is the high-energy local you wish existed in your postcode, doubly so on Mondays and Tuesdays when BYO is available. While Gordon Kahle values provenance as much as his predecessors, the restaurant’s new head chef isn’t afraid to give the boat a gentle nudge.
Check out the unusual but undeniably pleasing likes of lamb parmigiana and an escabeche of cuttlefish, radish and cucumber. Alternatively, the chef’s selection menu puts the decision-making in the kitchen’s hands, leaving you free to focus on the social aspect of dining.
Mom Dumpling House
687 Albany Highway, East Victoria Park, 9470 2088
When it comes to the flavours of north-eastern China, Mom’s the word. True to the region’s history of wheat production, dumplings are a strong suit with varieties ranging from pan-fried pork to steamed beef. Construct a low-rise of bamboo steamers filled with various dumplings, then go to town.
There’s good eating throughout the rest of the menu. Fine ribbons of lamb laced with cumin and spicy pig’s ear are typical of the region’s way with spice and animal offcuts. The restaurant’s spring onion pancakes rate as some of Perth’s crispest and flakiest,
Source: The Australian, 2 October 2013
