Gen Y rewrite Perth's menu

If you're wondering why the music in your favourite restaurant is louder, the dishes are for sharing, you're drinking a cocktail with a pulled pork taco and you can eat when you like, you've got Generation Y to thank.

They're the generation that have changed the way we eat.

	Food revolution: Georgie Ferreira, 22, Tim Kirk, 26, and Tess Bettenay, 25, at The Stables Bar in Hay Street.

Gen Y, particularly 24 to 34-year-olds, have driven some of the most fundamental changes to dining culture in WA as restaurateurs and bar and cafe owners respond to their demands.

Dishes are smaller. Dining times are, well, fluid and chances are you haven't made a booking.

And that's the way the 20-somethings love it.

City worker Tim Kirk, 26, says "quality is a big deal".

"I think our generation is more about sharing food and trying lots of small things, but that's not the same as cheap and cheerful," Mr Kirk said. "We get good food."

The West Australian had lunch at The Stables Bar with him and fellow Gen Ys Georgie Ferreira, 22, and Tess Bettenay, 25. They had baked Esperance scallops with leeks and lemon-brioche crumbs and beer-battered soft shell crab tacos with wasabi mayonnaise and jalapeno.

"So many cooking shows and celebrity chefs these days style their food this way," Ms Bettenay said. "Sharing is a big thing. Big flavour, too." For the young food-savvy diner, cutlery is also optional because many of the small dishes are meant to be eaten with your fingers.

And bookings? Old hat.

Gen Ys like to walk in to a restaurant at a time that suits them - and they don't mind queuing.

No restaurant better exemplifies the Gen Y-driven changes than Jamie's Italian in the city.

It combines rock-bottom prices with high-quality produce, house-made pasta and an organic/biodynamic narrative from the Cheeky Chappie himself.

The Perth restaurant is the biggest of Jamie Oliver's 42 Jamie's Italians worldwide, in terms of both revenue and bums on seats. With more than 5000 covers a week, it has clearly found a niche.

Head chef Lorenzo Schiaffini says young foodies have discovered something Italians have known for generations.

Source: The West Australian, 4 November 2013