In 2018, the Italians came riding into town like Clint Eastwood in a spaghetti western. It was the year of the Italians and while there were many to celebrate this year, we were love-struck by newcomers Garum at the Westin Hotel and Santini at the QT Hotel. Both have created menus and a service style as Italian as an evening passeggiata. Bravo! Worth noting, too, is Santini’s Bar, voted by The West Australian Good Food Guide as the sexiest, most grown-up bar in Perth.
It’s also noteworthy that these two excellent newcomers are both large hotel restaurants, a segment which has historically been a byword for soulless, dumbed-down, catering department, corporate-style hospitality.
One can’t mention Italian without a note on pizza. This year saw the opening of the stellar Cottesloe pizza joint, Canteen Pizza. Also this year, the lads behind Pappagallo in Mt Hawthorn have opened up a second venue in North Perth called Teglia Romana. It’s a pizza-slice restaurant in the Roman tradition — a much needed new addition to the Perth pizza landscape.
Canteen PizzaThis was also the year Margaret River went upscale. The region’s seriously good restaurants got even more serious with Wills Domain winning The West Australian Good Food Guide’s restaurant of the year award, the first time a non-metropolitan restaurant has done so. Leeuwin Estate went from excellent to subtly brilliant in 2018 and Voyager Estate (winner of regional restaurant of the year) was a brilliant package of silky service and formidable cooking under the guidance of chef Santiago Fernandez. Vasse Felix has never been better. New(ish) chef Brendan Pratt has been cooking some of the most refined and interesting dishes in the region.
Ramen has gone from strength to strength, with CBD noodle masters Ippudo and Nao getting rave reviews and RamenKeisuke Tonkotsu King at the Melbourne Hotel, with its queues of fans and its epic porky broth. Add Hakata Gensuke in East Victoria Park to the roster of ramen rock stars making big names for themselves in 2018.
Ramen Keisuke Tonkotsu King.Family-style dining was a trend this year. Tiny’s in QV1 has a rotisserie chook to die for (our favourite chook of the year, in fact), a bistro-ish menu of share-able comfort favourites cooked with a modern sensibility, and one of the best cocktail programs in P-Town.
The old stalwart, Must Winebar in Highgate, took an enormous punt and sidelined its 17-year-old bistro menu, replacing it with big-platter, family-style food, while retaining its bistro sensibilities. Awesome.
Rob Broadfield checks out Perth's best rooftop bars.
1:59 | The West Australian
Play VideoRob Broadfield checks out Perth's best rooftop bars.
Bars, bars and more bars; 2018 saw a significant increase in bar openings, with more projects in the pipeline awaiting licensing and local government approvals.
Hospo impresario Andy Freeman did it again, with two extraordinary new bars added to his portfolio. Hadiqa and Goody Two’s opened within six months of each other at Hibernian Place, and we love ’em — fun, clever, good food and they’re very, very serious about their cocktails. Restaurateurs Eamon Sullivan and Scott Bridger (Bib & Tucker) joined Freeman in the Goody Two’s enterprise, a nightclub meets speakeasy, meets slinky bar, meets Japanese street-food restaurant. No, really.
Hadiqa.At the other end of the bar spectrum, a little suburban boozer called Hylin Back Bar opened its doors in Leederville. It has serious drinks, a great “local” vibe, is smart and modern but utterly unpretentious and it’s, well, just bloody lovely.
Ronnie Nights (named after a 70s porn star perhaps?) flung open its doors this year. What do you make of an Argentine snack joint, with first-class cocktail slingers, a beyond quirky decor and a we’re-cooler-than- our-customers vibe? We call it marvellous, and as Freo as tie-dye and Birkenstocks.
West Leederville hotspot Hylin. Barman Jake Silvester is looking after the drinks.Daniel Wegener, WA’s most awarded and experienced sommelier, took the punt this year and opened his own venue, named after his toddler son. Wine Rooms by Harvey Leigh’s might be a mouthful in these days of one-name rock stars and one-syllable restaurant names but it is relevant, fun, modern and heaven for wine wonks of all persuasions. He is joined by Rockpool alumnus Matthew Bell, one of the city’s finest somms.
RIPs this year included Frank at the Art Gallery of WA, Cyril Mason’s, Meat Candy (sob, a true loss to fried chicken lovers everywhere), Ku De Ta (a spectacular crash and burn), Hermosa Cantina and the Butcher’s Arms, which lasted barely as long as the life cycle of a monarch butterfly.
Next year will see some big new venues from Perth’s industry leaders. Freeman, Clint Nolan and the dynamic duo of Paul Aron and Michael Forde all have new projects in the pipeline, with announcements expected as early as next month.
And remember, as Virginia Woolf wrote: “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” Merry Christmas.
No comments:
Post a Comment