Super bowls: scoring great noodles in Perth

From the winter 2015 edition of Scoop's Perth Guide, a wrap of some of my favourite noodle places in Perth. Since the piece was published, there's been a bit of movement in some categories - Trang's Cafe in Girrawheen is now my go-to for pho dac biet, plus the discovery of house-made soba at Sasuke is an exciting development - but I still think the list makes for good reading.

Throwback Thursday. Sort of.

Considering the Balingup Summer Long Table is little more than a week away, the (re)discovery of these images from lunch at Millbrook in March 2011 is a timely one. I remember being particularly impressed with that carrot centrepiece in the first shot. 

Perth holiday drinks

It's been a good year for bending the elbow. As published in last week's STM magazine, here are five new Perth bars worth checking out over the long break.

Basement Dinner Sessions

What's this? A series of (literally) underground pop-up dinners from the funsters at El Publico? Hot diggity this is going to be fun. Kicking things off will be an event on Wednesday November 26 with guest Sydney chef and newly minted cookbook author Dan Hong of Mr Wong, Ms. G's and El Loco notoriety, then Mary Street Bakery head pastry chef Courtney Gibb will be throwing down with an all-dessert dinner on Thursday. Finally on Friday, everyone's favourite gardening chef Guy Jeffreys will be bringing the Millbrook show to the big smoke. For those who've wanted to enjoy Jeffreys' vegie-centric cooking but haven't yet made the trek out to Jarrahdale, your ship's come in. Get a posse together, then hit basementdinnersessions.eventbrite.com.au to book tickets. See you there.

ANZAC Day, Kings Park

"They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted.
They fell with their faces to the foe."

Golden King BBQ Express, Morley

Seeing as search engines don't crawl instagram comments, I'm going to start reposting images in a blog-ish format for the benefit of those eating out in Perth. First cab off the rank is Golden King BBQ Express in Morley, a spin-off of the Northbridge mothership on William Street. Small place. Eight chairs. BYO. Service standards appear to be set at perfunctory, but really, people who get shirty at brisk service at low-end Chinese restaurants need to check themselves. To the food: the pork in this two-meat combo ($9.30) is a little leaner than I'd like but does what's asked of it. The duck ($9 in the same rice, meat, gravy and vegetable combination), however, is the real star. If more places roasted duck like this - crisp skin, fat properly rendered and the meat pleasingly juicy as - I'd probably promote it from third in my Chinese barbecue rankings. They're not shy with the star anise either, both on the duck itself and, by extension, the gravy too. The chilli oil tastes like it's out of a jar. Not a patch on the deeply flavoured house made version at Aberdeen's excellent Hong Kong BBQ House. All in all, fair value, and a far comelier prospect for a feed in Morley than tackling the hordes at The Galleria.
Shop 19, Morley Market (Walter Rd West), (08) 9375 5556, Mon-Sun 10am-9pm

Largesse Dining #6

“What was your favourite dish?” A tough question at the best of times, even more so at June's Largesse Dining finale – or is it? – at Petite Mort in Shenton Park.

For the discerning diner’s consideration: Kiren Mainwaring’s artfully plated house-cured ham, yolk and wild herb number that might well have suffered from being first cab off the rank. Initially it was to be Scott O’Sullivan’s dish of squid, chilli soil and an almighty C-size battery of smoked trout that was opening the batting, but events led to a last minute top order shuffle. The night was none the poorer for it.

Jason Jujnovich’s dazzling tortellini with radicchio leaves and a shower of Fontina cemented Divido’s place atop Perth’s Italian food leader board. Duck, chanterelle and cep mushrooms and a thumb-sized “sausage” of braised venison and liquorice root ended the savoury courses in typically meaty territory. Props, respectively, to Todd Stuart and Shane Middleton of Clarke’s of North Beach, Stephen Clarke’s stand-in on the night who lived up to his boss’ reputation.

To close, chocolate marbles, a puddle of ridiculously good caramel and Styrofoam-like triangles of sorrel “meringue”: typical of Restaurant Amuse’s leftfield yet brilliant desserts. Make no mistake, each chef and his brigade brought their A-game to the kitchen while wives – many of them managers at the restaurants involved – played their part in keeping the ship out front on an even keel (with the exception of Todd Stuart’s missus Esther who, as she did for the first dinner, scrubbed dishes out back. Now that's love).

Meanwhile, ace matching wines and the feel-good factor of supporting a worthwhile charity like the Royal Flying Doctor Service helped keep diners warm on a brisk winter Monday night.

A man walks in to a bar...

And writes about it as his new role as bar reviewer for The Sunday Times in Perth.

Sometimes, at any rate.

I'm not going to lie, following the footsteps of Andrew Bennett - now bar manager at North Perth's The Classroom - would be a daunting prospect for any scribe. If you're looking for a high water mark for West Australian booze journalism, Andrew's set it, and over the years his eloquent prose has both educated and entertained.

In terms of a first review, it seemed only fair to set guidelines for what I reckon makes a good watering hole. Truth be told, my criteria boils down to a single yardstick: service. Having a back bar packed to the rafters with pricey booze is all good and well, but it's those places that make guests feel truly welcome - places that understand hospitality isn't just an industry but an attitude - that stand the best chance of going from casual acquaintance to regular haunt. Helvetica - as depicted by this Polaroid of its wall mural from the ridiculously ill Perth artist Yok - understands this all too well. This Howard Lane speakeasy really is a no-brainer when I find myself thirsty (or lonely) in the city.

Bar Fly reviews are published every Sunday in the STE magazine in the Sunday Times as well as mirrored online on Mondays.

Bar Fly: Helvetica

RIP Star Anise

According to Star Anise chef-patron David Coomer (left, pictured with Pata Negra head chef Kurt Sampson) Saturday April 16 will be the celebrated Shenton Park fine diner’s last service.

Get in while you can and rock the ma hor, suckling pig and passionfruit parfait - or indeed anything on the dessert selection - one last time.

RIP Star Anise

According to Star Anise chef-patron David Coomer (left, pictured with Pata Negra head chef Kurt Sampson) Saturday April 16 will be the celebrated Shenton Park fine diner’s last service.

Get in while you can and rock the ma hor, suckling pig and passionfruit parfait - or indeed anything on the dessert selection - one last time.

Project Amusé

Epic dill-hit Nordic kingfish, by Gianfranco Monti - one of the many rocking dishes presented as part of last night’s Project Amuse event where each of the chefs from the Restaurant Amusé brigade presented a course.

(And before you start hating, G actually is of Nordic descent and not just jumping on the Noma bandwagon)

Project Amusé

Epic dill-hit Nordic kingfish, by Gianfranco Monti - one of the many rocking dishes presented as part of last night’s Project Amuse event where each of the chefs from the Restaurant Amusé brigade presented a course.

(And before you start hating, G actually is of Nordic descent and not just jumping on the Noma bandwagon)

Unwrapped at South Perth Fiesta 2009

It doesn't matter how much cool content there is online: there's nothing like going out and exposing yourself to great new local artists.

As part of this weekend's South Perth Fiesta, unwrapped: the marketplace gave local designers the chance to show off their crafts and wares.

I can't think of too many situations (or outfits) that I'd wear them with, but I dug the art on these two button packs so much, I had to get them.

The top pack is a collection of five animal-inspired illustrations from Niina Aooki while the bottom three pack is the work of the equally talented Ali J.

There's two more local artists I'll be following (I've added their blogs to my blogroll on the sidebar too).

Additionally, through their sites, I've discovered a couple of other interesting Perth-based movements that might be of interest to fellow West Australians.

The first of these is Made On The Left which is dedicated to showcasing local talent. They're holding a market in Bunbury in April which sounds like a tonne of fun.

Second is an upcoming show being run by the arterial_collective which Ali is a part of. The show is called dRaw and looks like something well worth checking out.



On top of these discoveries, I also had the opportunity to photograph a LOT of vintage cars. I burned through four packs of Polaroid film in about an hour as well as three rolls of 220 Velvia50 which I shot with my recently acquired Pentax 67.

Looking forward to dropping the rolls off at Mirage this week and even more so to getting them back at the end of the week!