Miki's Open Kitchen, Margaret River, Western Australia (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

With the weather warming up over the Summer months in Perth, the cooler climes of the South West beckon - even more than they usually do. Alissa and I had already spent Christmas and New Year's in the Great Southern, and a weekend away with friends in Margaret River was another chance to escape January's run of high 30°C days. While we were down for a belated edition of our annual Christmas Cookoff competition, Alissa and I took the opportunity to tick another Margaret River restaurant off our list of places to try - Miki's Open Kitchen, a Japanese restaurant that came highly recommended.

Long Chim, Perth, Western Australia (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

Of all the restaurant openings in the recently refurbished State Buildings, none has been as highly anticipated and hyped as Long Chim. And with good reason - it has been 20 years since Australian born Chef David Thompson last had a restaurant in Australia. During those 2 decades, Thompson has gone from strength to strength - his Nahm in London became the first Thai restaurant to be awarded a Michelin star. Although the London branch is now closed, Nahm in Bangkok was ranked the #1 restaurant in Asia on the Asia's 50 Best Restaurants List in 2014, and continues to be highly placed. Additionally, Thompson's uncompromising authenticity and encyclopedic knowledge of Thai cuisine has made him an international authority on Thai cooking; his book Thai Food is the Larousse Gastronomique of this most complex of Asian cuisines. Throw in his much loved SBS food series Thai Street Food and its beautiful companion book, and its easy to understand why the fact Thompson chose Perth for the location of his next restaurant is such a big deal. Having dined at Nahm late last year and being massive fans of his cookbooks, Alissa and I invited my parents Alan and Maya to join us for dinner to see if Long Chim lived up to our lofty expectations.

Petition Kitchen, Perth, Western Australia (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

A few years ago Alissa assisted friends as a set designer for an immersive theatre piece called Pollyanna. Staged in the Treasury Building during 2012's Fringe World Festival, it was great to see these long empty spaces reactivated for use. As we watched the works to restore the building to its former glory take place in the ensuing years, Alissa and I often wondered how the spaces would look once the restoration was complete. With the multi-concept bar and restaurant Petition taking up most of the space used for Pollyanna, we were particularly interested to dine at Petition Kitchen - especially after hearing that chef Jesse Blake was an acolyte of Andrew McConnell (of Cumulus Inc. and Cutler & Co fame). Excited by the promise of a new restaurant and keen to see how it stacked up after our meal at Petition Beer Corner just days earlier, we booked a table for four as a catch up with our friends Justin and Sarah.