Post, Perth, Western Australia (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

With a busy Summer doing everything from performing at PIAF, starting a new hiking blog called The Long Way's Better and being a bit frugal as we save for our trip to Tasmania at the end of the year, the celebration of Alissa's birthday served as an excellent impetus for us to head out and tick another restaurant off our State Buildings dining list - Post.

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.

Nomad, Surry Hills, New South Wales (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

Nomad at Surry Hills was one of those unexpected finds that pop up when your search for one thing on the internet leads you to something seemingly unrelated. While planning for our upcoming Bangkok trip, I was looking for a travel write up published a few years back where a journalist was taken on a food tour of Bangkok by David Thompson (some people have all the luck!). I found the article in question, but also found a short interview with Thompson where he nominated Nomad as his current favourite place to eat in Sydney. As we just so happened to have a Sydney trip planned before our adventures in Bangkok, this was a very serendipitous tip, and after reading about Nomad's wood fire-focused cooking and the restaurant's hyper artisanal approach to everything from polenta to charcuterie, it was settled - we had to booked a table for two at Nomad.

Print Hall (Dining Room), Perth, Western Australia (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

It's hard to believe that Print Hall - the multi-storey, multi venue centrepiece of Brookfield Place  - has been brightening up the previously dead night life of St. George's Terrace for two and a half years. In spite of Alissa and I having kept abreast of many of the new restaurants that have opened up around the future Perth City Link and having dined at many of the West Australian Good Food Guide's former and current 1 and 2 Star restaurants, we've neglected the many wonders of Brookfield Place. It's not for want of trying; there were the odd false starts and failed gatherings at the Apple Daily and the Trustee that never came to be, and there have been many wistful walks through the precinct on a Sunday as we planned for future meals. After initial plans for our first wedding anniversary in November were changed to a meal at Co-Op Dining, the celebration of Alissa's birthday seemed like as good a reason as any to finally dine in the precinct, and we decided to go all out with a reservation at the Print Hall Dining Room - the Good Food Guide's Restaurant and Wine List of the Year.

Lakeside Restaurant (Karri Valley Resort), Pemberton, Western Australia (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

Holidays Down South are some of the most cherished memories of my childhood, and few places are imbued with more nostalgia than Karri Valley. Along with Albany, Karri Valley Resort was our favourite destination for family holidays Down South, and I vividly remember canoeing on the lake with my Dad while wearing my favourite stripy t-shirt, walking a section of the Bibbulman for the first time on the opposite side of the lake, and games nights of Celebrity Heads, Monopoly and Scrabble with family and friends whenever we stayed in one of the larger chalets. It was where I celebrated my 13th birthday, and there are albums we listened to while driving through the karri forests that to this day bring back fond memories of a happy childhood.

Morries Anytime (Lunch and Breakfast), Margaret River, Western Australia (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

In spite of only having been established less than 3 years ago, Morries Anytime has become something of a Margaret River institution. It so well known and popular - the most blogged about restaurant in the region - that it feels like its always been there, and yet for all the regular visits Alissa and I have made over those same 3 years, we've never tried the food at Morries. With two nights set aside staying with our friends Cam and Nadia in Margaret River, Alissa and I were keen to rectify this oversight by trying the lunch and breakfast menus of 'Margaret Rivers first all day, anytime hospitality venue'.

Laundry 43, Busselton, Western Australia (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

My Father's previous job had him travelling to Bunbury and Busselton fairly regularly. My Mother would tag along and spend the day exploring the many shops and cafes before meeting up with my Father after work for dinner. One of their favourite places to eat was Laundry 43, a restaurant they would often rave about long before we picked up a copy of the Good Food Guide and discovered it to be the best rated restaurant in Busselton. While Alissa and I travel down south at least twice a year we are never in Busselton for dinner, so when planning our January 2015 trip we decided to stay the night in Busselton partly (but let's be honest, largely) for a chance to finally try this much celebrated local favourite. 

Wills Domain, Yallingup, Western Australia (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

When it comes to restaurant reservations, I like to make them as far ahead of time as possible. In planning our January 2015 road trip through the South West, reservations at Laundry 43, Wills Domain and Cape Lodge were booked by August to avoid the mad scramble for a table over the high demand first weekend of the New Year. When double checking our bookings and collating our confirmation emails for our files, I discovered that I'd made a serious error - I'd booked Wills Domain for our first day instead of our second, meaning we'd have to drive past Busselton to Yallingup, double back to Busselton for our dinner at Laundry 43 and then double back even further the next day to cover the things we'd planned for Day 1 in Geographe. With Wills Domain once again announced as the West Australian Good Food Guide's Regional Restaurant of the Year in the interim, changing our booking was not going to be possible  - especially since we booked an extended sitting for the degustation - so we decided to drive the extra distance and enjoy our meal and the winery's stunning views a day ahead of schedule.

The Standard, Northbridge, Western Australia (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

With a seemingly one a week rate of notable restaurant openings, its been interesting to see a common framework emerging as a model for success in Perth's burgeoning dining scene. Conceptually, its fairly straightforward: put together a great drinks list, combine it with a kitchen headed up by a chef with fine dining bonafides cooking technically proficient but accessible share plate food and serve it all up in a room with a hip and inviting mise en scene. The underlying formula may be predictable but the specifics are so open-ended that the permutations are seemingly endless - a whiskey bar with an ex-Vue de Monde chef (Varnish on King), Asian/American inspired 'dude food' from a guy who used to serve up fine dining food at Harvest in Fremantle (Pleased to Meet You) and a fortified wines specialist and artisanal bakery/charcuterie also staffed by Vue de Monde alumni (The Flour Factory) are but a few examples scattered around the future Perth City Link. Located next door to the Bonsai on Roe St and conveniently located facing the future Queen's Square precinct of the City Link, the recently opened Standard is quite possibly one of the best yet.

Riesling Rocks! Sunday Lunch - Burnt Ends x Restaurant Amusé, East Perth, Western Australia (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

Alissa and I are big fans of Riesling. In spite of being a Noble Grape, its far less popular with the average Australian consumer than Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc; a real shame when you consider the quality of Australian Riesling and its flexibility in being able to produce wines that can range from deliciously crisp and dry to an excellent late harvest wine when under the influence of botrytis' noble rot.

Arimia, Yallingup, Western Australia (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

One of the peculiarities of Western Australia's public holiday calendar is how sparse the long weekends become in the second half of the year. While the first half of the year averages 1 a month, after WA Day its over three months before the Queen's Birthday long weekend provides some respite from the relentless working week. The Queen's Birthday then is a holiday we all look forward to, independent of whatever feelings we have for the monarchy. This Queen's Birthday weekend was particularly important for Alissa, as it marked the end of her prac for her university studies and a weekend down south celebrating the birthday of our friend Annaliese Hutchison. After heading down with our friend Ben on the Friday night, Alissa and I had some free time on the Saturday morning to explore. After tasting (and purchasing) wine from the cellar door at Flying Fish Cove, Alissa and I decided to stop in for lunch at the cellar door restaurant at the nearby Arimia Estate.

St Michael 6003, Highgate, Western Australia (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

In March this year, Alissa and I attended one of the 'Limited Edition Degos' at Jackson's before eponymous chef Neal Jackson closed his iconic Highgate restaurant after 15 years as a trailblazer in Perth's fine dining scene. Given the huge shadow its cast, I'd wondered what could possibly be bold enough to take its place; would it become another fine diner that would have to forever battle with the reputation of its predecessor, or would the new tenants go in the opposite direction with another casual and hipster-ready restaurant to add to the vibrant Beaufort St dining scene?

Dear Friends (Last Supper Degustation), Caversham, Western Australia (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

Earlier this year Alissa and I visited Co-op Dining, the East Perth restaurant owned and operated by chef Kiren Mainwaring and his wife Kelli. Impressed by their sustainable Farm to Table and Foraging-focused philosophy even before visiting the restaurant, the Tuesday special 5 Course Vegetarian Experimental Menu we went for remains one of the best vegetarian meals Alissa and I have eaten, and one that I frequent recommend to vegetarian and vegan friends due to the creativity of the menu; it changes every week (being drastically different when visited by friends a few months later) and the $69 per person asking price is excellent value for food of this calibre. As omnivores, Alissa and I have been meaning to visit Co-op again to experience their full 10 Course Menu, and with regular themed event dinners hosted by the restaurant, Alissa and I would have booked for their recent Canadian Roots dinner if not for a clash with Alissa's schedule and a decision to book 1907's Truffle Degustation meaning our fine dining budget was already allocated for the month.

Being on the Co-op mailing list, I received an email informing of Kiren and Kelli's decision to close Co-op Dining's sister restaurant Dear Friends in Caversham so as to focus their full attention on the East Perth restaurant. With their final service on July 19th themed as a 'greatest hits' Last Supper of their 7 years as a Swan Valley mainstay, this was both our last chance to visit Dear Friends and an opportunity to try Mainwaring's food again. Having already booked 1907 for earlier that same week, two degustations in such a short length of time was the kind of splurge we hadn't quite figured into our monthly budget, however given the limited nature of both menus we decided to make August a more frugal month to make the most of July's opportunities.

1907 (Truffle Degustation), Perth, Western Australia (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

Winter is one of the best times of the year. Sure, its cold and rainy, but it is also a season overflowing with opportunity. Unlike the oppressive searing summers of Perth, the cooler weather is conducive to dressing up to go out - instead of sweating even in t-shirts and shorts, it's time to step out comfortably in jackets and collared shirts, and to accept the warm embrace of jumpers and knitwear. During the season, I find myself increasingly drawn to the outdoors; rather than worrying about the rain I'm more likely to get excited about being able to push it on a bike without even breaking a sweat, and there is something about the cold air that fills me with nostalgia for childhood holidays in the forests of WA's south west.

For a foodie, wintertime in WA also holds one of the great seasonal gifts - Truffle Season. With the increasing global recognition of the Manjimup truffle industry, the unique flavour of the black truffle (tuber melanosporum) has well and truly cast its spell on Perth restaurants and diners, with truffle being featured on seasonal menus by everyone from Must Wine Bar, Lalla Rookh and even shaved on top of the barbecued meat of Old Faithful Bar! One could not have imagined this prized ingredient being used so liberally even 5 years ago, and as a self-confessed truffle pig its like Christmas in July for us antipodean gourmands.

Red Cabbage, South Perth, Western Australia (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

Being foodies, Alissa and I need little in the way of an excuse to eat good food. It is therefore something of an imperative that when a good excuse does come along that the meal be a particularly special one. Alissa once said that degustation was her favourite 'cuisine', and to that end we've made it a mission to try some of Perth's best degustations whenever there is a special occasion. For Valentine's Day we opted to celebrate a few days earlier at Co-op Dining's Tuesday vegetarian degustation, and for Alissa's birthday we enjoyed a truly memorable meal at Restaurant Amusé. For my birthday, it was a toss up between Clarke's of North Beach and Red Cabbage, with the closer proximity of its South Perth location to our home and chef Scott O'Sullivan's win as The Good Food Guide's Chef of the Year tipping us towards the latter.

Cutler & Co, Fitzroy, Victoria (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

With degustations booked at Vue de Monde and Attica for our Easter Melbourne trip, a visit to Cutler & Co. - or any other expensive fine diner for that matter - was not originally part of the plan. While the $130 asking price for their dinner degustation (excluding the inevitable wine and tea) is far and away the cheapest of the three, I was thinking a more upper-middle priced restaurant like Hell of the North's $65 'Let Us Feed You' would be more economically sensible as a third premium meal for the trip. That was before Melbourne resident friends Tash and Lloyd hipped us to Cutler & Co's Sunday Lunch - a casual four course meal, with the first two courses consisting of multiple share plates and a selection of main and dessert options for $75. Convinced that this was a great opportunity for us to fit a Cutler & Co. meal into our schedule without totally blowing the budget, the initial plan was for all four of us to share the meal together, however with Tash busy with the tail end of Melbourne Comedy Festival, I ended up making a Sunday Lunch reservation for two.

The flagship restaurant of chef and prolific restaurateur Andrew McConnell's restaurant empire that includes the wildly popular and successful Cumulus Inc, Cutler & Co's adamantly non-descript exterior belies its interior's elegant mise en scene by McConnell's wife Pascale Gomes-McNabb, whose design aesthetic is very sympathetic to the unfussy but refined quality that is the hallmark of McConnell's cooking.

Attica, Ripponlea, Victoria (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

When it comes to restaurant reservations, I'm a pretty organised guy. For our honeymoon, I secured tables at all the more difficult to book restaurants months in advance; the then (3 Star-Michelin) Caprice in Hong Kong was secured 6 months ahead, Otto e Mezzo Bombana and Iggy's reservations booked within the first week of their booking windows being opened for the dates we wanted. I even kept a file with all our 20+ reservation confirmation emails printed out just in case we confused times or a restaurant forgot to take our booking down properly. What can I say; I'm a planner by profession.

So when I realised I'd missed the first two days to book a table at Attica, I was filled with a deep foreboding that we'd totally missed out on getting a table for our Melbourne trip - even with a range of dates for the restaurant to select from. The third day in a reservation window for a table 3 months away should not normally be this hard to secure, but such is the frenzy since Attica's incredibly successful 2013; voted #21 in the world on the S Pellegrino List, The Good Food Guide's 2014 Restaurant of the Year and a Chef of the Year win for Head Chef Ben Shewry. David Chang recently went so far as to say Shewry is doing 'god's work in Melbourne', so actually getting a reservation at Attica is kind of a big deal. With all this hype, most of the dates I had wanted were totally booked out, and the only date available did not have a table for two.
"What do you have?"
"We have a table for 4 or for 6."
"Okay, I'll take the four."
"You know you won't be able to split it..."
"That's okay... we'll make it work!"

Vue de Monde, Melbourne, Victoria (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

Vue de Monde has been on our restaurant wishlist for sometime. Alissa had been wanting to go since her friends raved about it years ago, and after I enjoyed an impressive meal at the more casual and traditional Bistro Vue, I really wanted to see for myself how good Shannon Bennett's flagship restaurant was. With this in mind, it should not be surprising that a reservation at Vue de Monde was high on our list of priorities when planning our first trip to Melbourne together, with our reservation made before we even booked our flights over.

Restaurant Amusé, East Perth, Western Australia (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

There was a time not so long ago when the 'best' restaurants in Perth were dated, white glove service, expensive destinations that were more about stunning views and location rather than genuinely good or innovative food. Dining at these kind of restaurants was (and is) more a signifier of status rather than taste, and these restaurants operated with an air of geography-based entitlement that meant they didn't have to be contemporary or innovative. Of course, many of the best restaurants in Perth do still follow the classic approach of an opulent design aesthetic to project a sense of classiness, but its no longer a prerequisite for success, with the most extreme example of the new good food paradigm being Restaurant Amusé in East Perth - quite possibly the best restaurant in Perth.

Jackson's, Highgate, Western Australia (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

A changing of the guard seems to be happening in Perth. Last year saw Alain Fabrègues close The Loose Box after 34 years as a giant of the fine dining scene, and 2013 ended with the equally sad announcement that Neal Jackson would be selling his eponymous restaurant after 15 years as one of Perth's most consistently well regarded restaurants. 

A lot has changed in 15 years, and the increasingly tough competition at the very top of Perth's scene must have be stressful for a head chef. While being the restaurant that introduced the degustation to Perth, last year say Jackson's announce its final 'Dego' before switching to a very on-trend bar/share plate menu at the front of the restaurant, while still offering a la carte. Met with protests by longtime fans, Jackson's brought back the degustation for a series of three 4-week long menus called the Limited Edition Dego before closing, offering Perth diners one last chance to dine at a restaurant that has done so much to raise the standards of cooking in Perth. Having been on Alissa's list of restaurants to try for 6 years, it was any easy task to convince her we had to go - especially considering we'd missed out on the Loose Box last year. 

Upon entering the restaurant, Jackson's reminded me a lot of the very contemporary design style of Iggy's in Singapore. The table across the way from us featured a discofied sculpture of a bull's head made of mirrors set against the classy, minimalist monochrome aesthetic of the space.

A meal like this is also a great chance to catch up for some good conversation with good friends, and Alissa and I were joined on this occasion by semi-regular dining buddies Trevor and Annaliese. You'll probably see them again in later posts.

As we were seated and perused the wine list, we got a chance to have a look at our menus for the evening - Limited Edition Dego #2: Surf 'n Turf, 'a selection of dishes from [Jackson's] early days'. After selecting the intriguing sounding 2012  Didi ‘Piniolo’ Pinot Noir Nebbiolo as our wine for the evening, we were ready to go.

While waiting for the amuse bouche, the customary bread basket was brought out featuring a selection of interesting bread options.

I decided to go with a cheese-encrusted roll first. The bread was nice and soft on the inside, with the cheese crust offering a nice umami kick. It was very good, but didn't compare with the absolute best bread I've had at Otto e Mezzo Bombana and Caprice.

Chinese spoons containing a taster of Orange, Fennel and Anchovy served as our Amuse Bouche. The clean, sweet acidity of the orange worked with in its every-trustworthy pairing with fennel, and the anchovy's salty-umami intensity gave it that extra kick. A good palate cleanser and start to the meal. 

Drunken Chicken & Prawn with Cucumber Noodle Salad was our first course, and was unfortunately a bit of a mixed bag. The strongest element of the dish was the cucumber noodle salad. I love the flavour of cucumber but dislike its texture when its cut thickly. Its presentation here as 'noodles' with a lovely Chinese-style dressing rich in sesame flavour was very much to my liking - something I'd like to try at home. I however cannot speak as highly of the prawns and chicken. Both were poached in Shaoxing wine, and based on the slightly cottony texture of the prawn I felt it had been in a bit too long. Additionally, the thought may have been that the salad dressing provided enough saltiness for the entire dish, however I felt the chicken could really have done with some low level brining as it bordered on being a bit bland. This was not exactly a bad dish, but I expect a bit more from a restaurant of Jackson's stature.

Thankfully any concern that this meal would prove to be a disappointment was abated by the next course - Roast Pork Belly, Black Pudding & Seared Scallop with Spiced Apple & Honey Sauce. It was the dish that most spoke to us when we read the menu, and  it was as good as it sounds. Presentation was beautiful, and the pork and scallops were cooked perfectly, and the accompanying flavours of apple and black pudding were highly complimentary - I could not fault this dish. Though this was a throwback featuring dishes from their early days, a look at the final form of the Dego on other blogs reveals that the basic idea of pork, black pudding and apple was so successful that it was still being played around with in 2013.

The next course served was Ocean Trout Confit, Rabbit Sauce & Mushy Peas. Basically oil-poached trout, the fish was a served rare which highlighted the freshness and quality of the trout. The rabbit sauce was basically a rabbit ragu, and it was flavoursome without being overly gamey. I'm not usually a fan of mushy peas but being cooked here by a restaurant brigade of this level, it was very nice indeed. That said, while everything was cooked with a lot of skill and faultless in its execution, it was probably less memorable than the pork it preceded, and the beef dish that would come after. I think part of the reason for this is that a dish like this is perhaps a bit dated, which is understandable considering this was a 'greatest hits' meal of sorts.

As the main for the evening, Roast Beef Fillet, Braised Beef Cheek & Jacko's Oyster Sauce with Truffle Potato Mash & Beans knocked it out of the park. I'm not the biggest fan of beef (and have some environmental objections to cattle farming) but this was a dish that highlighted how great this protein can be. The beef fillet was either cooked sous-vide or more conventionally through immense skill/black magic as it was a lovely medium rare almost from top to bottom. Even better was the braised beef cheek, being flavoursome and extremely melt-in-your-mouth delicious. Jacko's oyster sauce went wonderfully with both versions of the beef, and the smooth mash decadent with the flavour and aroma of truffle. On the plate it may look a bit simple, but when simple is done with this level of complexity I wouldn't have it any other way.

Dessert of Passionfruit & Banana Cream Pie with Peanut Butter & Chocolate Crispies maintained the standard. I've made the kind of passionfruit tart that was served here and know its not the easiest thing to get right, and yet the filling was perfectly set. All the other components were well thought out and executed, with the intense flavour of the mango ice cream being the highlight. I had to admit the dish showed its age a bit - it was not quite as inventive as desserts Alissa and I have had in places like Caprice, Iggy's or even Co-op Dining for that matter - but considering this was an early dish from a restaurant 15 year old, one can see how this would have been as cutting edge and surprising in its time.

As I'd expect from a restaurant of this calibre, coffee was well made - the milk was not frothed the death and overboiled, and the espresso shot extracted with skill.

Petit fours were again a bit old school, being Raspberry Shortbread. Having seen what was served at the last Dego in 2013 (see 'coffee, tea and things' for details), this was a bit of a disappointment but we could not fault the quality of the shortbread as it was crumbly and buttery as good shortbread should be.

The Verdict: Excellent +
Being a retrospective of dishes from Jackson's early days, the food presented was never going to be as innovative and on-trend as newer restaurants in town, or even Jackson's in its later years. How could it be? 15 years ago the Molecular Gastronomy wave of el Bulli, the Fat Duck and Alinea had yet to crest, and the farm-to-table/foraging sustainable fine dining trend of places like Noma, Narisawa and Attica had yet to gain traction. In a sense, the Limited Edition Dego could be called classical Modern Australian, a look back at the proud history of this great restaurant's contribution to the cuisine of this country, and Perth in general. Other than the chicken and prawn dish, everything here executed perfectly with great skill, and presented in combinations that were well thought out. I'm so glad that we did get to have a meal at Jackson's, and if you've got a night free before last orders are taken on Saturday 12th April, 2014, I thoroughly recommended popping into Jackson's to send them off with a bang.