Alt Heidelberg is on Beaufort St in North Perth, basically diagonally across from the Brisbane Hotel on the corner of Beaufort and Brisbane Streets.
It’s (suprisingly enough) a German restaurant, and apparently has quite a bit of history to it. The owners are a German husband and wife couple who moved to Perth quite a while ago and started it as a way of furthering their love of cooking, and filling the void of quality German restuarants in our fair city…
This is another place that i’ve driven past hundreds of times, and finally curiosity got the better of me. So one night after a work social function Sharon and I decided to stop in here for a late dinner. The place looks like a German pub (or what i imagine one might look like after reading Asterix & Obelix go to Germany)…with low ceilings, nice wrought iron lamps and light fittings and candles on all the tables.
The waitress was a friendly German girl who looked at me weird when i asked for “the most German thing” on the menu… But then suggested the ham shank on mashed potato for me and a beef olived sausage type thing with cabbage for Sharon. Must say the Germans love their meat… well at least pork anyway. When my meal arrived it looked essentially like half a pig slow cooked and then fried to make the skin crispy… served on a bed of mash potato… There was no pretense of other vegetables… and i was too hungry (and partially drunk) at that stage, so didn’t bother ordering any. Sharons meal looked like about 15 types of meat wrapped in other meat…and stuffed with meat… It was tasty for about three mouthfull’s, but then meat fatigue set in, and it was all over. Let’s just say that meat got the better of me that night… i never thought it would happen, nor that i would admit it… but sometimes there’s just too much meat on the plate. Perhaps if i hadn’t had to chew through a substantial amount of grisel to get to the meat it would have been a more rewarding experience, but i didn’t really have it in me… so i chalked it all down to experience and bid the owner adieu (or its equivant in German).
In it’s defence, this is a really nice quaint little restaurant. It obviously has a following or it wouldn’t have been around for as long as it has, and while we there it was full of a big mixture of people. The table next to us looked like a group of backpackers from an array of different countries… which gave way to one of my favourite people watching passtimes of seeing people who don’t speak English natively try and communicate in English with other people who don’t English natively either… comedy gold… but then love finds a way in the end.
Alt Heidelberg
283 Beaufort Street
Perth
Phone: (08) 9227 0988
I wonder about Alt Heidelberg every time I pass it. Now I will wonder no longer ;-)
I just stumbled across your website and enjoyed reading through the past posts. Didn’t even know about the Lava Stone place in Mt Lawley and I’m there alot. Sounds interesting. Would love to read some more of the reviews you have yet to write. If you feel like writing up Duende in the near future I’d be interested since I’m thinking about going there for my anniversary next week.
Hi Marianne,
Thanks for the comment, they are always appreciated :)
Glad to hear you found the review somewhat helpful, but by all means do not let my drunken bumblings serve as the sole basis for your own opinions… Personal experience is everything.
I do intend to write up both Duende and Eminem soon, the Leederville brethren are two of my favourite restaurants and would recommend them to anyone.
Matt
Yup, sure is a case of different strokes for different folks.
I think the Alt Heidelburg is a delight that I try at least once every winter. I find you need the cold weather to do justice to that style of cuisine but boy do they do it well.
It is often difficult to go to restaurant serving a different cuisine than what you’ve had before and sometimes it’s very easy to order the *wrong* dish or dishes. I am sure that if you had gone there at the start of the night (while sober !) with a European person, your experience would have been vastly different.
I suggest you wait 4-5 months and try it again, go as a group of 4 or 6 and order diverse things. Failing that, wash it down with pints and pints of German lager.
Bob in Bull Creek
Hi Bob,
Thanks for the feedback. Yes I freely admit that I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to appreciate all the nuances of good German cooking that night… But I do intend to go back sometime soon for another shot.
Drinking beforehand tends to blunt the senses somewhat and that definitely added to my inability to get through the rest of the meal.
Any suggestions on what to order next time ?
Cheers,
Matt