Where to go for dinner ?

If you had an internationally famous food blogger in your home town*… where would you take them for dinner ?

(Assume that your home town is Perth)

Currently on the list are Jacksons, Balthazar, and Star Anise. But feel free to remind me of all the great places I’m forgetting.

33 thoughts on “Where to go for dinner ?”

  1. Sparrow might not be quite what I’m after Matt… and this might give you a clue.

    Thanks for that Jason… Haven’t been to Amuse, looks really good. My friend was a chef at Da Bruno’s til recently… so that could an option as well. And if you’re who I think you are, you were my programming tutor in another life.

    Bron: I’m not sure my humble fare is up to the task… or that I could handle the stress :)

  2. I reckon that’d be someone here for a writers workshop that sadly I will likely be unable to attend. Junior Grendel Number One would never forgive my absence from his Birthday celebrations!

    I don’t know where to suggest for dinner anymore – it seems that all the places with great views have crap food and all the places with great food have no view – I reckon its safer to stick with somewhere that has no view!.

    The Slow Food Conviv. needs to start its own map of places to eat!

    If you can stand the drive to Busselton a pizza from Cena is actually worth the trip.

  3. What about a fusion of Bron and Grendel’s ideas.

    We, ‘all of us Abstract Gourmands’, could get a barbie with a full bottle of gas and find an amazing spot to have a picnic on the river foreshore. I suggest we take our own barbie
    because the free ones are not that good and possibly filthy. We could fit a few barbies,
    even more eskies and some fancy local bevies into my spacious van and make a fab day of it.

    On the barbie… some fabulous local produce from land and sea, cooked simply to show
    of its best, fresh herbs from the garden, local olive oil and wine, home baked bread
    and cake, clean air, good company, amazing scenery and… no enormous bill and
    disappointment at the end.

    I think that would be a fantastic taste of Perth.

  4. Oh I really love that Idea – gives me a great excuse to get some fresh herring and squid eh Kam? I can usually get the herring off the rocks locally without much problem.

  5. Matt: You brought it up…

    Grendel: Great idea. Where there is Herring, there is Garfish.
    We can do those tasty little herring like they do grilled sardines, whole with lemon and herbs. Mmm Greek style Garfish. And I know where to catch some fresh squid in Freo. What about the squid on a hot flat barbie pan with some of fresh green chillies from my garden, WA garlic and olive oil?

    If you want a fine dining influence we can put some table cloths on the
    tressel tables.

    Let me know beacuse Grendel and me better start getting our lines wet.

  6. How about Il Lido at the old Tropicana in Cott?

    Same people as Balthazaar, so you get the good, knowledgeable service, nice location (if you forget trying to find a park) and a relaxed atmosphere where you can eat, drink and be merry.

  7. Kam – you can always bring the squidlies up to my place if Matt has other plans. I’m still happy to catch the Herring. Come to think of it they can be pickled too can’t they.

  8. Hi Matt,
    What about Harvest? Their set menu with wine is good value and the food is great. It has good atmosphere and service to which is always a bonus.

  9. Hi Matt, few others,

    Opus at The Richardson Hotel (West Perth)… Somewhat snooty service, strict dress code but otherwise excellent fare. Lovely

    Chapter One (Subiaco), ex-chef from Altos and his partner/wife owns and runs it. Haven’t been, so cannot comment on service or inside decor but I would assume the food is just as great.

    Grand Palace (opposite Balthazar)? I haven’t been to this one either, but some say best chinese in Perth.

    And of course Balthazar, as mentioned already. Chef said menu is excellent at the moment. But they will be changing menu at the end of this month/early march… also in the family Il Lido again as already mentioned.

    Divido (Mount Hawthorn)…

    Ha Lu, (Leederville). A bit of a strange place. The decor is kind of modern and stark which contradicts the high quality of the food the serve. Also it’s really brightly lit. No romance here. It’s small and seats maybe 30-40pax. It’s the sister restaurant to the waiting-for-a-new-home Yahachi. Food is phenomenal! The presentation is also contemporary and you wouldn’t expect anything less from the Yahachi family. Service is excellent. A few sake to choose from also Sometimes the place is full of Japanese students who live in the upstairs apartments. If you can forgive these few oddities, one of the best Japanese I have tasted!

  10. sorry hogging the comments… If it is Clotilde, and I were taking her out, it would have to be Balthazar or Harvest. Fun, great atmosphere, quirky, not stuffy! And maybe Jacksons if you want to go high-brow. Ok, I’m out.

  11. So?? What’s been sorted?

    You are so mysterious Matt, …I can’t take any more.

    I’m going to Grendel’s, anyone want to come and play ‘Fish Grilling’?

    PS: Must Wine Bar could be good too.

    Hey Zamina; I spoke to the head chef at Harvest and he said he had a really nice wood fire oven roasted rabbit at Divido, …good call. I think that’s where we might be going very soon. I love rabbit. A friend of ours goes shooting and promised us a ‘free range’ bunny to be delivered
    soon.

    Hey Grendel: Instead of trying to poison the little varmints why don’t we eat them? ‘Put another Bunny on the Barbie’

  12. Hi Zamina,
    Clotilde is doing a talk at the University Club Theatre at 3.30pm tomorrow. It appears to be free but if I am mistaken then the cost would only be $10.00. It is on the info for Day 2 of the Perth writers festival. Hope you get to go.

  13. Wow Matt, that’s quite the head-spin. And it was a whole lifetime ago! Anyway, Amuse Restaurant is still my pick, was there a few weeks ago and it’s tops, but a bit risky to try something for the first time with a guest, what eh? But, still, you should… and I’m sure they’ll rise to the challenge if you let them know the whole thing’s going to be photoblogged :)

  14. Hiya Matt

    didn’t see the post til today.
    I gotta tell yah, the top restaurants I’d go (if money wasn’t a problem)

    Zafferano’s
    The Gala in applecross
    Witches Cauldron

  15. Cheers for those tips guys… Jason, I’ll try and get to Amuse soon, probably not this week though.

    Kam and Grendel: I’ll let you guys handle the bunny bits…

    Zamina: Good tips as per usual. Ha Lu I’ve been to and really enjoyed, and same with Divido. Not entirely sure about Grand Palace… anything that advertises on TV gives me uneasy feelings. I take it you’re working at Balthazar again ?

    Linda: If money wasn’t a problem I would pay someone to take over Witches Cauldron and drag it out of the 80’s. The only reason I can see to go back there is to see how much money I can waste on really mediocre / outdated food, and to see what $40+ worth of garlic prawns tastes like… Sorry… but not my cup of tea there.

  16. Ah of course its a bit outdated, but its been around for centuries.

    Besides i’m a sucker for the beef salad, esp on the days when they actually serve it medium rare.

    Glad to see that you had a good time at little creatures though.
    Hows the new cider though, any good?

  17. The Pipsqueak is great… I look for it at any pub I go to now… although it’s best on tap from Little Creatures. They’ve also got a really nice English cider called Aspall from Suffolk that really rocks my boat.

  18. Just want to disassociate myself from Linda’s comments re Witch’s Cauldron! Really Linda – what were you thinking? It’s appalling!!!!!!

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