It’s been a while since I’ve visited a new restaurant on the block, and since my mid-year plans had changed quite suddenly, I decided I’d have the budget to be able to check out a new powerhouse created by some big name people.
Tag: perth restaurant
Lulu La Delizia – 21 Sep 2017
It feels like it’s been a long while since I’ve eaten at a restaurant in Perth. I keep saving my money for interstate/international restaurants, mainly because nothing here really compares, but that’s probably bias at work too. I still love Sydney the best. Of course, if I’m offered, I’m not going to pass up an opportunity to visit a restaurant that’s been raved about by chefs and critics alike.
I don’t do Italian food because it’s done so poorly and your average non food person thinks it’s just all pizza and pasta, really heavy, tomatoey things. I always look for something more, like a fish soup, white pizza, or really light looking dishes, but they’re hard to come by. Rosetta was really good, but not a standout – the best thing there was the olive oil for dipping bread in. There’s so much mediocre stuff out there and I’m not game enough to learn the world of Italian food. But given the rave reviews and a great opportunity, I decided to give Lulu La Delizia a go.
A bit of background, there’s a restaurant in Perth called Lalla Rookh that caught my attention when I first came to Perth. The second Italian restaurant I was recommended was a place for Galileo. I never went to either. But, I’d heard that the head chef of Lalla Rookh quit to open a new restaurant, and lo and behold, I saw it pop up during some of my walks. I’ve always been curious about it, and then the reviews started coming in, saying it was the best pasta, not just in Perth, but was holding its own against level of praise of places like Tipo 00 (which I still need to go to!).
Petition Kitchen – 9 October 2015
Petition Kitchen is a brand new restaurant that opened in Perth, and so I had to check it out. I believe the head chef used to work as a sous chef at Cumulus Inc, one of my favourite walk-in restaurants in Melbourne. During its review period (opening – 11 October), reservations were essential. From my observations of the Perth population, I wasn’t sure that reservations were necessary, at least on non-Friday and Saturday nights. Turns out you can walk-in, too, during this time.
What I love about visiting a brand new restaurant is actually seeing them seeing what works and what doesn’t – watching something come to life and then grow is fascinating. So I booked two sessions, the first was a Sunday brunch (I thought I booked for lunch but they gave me a brunch menu? They didn’t seem to be serving non-brunch until after about 1pm or so), and the second was a Friday night dinner.
Greenhouse – 09 May 2014
After dreaming of visiting this place, I finally got the opportunity to see this magical, sustainable restaurant that Matt Stone is famous for. Seeing the permanent structure also made me appreciate just how much effort went into the Sydney popup: no lights so everything was candle powered, all served on wooden plates, wooden cutlery, tables and chairs made from old posters that I remember seeing all over the city. Perth still needed lights to survive and metal cutlery for the food, but they had chairs made of old roadwork signs, all wooden things made from recycled wood, and the door handles made from old gigantic plastic things. I’m also fairly convinced that I saw an old shovel as the handle to the door to the stairs of the rooftop bar.
The pictures here are from two visits, a lunch and a breakfast.
