The best restaurants in Perth?

Gourmet Traveller released their annual restaurant guide earlier this week, which includes a Michelin-style three-star rating system, a top 100 list for the country and top 10 lists for each capital city.

Anyway, the Perth list is pretty solid, if mostly predictable:

1. Restaurant Amusé
2. Star Anise
3. The Loose Box
4. Jackson’s
5. Nahm Thai
6. Must Winebar
7. Maya
8. Fraser’s
9. Divido
10. Lamont’s (East Perth)

How can restaurants that do not have stars (Fraser's and Maya) beat a one-star restaurant (Divido)? I can understand how this might happen if the stars and the regional lists were compiled separately; different critics might be involved in the separate processes, or maybe the restaurants could be assessed by different criteria. This is one guide, with Divido scoring a star yet ranking lower than two no-star restaurants! (EDIT: Jane Cornes, the WA editor of Gourmet Traveller, confirmed via email that an error was made in compiling the WA list, and Divido should be placed above Fraser's and Maya).

I'm pleasantly surprised to see Amusé top the list after eating two spectacular meals there in the last few months. I can still vividly recall their rabbit, ceps and thyme dish, a small individual lasagne with an intense, earthy porcini flavour, served as part of their standard 12-course degustation.

Amusé scored two stars, making it the only two star restaurant in WA. The second star for Amusé is well deserved, but does Perth really only have one two-star restaurant?.

If you compare Perth's list to those of other cities, you can definitely make a case for Perth being slightly underrated by the GT critics. Star Anise in particular surely deserves a second star; it was rated 4/5 by John Lethlean in the Australian last weekend and would likely have kept its second star if it was in Surry Hills rather than Shenton Park. I'm not quite sure why Star Anise went from two stars to one. Perhaps Amuse's promotion exhausted Perth's quota of stars.


Still, even allowing for Perth being slightly hard done by, and controlling for our smaller population, it's clear that we're miles behind other cities, even Adelaide. We've got a few great fine dining places, heaps of decent, cheap Asian places and not a hell of a lot in between. I can't work out why.

A few high-profile chefs interviewed by WA Today suggest that Perth diners need to stand up for themselves. There's definitely something to that, people are too accepting of mediocrity (and expensive mediocrity at that). But why would that be? The issue that comes up whenever Perth is discussed, our isolation, might be a factor, but I'm not so sure. Are we less well-travelled than people from Adelaide? I doubt it.

Great mid-range places like Cantina fill me with hope, as does the mini-boom in small bars that we're experiencing. Maybe things are starting to turn around. I'll be interested to see if there's any movement in next year's list.

Meat Class #1 with the Prince of Flesh

"Pork fat... is just delicious" - Vince Garreffa

Vince Garreffa, butcher to the stars, is a master of the porcine arts. He's the sort of guy who gets up at six o'clock on a Sunday morning to boil three pigs' heads to make brawn for his charcuterie class.

I've been looking around for decent cooking classes in Perth, and Mondo di Carne's meat classes seemed like a pretty good bet. I booked in for five classes: two on charcuterie, two on boning and cooking lamb, and one on breaking down and cooking poultry.

I really wanted these classes to be good. I recently took a class on seafood cooking at another local cooking school, and it was disappointingly rudimentary, as if it was designed for people who have never been in a kitchen before.

The first Mondos class was exactly what I was looking for! There was not a single shriek at the sight of the boiled pig's head (above), and everyone seemed to be pretty into food and cooking.

Vince Garreffa first explained to us about the role of sodium nitrate ("pink salt") in curing meat. He then showed us some partially-cured pancetta and demonstrated the 'massage' or 'kneading' process that must be completed daily. We were shown how to make duck prosciutto and smoke our own chorizo, and the main part of the class revolved around making brawn.

He'd started the morning by boiling a massive vat full of three pigs' heads, a few beef tongues and various other lovely animal parts, which he spread out on huge roasting trays and asked us to chop.

The chopped meat was then mixed together with a few handfuls of capers, some salt, pepper, parsley, garlic and red wine vinegar, ladled into plastic containers and topped with a bit of the boiling liquid that had become rich and gelatinous from the trotters that were included in the mix. Next week we each get to bring home our own little container of brawn that we helped make!

As well as teaching us all sorts of valuable little meat-related tips (his method for creating an improvised hot-smoker was particularly revelatory for me), Vince taught us all about the difference between good meat and bad meat. At various points he would teach us how things should be done, and then tell us about the way supermarkets do things. All hams, it seems, are not created equal.

I appreciated getting a bit more information about the distinctions between well-prepared and poorly-prepared meat. Sometimes it can seem as if avoiding the supermarket is just a bit of foodie prejudice, or a culinary fashion statement. Vince's descriptions of supermarkets' meat preparation techniques confirm that there is a world of difference between smallgoods prepared by respectable artisans and mass-produced stuff injected with water and chemicals.

I've already done a fair bit of reading about charcuterie, mostly the writings of my favourite food writer Michael Ruhlman, but this is definitely an area of cooking in which it pays to get some hands-on instruction before trying things yourself. There's no way for a book (or a TV show) to tell you how a partially-cured duck breast should feel, or how hard you should massage your pancetta.

I think the classes on boning and breaking down lamb and poultry will be informative in the same way: instructions to "slice the knife along the saber bone to the joint" are all well and good, but what does that look like? How much pressure should I use? What angle should my knife be held at? What the hell is the saber bone?

I'm excited about my remaining four classes, and I hope to start applying some of my newly acquired knowledge at home. If you're in Perth and looking to acquire a bit more skill in working with meat, I highly recommend the classes at Mondo di Carne.

Strawberry & Vanilla Friands

It seems like I have not baked in a long time. Friands always seemed like a big deal, more complicated than your average cake or muffin (not that I would ever cook a muffin) for some reason. I guess the words "egg whites" are to blame. But it turns out, they are not! They are easy! Last week I bought a friand pan when I saw it going cheap, and today I christened it with this recipe from delicious.P.S. These came out really well. Recommended for eating same day, as they lost the nice crispy edge once kept over night, but stayed moist for a few days after anyway.

West End Deli (Cafe - West Perth)

Beautiful West End Deli shot courtesy of Matt from Abstract Gourmet

The small spot on the corner of Carr and Strathcona Streets in West Perth (the Leederville side, not the CBD side) used to be a fairly dull lunch bar, which only opened a few hours a day and specialised in cheap, dreary pies and sandwiches for the office block around the corner. Cafe Saga, as it was known, eventually closed and the spot lay dormant for a few months until a sign proclaiming the arrival of the 'West End Deli' was affixed to the window.

The speculation began to mount: would it truly be a 'deli'? If so, would it be your run-of-the-mill cigarettes and Coffee Chill type establishment? Would it do breakfast? Lunch? Most importantly, would it be any good? This frenzy of speculation was, admittedly, mostly confined to my interior monologue, but it reached fever pitch nevertheless.

Soon, it opened with relatively little fanfare: a promising looking cafe with a few shelves of nice pantry supplies on sale, a bit of fresh produce and some house-made charcuterie. I was hopeful, but skeptical. Lincolns and Sayers had only recently opened and I thought it would be hoping for too much for another quality food-focused cafe to open within walking distance of home.

The West End Deli turned out to be my favourite cafe of them all. It has a small (some say too small) menu that constantly changes to reflect the seasons and, presumably, to keep the chefs and customers interested. The 'deli' aspect of things has been reduced over time, but the cafe just gets better. I love this place.

At the moment the menu is focused on nourishing, wintery dishes like a braised beef cheek with creamy semolina that is beautifully gelatinous and hearty (pictured below thanks to Matt from Abstract Gourmet and his superior photography skills).

Another great photo courtesy of Matt from Abstract Gourmet

The current menu also features a shellfish bisque that is crammed with mussels, creme fraiche, tobbiko (a small, bright orange flying fish roe) and chives, served with a generous portion of house-made bread.

Beautiful photo of West End Deli's shellfish bisque by Matt from Abstract Gourmet

The bisque is incredible: rich, deep, complex flavours with plenty of mussels. The tobbiko pops in your mouth and provides a nice saltiness. I'd been daydreaming about this dish since my first serving a few weeks ago, and tried it again yesterday. It was just as I remembered, and perfect for the rainy weather Perth has been enjoying for the last few weeks. Best of all, it's only $13!

Some other items are not so cheap, and a few friends find the breakfast selection in particular to be a bit thin. I can see their point, the menu could perhaps do with one or two additional breakfast dishes. Still, there's always something on the menu that I want to eat.

West End makes all their own bread, pastries and sausages. Their baguettes ($4.5) are worth going out of your way for, and they supply some other local businesses (like Distracted on Oxford St, and Cantina 663 in Mount Lawley). There are also apparently plans to start opening for dinner in a few months time, which makes me ridiculously excited.

The coffee is very good and, most important of all, it's consistently good. They also make their own citrus-infused chocolate for the hot chocolates.

As you might have gathered, I am a bit of a fan.

(Thanks again to Matt from Abstract Gourmet for the photos. He has more at his flickr. He saw this post with a single crappy iPhone picture I'd taken, and generously offered his West End photos for use here).

West End Deli

95 Carr St
West Perth WA 6005
9328 3605

Home-made tortillas

I haven't eaten any Mexican food that I've been particularly happy with in Perth.

I've found That Little Mexican Place to be bland, with none of the bold flavours you expect of Mexican food. We went there with a few friends on their opening weekend a few years ago (2006?) full of anticipation, after being tantalised for months by the promise of Mexican food in North Perth. The food wasn't awful, but it was a bit of a disappointment. The tortillas appeared to be microwaved, and they were certainly dry. The rice was mushy, the steak lacked flavour. The tamales were OK, but very expensive for what they are. The whole thing was kind of amateurish, and a poor representation of Mexican food. Still, I was determined to give the place the benefit of the doubt, so I retained an open mind.

We've been back a couple of times since, once for breakfast and once again for dinner. Neither visit has advanced my opinion of the place; it's not horrible food, and it's better than you'll get from the old generation of Tex-Mex places still lingering around Perth (Acapulco Annies, etc), but it's still a bit disappointing.

The Flying Taco is much better, with great tasting burritos, quesadillas and tacos, but I find the portions a bit small for the price.

Anyway, if you're not satisfied with what's available in restaurants, make your own! That seems to be Matt from Abstract Gourmet's ethos, and it's one I'm happy to subscribe to.

Soda posted previously about the big box of Mexican food supplies I bought her for her birthday. The first item we made using her swag was corn tortillas. You might think that tortillas are the sort of thing that's not worth making yourself. You'd be wrong.

Corn tortillas

Ingredients:

-2 Cups of instant Masa flour

-1/4 teaspoon of salt

-1 1/4 cups of water

Here's how you do it:

You'll need some maize flour. You can get various kinds, but I used MASECA instant corn masa flour for these tortillas. It's sort of like a super fine polenta, but I wouldn't substitute it for anything else. It has a particular texture that is important for the tortilla dough.

Combine all the ingredients together in a bowl. Mix until you've formed a ball of dough. It should be smooth and pliable.

Cut or rip the dough into 16 equal portions, then roll each portion around so that you have 16 little balls of dough. You might need to keep your hands slightly damp to do this.

We used a tortilla press (part of Soda's birthday box of Mexican stuff), but you could probably use a rolling pin. It would be a bit more hassle though, so try and get hold of a tortilla press.

Cover each side of the tortilla press with glad wrap, set a ball of dough on the bottom of the tortilla press...

...and clamp down on the tortilla.

Now peel your tortilla off from the plastic wrap, being careful not to rip it.

Then just place the tortilla into a hot, dry pan for about 45 seconds on each side. They'll seem quite brittle when they come off the heat, but they become more supple as they cool a bit (also if you make a stack of them as you're cooking them, they kind of steam each other a bit, which loosens them up).

Serve with some kind of Mexican awesomeness, like the carnitas (left) and chorizo (right) tacos.