SwanCon XI – Posh Nosh

Being page 31 of the SwanCon XI Con Book. Transcription by Anna Hepworth, with all variations faithfully reproduced.


Whilst visiting Perth, why not try some of Perth’s better restaurants, many of which have not only an interantional flavour but also an international reputation for find food?

Close in to the city there are a number of restaurants which I can recommend starting with “Opa’s Dutch Indonesian Restaurant” in Francis St. This is a licensed restaurant, serving traditional Dutch and Indonesian dishes in a nouvelle cuisine style. Ring up and book as it is very popular, and if you can organise a group of three or more try their banquet menus. Just up from Opa’s there is the “Shalimar“, a real curry house, guaranteed to serve you something delicious . Listen to the host’s suggestions carefully, they are well worth trying. Again it is advisable to book your table.

Two Chinese restaurants are also well worth trying. The first of these is the “Jumbo” Restaurant in Murray St, just above the “Orient Food Feast“, opposite Aherns. This is a licensed restaurant and is chiefly famous for its lunch time Dim Sum banquet. The a -la -carte menu is, however, also very good. The other restaraunt on the other side of the railway line is “Choi’s Inn” which is B.Y.O. In addition to an a -la -carte menu they do both Beggar’s Chicken and Peking Duck, but you must order these dishes twenty-four hours in advance. Booking is advisable, even for the ordinary menu.

Seafood restaurants abound in James St and Francis St, almost all of them having good reputations. I can recommend the “Blue Fin” through past experience, and I doubt that the standard will have dropped.

Further afield there is West Perth, where restaurants nestle cheek by jowl with the the medical profession. To name but a few; “Bagwell’s“, the “Ord Street Cafe“, “Haskins“, “Wellington’s” and “O’Connors” are all worthy of a visit. One suburb over, in Subiaco, dwells the inimitable “The Wardroom“, which year by year gets better and better and more and more expensive. Also in Subiaco, on Rokeby Road, are “Felix’s” and “The Mediterranean.

Nedlands is distinguished by “The Establishment“, in Hampton Road, which serves Nouvelle Cuisine and is a B.Y.O. restaurant. This causes no particular hardship because it is right next door to the Hermitage Wine Cellars, where a fine selection of wines from Australia and New Zealand, as well as a selection from Europe and America, is available.

Claremont offers a choice between the trendy and the stylish, with “Kim’s Cocktail Bar” being THE place to be seen. Kim’s is in Bay View Terrace, opposite some of the nicest shops in Perth. Stylish eating can be found at “Prideau’s“, run by the Sari family. Litsa Sari is their up and coming young chef, who does a superb job. Nouvelle cuisine and charcoal steaks are the order of the day at Prideau’s. For lovers of northern Italian food I heartily recommend “Trattoria La Capannina” in Victoria Avenue.

South of the river I can recommend “La Rive Gauche” in Mends St, a short ferry trip from the convention, and also “Le Petit Nicois” which is just around the corner in Mill Point Rd. Going down the Canning Hightway towards Como you will find “The Hindquarter” which is a cook-your-own Steakhouse. Further than that and you come to a smal nest of restaurants in Applecross and then on to Fremantle.

No visit to Fremantle is complete without a visit to the “Freo Markets“, the “Sail and Anchor” pub and “Papa Luigi’s“. All three are within spitting distance of each other on the corner of Hensman St and South Terrace. Freo Markets provide a variety of take aways, as does the pub. Upstairs in the pub, away from the crowded bars, you will find “Masons Brasserie“, which is still being ‘discovered’. “Papa Luigi’s” is for Fremantle what “Kim’s” is for Claremont, but they do some terrific sundaes and iced chocolates. Also in Fremantle is the new “Lombardo’s” complex of which I have heard mixed reports, and the “Oyster Beds” and “Pier 21“.

In doing this report I have missed out a large number of other very good restaurants including “Picnicks” in North Perth, several Chinese restaurants in South Perth, all the Japanese restaurants and the “Rendezvous” in Mosman Park. Please try at least one of Perth’s better class restaurants before returning home, and if none of the ones described above catch your fancy, simply turn to page 1169 in the yellow pages and take it from there. When eating out in Perth it is also appropriate to try Western Australian wines, some of which will be on sale at the Convention.

Lise Summers, dining dilettante.

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