Perth Voice Interactive

WHY was I getting weird looks from folk in Leederville?

Checked my zipper – no. Checked for food on my face – no.

I think it’s because I had my young kids with me on Tuesday morning and people thought they should be learning math instead of eating salami and drinking full-fat Coke.

It transpired my children had some obscure Catholic holiday that no other school got.

God works in mysterious ways, as they say. 

We were out for lunch at Mister Focaccia, which is situated about halfway up Oxford Street, diagonally opposite TAFE. 

Brownie points for the eatery’s catchy name, which sounds like an Italian sitcom from the 1980s.

Surprisingly, Mister Focaccia sells focaccia, which are freshly-baked and come with a choice of authentic fillings.

They also do South Italian street food like taralli (a wheat-based cracker popular in the southern half of the Italian peninsula) and a range of coffees.

There was a fun, casual vibe and you ordered at the shopfront, before taking a seat in the small dining area or the pavement alfresco.

The staff were super friendly and full of chat, and the Italian owner was having an animated chinwag with a fellow countryman who was buying some treats for lunch.

Mr Focaccia felt like a place that was on first name terms with regulars and part of the local community.

The menu had a large range of focaccia including prosciutto, roast beef, mortadella, vegetarian, continental, tuna and inferno.

There was also a basic “classic barese” focaccia ($7) with tomato, oregano and garlic if you fancied something light or wanted to add your own filling at home.

The Truffle Prosciutto ($16) with stracciatella cheese and truffle paste sounded particularly inviting, but in typical male fashion I couldn’t go past The Beast ($17) which had everything but the kitchen sink in it.

The chunky focaccias were cut in half and wrapped in chequered, grease-proof paper.

My first reaction was “I’m never going to finish this,” but the bread was super light and airy, and you could tell it was freshly made.

The outside was crunchy and topped with oregano and slivers of tomato, adding a pizza-like flavour to the bread.

Sandwiched in the middle was a meat-lover’s dream – roast beef, ham, salami, hot salami and mortadella – but it wasn’t over the top and there was just the right amount of produce.

Offsetting the salami was some mild bocconcini cheese, rocket and roasted capsicum sauce.

Maybe it’s the traditional way to serve it, but the focaccia was hot and the fillings were cold.

It caught me off guard, but all the ingredients were high quality and it was very filling.

Afterwards I wasn’t guzzling gallons of water, so the seasoning was spot-on.

As the sun peeked through the clouds and a shaft of heavenly light caressed my son’s angelic face, which was covered in chunks of ham focaccia ($13), I said a Hail Mary and passed him a napkin.

The ham focaccia was a good choice for young kids and had a mix of ham, mild provolone cheese, tomatoes, lettuce and aioli.

I had a sneaky taste and think it would be perfect for a light lunch with a cup of Italian coffee.

My daughter is a bit more adventurous and ordered the roast beef with bocconcini cheese, rocket and aioli ($13).

There was lots of tender slices of beef and it was high quality.

This was a simple focaccia that did what it said on the tin.

Both my kids could only manage one half of the focaccia, so maybe one between two for the pre-teens.

My first outing at Mr Focaccia was a success – it’s fun street food with pleasant staff in a great location.

Mister Focaccia
225 Oxford Street, Leederville
misterfocaccia.com.au

by STEPHEN POLLOCK