Perth Voice Interactive

AS most of us get ready to stuff the turkey, the Voice reminisces about some of the best eateries we’ve visited in 2024.

A hidden gem in North Perth is BLAKE HILL restaurant.

Just up from Walcott Street, on a random suburban hill, it’s one of those places you could easily miss if you don’t live locally.

Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, the food is refined and delicious.

According to their website, the chef has previously worked at a Michelin star restaurant.

It makes sense as the presentation was meticulously and the flavours complex and sophisticated.

If you’re more into craft beers and rustic pub grub, BLASTA is a good bet, especially if you are going to an event at Optus Stadium.

The Blasta micro brewery has an excellent setup with a large beer garden, children’s playground and massive screen showing sports.

Owned by a Scot, highlights included the Highlander Loaded Fries  – “a glorious ode to heart disease with layers of molten cheese, deep-fried chips and haggis.”

I’m not a craft beer aficionado, but I always find Blasta’s range of pilsners and pale ales very palatable and not too out there and hopsy.

If you fancy something a bit more sophisticated, they’ve got a huge gastrobrewery next door, so plenty of options for food and drink.

Let’s hop over the North Sea from Scotland to mainland Europe for CHEZ JEAN-CLAUDE PATISSERIE (it’s actually in West Perth but let’s not spoil the metaphor).

The Swiss bakery has a mind-boggling range of ‘La Parisienne’ baguettes with everything from classic ham and cheese to Lebanese vegan, Shanghai duck, cranberry turkey and curried egg.

The skinny baguettes have a rustic texture and the minute you bite into them you get an ear-splitting crunch that is off the charts.

The fillings are top notch and they have some of the best baguettes I’ve tried in Perth.

If you like curries, then CHAKRA in Inglewood is always a good choice.

It was so popular, people were dining alfresco on a bitterly cold night when the Chook visited in July. Chakra’s “winter transcendence banquet” at $69 a head was good value and a culinary adventure.

The highlight was the quinoa broccoli aloo lamb tikka.

A delicious mix of lamb and turmeric yoghurt with the curried chickpeas and pan-fried quinoa adding some texture.

Rounding things off was some little slices of radish and a house-made apple and mint chutney.

It was a lovely assortment of flavours and textures and beautifully presented.

It’s been a tough year for Aussies with sky-high interest rates and the rising cost of living, so the Voice reviewed a lot of budget-friendly eateries.

One of our favourites was MISTER FOCCACIA, situated diagonally opposite the TAFE in Leederville.

Aside from the delicious freshly-baked focaccia they also sell South Italian street food like taralli (a wheat-based cracker popular in the southern half of the Italian peninsula) and a range of coffees.

It has a fun, casual vibe and you order at the shopfront, before taking a seat in the small dining area or the pavement alfresco.

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

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.

It’s fun street food with pleasant staff in a great location.

Last but not least was CAFE L.A on Oxford Street, which does a very classy brunch.

The interior of the Leederville cafe is scrupulously clean with woodgrain tables, wicker chairs, dried flowers and a shelf with ceramics and pottery.

Their brunch menu is small but has an interesting range of Asian-inspired dishes including soft-shell crab, shokupan brûlée, poke bowl and curry beef Benedict, as well as traditional fare like avocado on toast, bacon, sausage and hash browns.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK