LAUGHTER and conversation burst through the politically-charged lyrics of Childish Gambino’s This Is America. Waiters weave through customers darting from the crowded bar to the bustling beer garden. The Standard in Northbridge is one of Perth’s most feted restaurants and I’m happy to report the cuisine is as electric as the pumping atmosphere. The rocking…

IN the land of the rising sun an izakaya is an informal pub where work-weary Japanese stop for a drink on their way home. Contemporary izakaya style is what you’ll find at The Bonsai Restaurant and Cafe Lounge in Northbridge, but the venue is too stylish and funky to be really labelled informal. The decor…

I’VE been intrigued by No Mafia for a few years now as it’s the sort of restaurant name that not so long ago could earn the owner a horse’s head on his doona. Upon walking through the restaurant’s narrow entrance you  enter a long, enticing alleyway that debouches into a cavernous space with an open…

LUNCH for one at Yefsi at Attika turned into a Shirley Valentine moment as Greek music played in the background and the decor evoked the sparkling blue water and white sands of an idyllic Greek island. Then my food arrived and my love affair with Greece was sealed. Yefsi means flavour, “and food, life and…

I LOVE a good story behind the name of a restaurant and Phi Yen didn’t disappoint. It means Flying Swallow and was the nickname given to owner Yen Dang when she was a little girl in Vietnam. She and husband Tuan operate the Northbridge eatery on the corner of Brisbane and Lake Streets, situated on…

I HAD booked interviews for last Tuesday before it dawned on me I’d miss the Voice Melbourne Cup party, but given the state of some colleagues the next day it worked out well and I enjoyed a peaceful lunch at Sayers Sister instead I’ve been to Sayers in Northbridge quite a few times and the…