The Digest brings you a behind the scenes view from the WA Good Food Guide team. In the chair this week, editor Max Brearley.
Small but mighty would be one way to describe Ah Um, the new 25-seater at the rear of Astral Weeks in Chinatown. We ate there just days after opening and even this early it’s showing real promise. “Beyond aesthetics, and the vibe, chef Branden Scott is working a minimalistic menu that feels wholly appropriate,” was one of our takes. You can read more on that here.
The attention to both sound quality and the soundtrack at Ah Um got me thinking about venues that pay a similar amount of attention. Notable additions to this list, which have been a constant for me on an extended stay in Perth, away from my everyday beat in the South West, are Howard’s Groove and Lawson Flats. Headphones are not required when I’m working from these city spots.
Fins Bicton has been on our radar long before they opened their doors. Now with the retail shop open, and the beer taps connected, their food offering is coming to life. I recently chatted to Fins co-founder Phil Clark about the inspiration for dishes created by Seth James (a chef known for his time down south) and the high-low drinks options (Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardy to Swanny D). If we were running a book on such things, on looks alone we think that the tuna cheeseburger will be one of the year’s must eats. Clark describes it as “elite.”
I don’t need much of an excuse to, shall we say, mooch around Freo, or to partake of baked goods. With the opening of another Common Bakery on High Street, bijou bakes are a go. My thought is that a good bakery should reflect its community, and on a recent visit it was Freo to a tee. Seasoned locals picking up their daily bread, kids pressing their faces against the display cabinets, younger and savvier souls than I getting the good angles on the one-is-just-not-enough Portuguese tarts, while I realised that I should have chosen my spot to perch on the availability of natural light (schoolboy error). Soon to be published, we have Freo local, chef Blaze Young on her favourite spots with our latest in the WA My Way series. Keep an eye out for that.
Not far from Common Bakery I can’t pass New Edition on High Street without being drawn to their food and drink section. If you’re also a card-carrying cookbook obsessive let me direct you to friend of the Guide and noted veggie polymath Alice Zaslavsky, who’s just released her new book Salad for Days.
I was chatting to Alice recently about her latest surefire bestseller, and was reminded of the last time I saw her for real. We ate our weight in oysters at Borough Market in London. She was there to promote The Joy of Better Cooking (also a must for your shelf) and had been dining with a friend the night before who offered these recent words on the new book: “There are many people out there, no doubt, who feel that the title of Alice Zaslavsky’s new book, Salad for Days, is more of a threat than an inducement, but I can promise them that once they have this fabulous book open in their hands and see what treats are contained within its pages, they will rapidly adjust their mindset!”
That friend was Nigella (no surname required). If there’s further endorsement needed, Ottolenghi (no first name required) loves it too. And so do I, for what that’s worth. In the midst of “review season” salad is the thing that I crave the most. Shout out to the team at Nextdoor as while the main event on a recent visit was a fabulous ribeye it’s the rocket, endive, hazelnut, pear and pecorino number that has stuck around in my brain rent free. Simplicity, seasonality and diversity is what I’m looking for in a salad. In fact in most things.
