Every Tom Dick and Harriett has been raving about how Perth has arrived, not just as a foodie city, but as a city in general. Adding to this, Perth is now been included in the international “Taste of” festival calendar. There are many Taste festivals around the world and now it’s Perth’s turn. You can find the food festival at Langley Park. The festival opened today (2nd of May) and runs till the 4th. Two dining sessions run on Friday and Saturday, for lunch and dinner service, with just a lunch session on Sunday.
Taste of Perth is exactly that. It gives you a taster of what 10 of the city’s best restaurants have to offer. Each of the pop up restaurants has a menu of 4 dishes, which includes an “Icon dish”. There’s lots of wine, beer, spirits and cider tastings as well as many boutique produce companies showcasing their goods. If you’re after something a little interactive there’s also cocktail making classes, cooking classes and cooking demos – I really enjoyed watching River Cottage Australia’s Paul West.
Unlike other “food and wine” festivals that have gone before it, Taste really has a focus on food. Food is the star of the show and also the people involved with creating it. Perth’s high profile chefs; Kiren Mainwaring of Co Op, Joel Valvasori of Lalla Rookh, Sam Ward of El Publico, Scott Bridger of Bib & Tucker (and many more) are all rattling the pans at the festival and can be seen behind the scenes cooking up culinary treats. If you’re a regular at any of these restaurants you’ll also recognise many of the front of house staff taking orders. It really feels like the restaurants have moved location for a few days and adds to an authentic experience.
Cash is not used here – the festival’s currency is Crowns. These are purchased and put onto a card. It’s a very quick and easy process. $1 = crown.
We had a few dishes from our favourite restaurants and it was also a great opportunity to try some restaurants that we really want to go to in the future like Co Op, Lalla Rookh and No 4 Blake Street.
Print Hall – Jerry Fraser is a legend in Perth’s Hospitality Industry and he fittingly has the icon dish at the Print Hall pop up. Six of Australia’s finest oysters, lemon galangal mignonette can be enjoyed for 18 CROWNS
El Publico – There is also a pop up tequila bar here. We had a tasty Lamb Taco (pulled lamb, pumpkin seed sauce, pickles) 8 CROWNS
Co Op – This East Perth restaurant has been on my wish list for far too long and I really loved having a sneek peek of it’s menu. The Cheddar Perogies (Caramelised onion and cheddar dumplings) were scrumptious 8 CROWNS
ICON DISH Smoked & Glazed Pork; organic pork with apple, basil and crackle 20 CROWNS
Lalla Rookh – Nonna’s Meatballs were bloody fantastic and ever so tasty (braised pork meatballs, soft polenta, parmigiano) 8 CROWNS
Bib & Tucker – Eamon Sullivan was taking orders and we could see (and smell!) the pig on the Rotisserie. So we just had to have the Suckling Pig Slider (brioche bun, pickled fennel salad) CROWNS
No4 Blake Street – I’ve heard about the amazing signature dessert at No4 and was so pleased to see it was an ICON DISH Chocolate Garden (edible soil, macadamia rocks, salted caramel, peanut dacquoise). It was the dish of the day for both chef and I 16 CROWNS
There was lots we didn’t get chance to eat too. The giant macaroons at Bistro Guillaume looked fantastic and I would have liked to have checked out the international iconic dish Black Miso Cod at Nobu.
Crowns are not refundable, so make sure you use them all before you leave. We had a bit of a dilemma where we had 14 crowns left, but needed 16 crowns to get the Chocolate Garden. Of course you can only add crowns to the card in denominations of 10, which was a bit annoying. Chef and I were lucky enough to have free entry to Taste of Perth, so it wasn’t a super expensive day out for us, but we could see how it could be.
We really enjoyed the festival and think it’s a fantastic addition and fitting conclusion to Perth City’s Eat Drink Perth festival. I’m already looking forward to the next one where hopefully it will grow to be an even bigger event.
