Peerless plates meet iconic wines at one of WA’s very best.
Chef Brendan Pratt’s departure means that the reins have been handed over to Cameron Jones in the Vasse Felix kitchen, but this winery-restaurant still remains one of the state’s essential bookings. Above all, it’s because of its unbridled commitment to going all out, layering fat, acid, salt, umami and all the rest in dishes that almost radiate flavour.
Take an opener of fried flatbread topped with beef intercostal meat, strips of translucent fried lardo, tomato and anchovy XO sauce and burnt butter: a more is more moment that really works. Then there’s the half quail, deboned and stuffed with mortadella, then glazed to a cartoon-like sheen as if it were char siu – pure deliciousness in novel form.
An opener sees fried flatbread topped with beef intercostal meat, strips of translucent fried lardo, tomato and anchovy XO sauce and burnt butter: a more is more moment that really works.
Mains see toothfish coated in salted egg glaze brought back into check with onion dashi, spring onion and pickled enoki, while quadretti are heaped to form a sort of free-form lasagne, with onion and kombu béchamel and spinach and hazelnut pesto. All the while, the service remains pitch-perfect, charming but never stuffy, with estate wines bringing an air of luxury to match the room and the setting. Occasion dining, that’s undimmed.