Yarri

Stalwart of regional dining brings produce to the fore at this Dunsborough favourite.

The open kitchen here sets the scene for a three- or six-course menu, and regulars know that sitting high at the kitchen bar overlooking the wood-fired grill and the team at work provides the most fun. Excellent WA produce is a given, thanks to relationships built up over decades, together with the restaurant’s own well-cultivated garden out at sister winery, Snake + Herring. Harissa lifts an in-shell marron, and finger lime adds tang to fresh Albany rock oysters. Casarecce is tossed with a creamy yet fresh combination of blue swimmer crab, nettle and vermouth. And while a 650-gram wood-grilled sirloin steak might headline the bill, a humble celeriac dish more delicately draws sophisticated flavours from a vadouvan curry blend alongside the sweetness of eggplant. Desserts are solid; perhaps a yoghurt with strawberry and Geraldton wax, or cheese to accompany a big Snake + Herring red. In the Noongar language, Yarri is a eucalypt found through the south west, its wood used in the restaurant’s design. And maybe the parallels don’t end there, the restaurant standing solid on the roots of chef Aaron Carr and the wider team.