Three days to slow down, eat well and celebrate the state you live in. Here is your hit list for the Western Australia Day long weekend. As always, we aim to spark inspiration, start a conversation and suggest you experience the things we think are pretty good right now.
Read / Listen / Plan
Catch up on our team’s House Favourites for May.
Listen to the latest episodes of Paper, Scissors, Stock, the WAGFG podcast. We chat to Phil and John Cordin from Fins Seafood, Sam Robins of Modus Coffee and Goods Bakery and Alex Turner of Kith Eatery; good ear fodder for a long walk or the drive south.
Plan your next WA food and drink festival with some mental latitude to do it with care. Our Cabin Fever edit covers the accommodation worth booking, the events worth locking in and the itineraries worth considering.
If you haven’t been working your way through our list of WAGFG three star restaurants, here’s your official reminder to get a booking in the diary for this year (if not this weekend).
Feeling nesting vibes? Check out our article, How to Elevate Your Dining Table.
Book a Last-Minute WAGFG Stay
Book a last-minute stay down south or in Perth at one of our WAGFG Stays partners. Jarrahview Lodge in Jarrahdale has availability this weekend and has just installed a Nook sauna. Perched high in the hills just 45 minutes from Perth, it has the feel of a sun-drenched California retreat: glittering saltwater pool edged by native trees, sweeping valley views, cactus-lined paths and a roaming family of llamas. Owners Alana and Benedict have turned this hilltop property into something genuinely special, sleeping six across three bedrooms with a chef-worthy kitchen, a 75-inch TV setup and a poolside BBQ. When you’re ready to venture out, there’s an excellent coffee van called Mister Black’s down the road, Millbrook Winery is ten minutes away and Kitty’s Gorge is an excellent walk to get the heart rate up.
Get to a Local Farmers Market
Take a massive tote and fill the fridge. Late May and early June is a very good time to shop: Pink Lady, Granny Smith and Fuji apples are at their peak out of Manjimup and Donnybrook, alongside fresh pears and nashi from local orchards and the first early-season mandarins and ruby grapefruit. On the vegetable side, broccoli, cauliflower, broccolini and cabbage are in prime condition, root vegetables are exactly where you want them for cooler-weather cooking, and butternut and kabocha pumpkins are abundant. Silverbeet, kale and leeks are all stars for the pot, cooked with potatoes, olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic.
Celebrate the State
Both WA AFL teams are playing this weekend, which makes this the easiest possible excuse to do what this weekend demands if you’re staying in: celebrate what we produce. Pull a group together, put the game on and build a platter from nothing but WA producers. Choose Cambray, Ha-Ve and Halls Family Dairy as your cheese anchors. Add local preserves, Brookfarm macadamias, local postcode honey, quince paste and our best crackers. Everything on the table grown, made or aged here.
Out and About: Perth
Get back to the OG of fancy sandwiches, Peggy’s
Taiwanese fried chicken is having a moment, and Peggy’s in Fremantle is doing it properly. This weekend, chef Harrison Peasnell is back behind the pass after eighteen months away, and he’s marking the return with a Taiwanese fried chicken bun: a golden, crisp cutlet tucked into a soft potato bun with papaya slaw and a ginger scallion sauce spiked with green chilli. Simple, punchy and exactly the kind of thing you want to eat standing up on a Saturday.
Angelwood x Big Don’s: The Pie of the Weekend
Angelwood, the hole-in-the-wall Leederville bakery run by chef Richard Overbye (formerly Wildflower, formerly Michelin-starred Maaemo in Norway), has teamed up with Big Dons on a chilli con carne pie built around Big Dons brisket. Gold-leaf lettering on the door, eighties rock on the sound system, pastry that has never heard the word margarine. Shells are thin, caramel-dark and properly flaky: rough puff lid, shortcrust base woven with yoghurt. The rest of the cabinet is worth your time too, but this brisket pie is the reason you are going. They will sell out so we suggest arriving early.
Kacangma Chicken to warm the soul at KCH
This weekend, the Kuching-inspired kitchen known as KCH is serving kacangma chicken simmered low and slow with sesame oil, ginger and Chinese cooking wine, infused with motherwort for a herbal depth that is earthy and warming. The motherwort is sourced directly from Kuching, which tells you everything about the kitchen’s commitment to getting it right.
Kacangma is a postpartum dish with deep roots in the Hakka community of Sarawak, traditionally prepared for new mothers for its restorative properties. At KCH it arrives with fragrant rice and a broth that smells faintly medicinal in the best possible way. Available Friday through Sunday until sold out. Go early.
Double Rainbow: Get a Group Together and Order the Dessert Bento
Double Rainbow is always a good call for a group, and the new menu gives you another reason to go back. Work through the dishes, but save room for the dessert bento box. Melon and coconut panna cotta with melon sorbet, miso vanilla custard tart with whisky caramel glaze, black sesame Basque cheesecake with sour cream ice cream and salted caramel popcorn, yuzu semifreddo with almond biscuit and coffee butterscotch cream.
Good Noodle Huntin’
Two Hands Noodles in Manning is a masterclass in Malaysian comfort food and one of Perth’s best spots for a noodle fix. A true homage to regional Malaysian noodle traditions, from the Hokkien-style kolo mee of Kuching to the softer, lard-kissed Foochow noodles of Sibu, with house-made noodles handcrafted daily on an old-school roller delivering just the right bite. The kolo mee pok and the thicker, more rustic pan mian anchor the menu alongside stir-fried kueh tiao, rich with wok hei. Keep an eye out for weekly specials: potato noodles topped with preserved vegetables, minced pork, char siu and a sous vide egg that eats like carbonara on flavour steroids. Small but full of charm, grab a friend, order up large and get twirling.
Celebrate Our Multicultural State
Western Australia Day weekend is as good a moment as any to acknowledge what makes this state’s food culture genuinely interesting: the communities who brought their traditions here and kept them alive.
The Chinese food scene in Perth spans generations, from Good Fortune Roast Duck House in Victoria Park feeding extended families through every occasion on the Chinese calendar, to the Sichuan heat of Red Chilli in Russell Square, the handmade xiao long bao at Authentic Bites and Shanghai Street in Northbridge, and the Lanzhou beef noodle broth at Qin’s. For something more intimate, Andly’s Private Kitchen in West Leederville is worth knowing about: a fixed regional menu, small numbers, reservations by text only. Read the full Chinese restaurants guide here.
On the Thai side, Perth’s scene runs deeper than most people realise. Long Chim in the basement of the State Buildings remains a staple, with the energy of a Bangkok back alley and a kitchen grounded in decades of serious Thai cooking. Rym Tarng in Bicton is the suburban overachiever, a tiny shopfront from a Long Chim alumnus that’s almost always full. For something louder and more adventurous, Louder Louder in Northbridge pushes beyond the usual repertoire with 48-hour massaman beef ribs, jellied pork knuckle and coconut hor mok steamed in a young coconut. Kub Kao in Mount Lawley handles the date-night end of things with a refined menu and a well-chosen wine list. Read the full Thai restaurants guide here.
Go Old School Bar Hoppin’
A long weekend calls for a loose itinerary with the right mix of mates, and a willingness to see where the day or night takes you. In Fremantle, Darling Darling on Henry Street is one of the more singular rooms in the country: candlelight, ocean-going rope work, peanut shells underfoot, barrel-aged negronis and, on a good Sunday, a live fiddler. Ode to Sirens, also Fremantle, runs two gears, relaxed assyrtiko and lamb gyros early, volume up and savoury cocktails late. King Somm in Bayswater is a century-old billiards hall turned neighbourhood wine bar, dogs welcome, Swan Valley and Perth Hills producers on the list, no wine wankery. The wildcard is Ah Um in Northbridge: hi-fi sound system, DJ on vinyl, lo-fi wines from Latta Vino and BK Wines, sake worth tasting and an atmosphere that couldn’t care less. See our list of Top 25 bars here.
Whipper Snapper Distillery: Whisky Masterclass
Tucked into a warehouse on Kensington Street in East Perth, Whipper Snapper has grown from a passion project into one of WA’s most awarded craft spirit producers. The Whisky Masterclass is the way in. It starts with a welcome cocktail, moves through a working distillery tour among the fermenters, copper stills and American oak barrels, and finishes with six structured tastings: Moonshine, Barrel Aged, Upshot, Bandit, P.X. Sherry and Cask Strength. The smell of warm mash and charred oak is in the air long before the first pour, and by the time you reach the final dram you understand how the character in the glass was built. Masterclass guests also receive ten percent off bottles on the day. Sessions run at 12.30pm and 3.30pm on Saturdays, approximately 90 minutes, capped at small group numbers. Book here.
New in Perth: The Heart Applecross
The Heart Applecross sits beneath the Riviere Residence on Canning Beach Road, with uninterrupted views across the Swan River to the CBD, a horseshoe bar pouring 22 beers on tap, and a 300-seat room that spills out to a 60-seat alfresco. The concept draws from The Golden Heart in Spitalfields, a pub owned by the Esqulant family for nearly five decades in London. Owners Ryan and Nikki Esqulant, who also run Hillarys Beach Club and Bar Ole Applecross next door, have brought that sense of history with them: the art collection includes Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst and Gilbert and George, all longstanding family connections whose work hangs in the original Spitalfields pub too. The signatures: tableside flambé ribeye, King Ora salmon ceviche with nashi pear, beef cheek cottage pie and sticky date madeleines.
Après Ski at The Claremont Hotel
The Claremont Hotel is taking its rooftop alpine for winter with a Saturday long lunch: flowing spritzes, wine, beer, mulled wine and cider keep things moving alongside a grazing menu built for a slow afternoon. There’s a spritz garnish station for those who like a little ceremony with their drink. Good for groups, good for a celebration, good for a Saturday that becomes a Saturday night. Bookings essential at theclaremont.com.au.
The New Menu at Gibney
Gibney has a new menu, and there are four dishes making a strong early case for themselves. Start with the roasted Jerusalem artichoke, which arrives with artichoke puree, pickled artichoke and chive batons, and the duck and foie gras parfait on toasted brioche with Noble One gelee and lemon thyme. From there, the campanelle with fired oyster mushroom, kampot pepper, kombu garlic butter and Parmigiano Reggiano is the kind of pasta dish that makes you glad you saved room. Finish on the Madagascan vanilla creme brulee with poached rhubarb, ginger sable and Saison vermouth.
Heading South
Melissa Palinkas at Willespie Estate
One of Perth’s most respected chefs takes up residency at one of Margaret River’s founding estates, and it starts this weekend. Melissa Palinkas, behind a decade of Young George in East Fremantle, launches at Willespie Estate from 30 May. Saturdays bring The Long Table: fifty people, four courses on a verandah, driven by whatever WA’s paddocks and coastline are offering that week. Sundays are Braizen: open fire, one hero dish, nothing extra. Worth the drive.
Maison Lassiaille, Metricup: Book High Tea
Five minutes north of Cowaramup, fifteen from Margaret River. Romain Lassiaille spent two decades in Michelin-starred kitchens across Paris, Switzerland, Peru and South Africa, including a stretch at the Four Seasons George V, before making the South West home. He established Maison Lassiaille in Metricup in 2021, and it has become one of the region’s best reasons to take a detour.
The high tea is the set piece: croque monsieur, delicate vol-au-vents, smoked salmon baguettes, freshly baked scones, handmade chocolates and pastries. The room is properly Gallic: imported mustards and foie gras on the shelves, photography from Martine Perret on the walls, French vinyl on the player. Bring glassware for BYO bubbles.
Voyager Estate: Get Behind the Scenes
Voyager Estate has spent decades earning its reputation in Margaret River, and in recent years the estate has gone deeper: organic certification across the vineyards, a farm programme woven into the culinary offering, and a suite of experiences that take visitors well beyond the cellar door.
There are three levels. Savour Voyager is an hour in the Wine Room, with a tasting tailored to your preferences and snacks from the kitchen team. Discover Voyager heads out onto the estate, walking the vines, tasting from the barrel, and returning to the Wine Room for a sit-down tasting with small bites. Unearth Voyager goes further still: deep into the estate, hands-on blending or barrel tasting of wines not yet released, garden snacks, and a guide who talks from genuine knowledge rather than a script.
What makes all three worth doing is the people running them. The guides are steeped in the history and current direction of the estate, and because each experience is shaped around the guest, it rarely feels like a tour. Voyager’s restaurant, our Regional Restaurant of the Year 2025, is reason enough to book lunch while you’re there. Six minutes south of Margaret River town centre. Book at voyagerestate.com.au.