Top Casual Dining

The Asian street food trend is hardly a new thing, but Perth got on board the minute it arrived. Many have tried, some have come and gone, but Apple Daily has been a stayer.

If you hanker after good taramasalata – and god knows there are enough bad (fluro-pink) versions around - logic suggests a Greek restaurant might be your first port of call.

A beautifully-positioned, sand-in-the-toes ocean side café of little distinction – has undergone a stunning transformation this year. Chef Guy Jeffreys, a former WA Good Food Guide Chef Of The Year, has taken over responsibility for its cooking (as part of his new culinary director roll with owners The Fogarty Group) and the changes have been immediate, far reaching and highly popular.

Glenarty Road’s rise within the southwest dining ranks has been both swift and well-deserved. Ben and Sasha McDonald built their rustic cellar door and restaurant on the family farm just east of Karridale.

Lady of Ro sits plump in the middle of Subiaco's boho block - next to languorous Juanita's Bar. New owners, the Zammit family, have kept the kitsch grotto feel, with eclectic furniture spilling onto the sidewalk.

Lupolab opened its doors in July this year and was immediately bowled over by the crowds. They roast their own beans on the premises and one suspects the splendid coffees – there are different varieties and roasts to choose from - are the big attraction for the morning crowds.

Part of Eamon Sullivan’s expanding hospo empire, May Street Larder and its polished crew consitently pull off one of Perth’s best brunches on the South Side. (There’s also a recently opened branch in Mount Hawthorn).

Views don’t get much better than the one at Odyssea. Its sweeping vista of Indian Ocean blue is a major draw card but Odyssea doesn’t subscribe to the old saw that restaurants with a view are almost always rubbish.

If you have a love of nosh-able Italian food and fun, famiglia style with a sound track of noise and bustle and the ocassional shout “Grazie… Prego!” you’ve found your restaurant.

Chef Peter Morgan’s Rusty Pig is an inviting back-to-bricks dining room with a long bar made for eating and a firey wood-powered grill directly behind the bar and in full sight of customers. On it, Morgan cooks almost all of his small menu.

Securing the talents of former New Normal head chef Charlie Vargas this year has paid off in spades for Andy Freeman’s The Flour Factory. The Flour Factory’s vibe has always been that of a hip inner-city bar with good food, a great vibe and fun with a capital F. And then the food got better.

Odd, we know, but some of us like to start our day with caramelised beef ribs or dang dang beef. Then there are those, more traditional souls, who want their buttermilk pancakes or Bircher muesli in the afternoon. This is the Typika thing.

Yes Please Perth is a bracing addition to our sparse late-night eating and drinking scene. It loosens up in the early hours, when the idle masses and weary hospo crowd flock for a tight, high-quality homely menu that isn’t an afterthought.