Wildflower Restaurant, Perth

Celebrating our 43^rd wedding anniversary called for something special and in Perth special does not come any better than the Wildflower Restaurant at Como, the Treasury.

Since opening in 2015, Wildflower has garnered many awards including two chef’s hats from the Australian Good Food Guide and the accolade of being Western Australia’s best restaurant in the WA Good Food guide.

Based around the six seasons of the Noongar calendar, chef Matthew Sartori has designed his menus to showcase native ingredients to their best advantage with the emphasis on WA farming and foraged elements. The current autumn menu is intriguingly different from any other in Perth. Djilba is the season of conception when large birds nest to hatch their eggs. The wattles are in full bloom, together with lemon myrtle.

There are several menu options but we decided on the 4-course tasting menu ($135 pp) and a bottle of wine from the 15 page wine menu instead of opting for the suggested wine pairings ($85 pp). A native non-alcoholic beverage pairing is available for $36 pp.

Our meal started with two canapés each – delicious crisp wafers filled with black garlic mousse and snapper mousse as well as other items. Then a large wattle-seed roll arrived together with house-made salted butter. The roll was quite large and the butter excellent.

When our first course of raw Abrolhos Island scallop arrived before we had finished the rolls, I had to ask the server to make sure that there was more time before our next course was served. I was told that courses are served after seven minutes which seems an excessively short time, however the server agreed to give us more time between courses.

Back to the scallop – cut exquisitely thin and with kohlrabi, desert lime and sesame and served with a lemon myrtle dressing – it was a wonderful start to our anniversary meal.

The next course was roasted Manjimup marron with celeriac, chestnut, nasturtium and miso. The marron was very good and the celeriac brought a lovely, savoury, umani taste to the dish. The sauce was thick but tasty.

We found the next course good but a bit of a disappointment. The choice of the main course was between a South-West wagyu beef tri-tip or a Berkshire pork collar – we both chose the beef. A tri-tip is from the tip of sirloin and is a triangle shape. Wagyu beef, due to its high marbling, has long been regarded as a very flavoursome and tender beef. We have enjoyed Wagyu beef in Japan and Singapore and were looking forward to the WA version.

Our tri tips were grilled over jarrah and served with celeriac, warrigal jam, turnip and native spinach as well as a sauce. We really enjoyed the jam and the vegetables especially the native spinach and the sauce was very good but the steak was quite chewy with hardly any flavour.

Next up was the dessert – a chocolate cake on a coconut base, topped with a crispy jam smeared biscuit, native hibiscus and coconut sorbet. A very good end to the meal. The coconut and raspberry tuile was a standout.

Just when we thought we couldn’t eat any more we were presented with some petit fours – two sandalwood fudges and two Davidson plum pastilles – I would happily have paid extra for these delicious morsels!

To sum up, Wildflower is an elegant restaurant with views over the Swan River slightly marred by the Ritz-Carlton building. Artwork by Melbourne-based Valerie Sparks adds life to the minimalist décor. Service was good but not top drawer. It is expensive but the majority of our food was excellent, seasoning was perfect and we will look forward to trying it out on during another of the six seasons.

There is no a la carte menu. A popular, one-hour express, 2-course lunch is served Wednesday to Friday for $56. This menu gives diners a choice between three first courses and then three main courses.

A 6-course tasting menu, for $165 per person is available for lunch Wednesday to Friday and for dinner Tuesday to Saturday. This menu is the only one served on Saturdays. Wine pairings are $125 pp.

The 4-course tasting menu can be chosen for lunch Wednesday to Friday and dinner Tuesday to Friday.

Wildflower is reached by a lift from the upper ground floor of Como.

Valet parking is available at $25 for four hours.

Address: 1 Cathedral Avenue (off St George’s Terrace), Perth

Phone: 08 861687855

Reservations: Yes

Opening hours: Lunch -Wednesday to Friday: 12 noon-2:30pm. Dinner – Tuesday to Saturday: 5:30pm- late

Gluten-free options: On request

Vegetarian options: Yes

Restrooms: Single rooms with one dedicated to wheelchair access

Website: wildflowerperth.com.au

About the Author
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About Hazel Broomhead

My name is Hazel and I am a Perth senior!

Originally from Edinburgh in Scotland, my husband and I moved to New Zealand with our children in 1974. As my husband is in the oil business, we moved to several other countries including the Sultanate of Oman, the Netherlands, Singapore, the Philippines, the USA, Russia and Kazakhstan during the next 36 years before retiring to Perth.

We have six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren who live in different parts of the globe – New Zealand, Scotland and Colombia - which makes a great excuse for us to travel and visit.

My career background is in radio and print journalism in Scotland and New Zealand as well as public relations in various other countries.

We love to eat out, walk, travel and enjoy the wonderful lifestyle here in Western Australia.