Everything you need to know about Perth’s hottest new bar and restaurant openings

In the best of times you need a splash of good sense, a handful of humour and a cupful of courage to open a small business in the hospitality sector. Open one in the turbulence of a global pandemic and make sure you add a fistful of faith and forward-thinking to the pot. It’s a recipe that is proving surprisingly popular as new restaurants and bars pop around the city and in tourist hotspots such as Fremantle, the Swan Valley and Margaret River. Their owners say the ability to adapt to changing conditions and being confident in the future will stand them in good stead. Kaden Pool has just opened Naber + IIII in Leederville with brothers Nic and Kody Read. “It is a gamble,” he says. “I would never be bold enough to say, yes, it’s fine but we are set up to change business models. “In our files on code of conduct etc., we have a COVID section which is as thick as my thumb. We have a back-up plan to a back-up plan to a back-up plan. When you don’t have a plan, that’s when it gets a bit spicy. We know the road map, we have contingency plans.” Liam Atkinson and his wife Sarah were running successful restaurant Le Rebelle in Mt Lawley when COVID caused havoc in 2020. They have now opened Bar Rogue just down the road. “We rebranded and changed things up at Le Rebelle,” Liam Atkinson says. “You have to be able to pivot and reinvent yourself.” The 20-person restrictions in 2020 didn’t suit the restaurant, so the couple changed the menu, making it more fun and simple. “We also got a good deal from our landlord. Basically, for about three months we ran a pub restaurant, then after that three months we came back as Le Rebelle.” “It’s inevitable that more change is on the horizon,” says John Parker, who will soon open Dandelion at Karrinyup Shopping Centre. “We’ve adapted constantly over the past two years and will continue to do so. It’s scary but the industry will rally together and push through, just like we always do.” Pool says he believes customers have become comfortable with signing into venues and wearing masks and want to support local businesses. Parker and Atkinson are also confident in the future. “Some would say you’d be crazy to open a hospitality venue in these times, however I think there’s a real future in suburban hubs like Karrinyup,” Parker says. “We’re here for the long term and being the eternal optimist, I have to keep my sight set on the road ahead.” “I believe that if you have a model that works and you have an understanding of the customers you are trying to entice, there is still a good trade out there,” Atkinson says. “I have a quiet confidence in the future.” DANDELION West Deck, Karrinyup Shopping Centre When asked how he approaches managing three, soon to be four, hospitality venues in the current uncertain climate, Parker says it’s with a pair of rose-tinted glasses firmly attached to his face. Parker, who leads the award-winning team behind The Standard, The Royal and fleur, is preparing to open new venture Dandelion this month. The two-storey kitchen, bar and distillery will overlook the new dining precinct at Karrinyup Shopping Centre, with a menu focused on coal and wood-fired flavours which will be overseen by group executive chef Chase Weber. Parker says the team has “pushed the limits” with the new offering. “We didn’t want to just open yet another bar with dining but take it to the next level. The culmination of this is an urban distillery on site, where we will make our own range of spirits,” he says. “It’s all about comfy communal dining and drinking, sprawling across two bars, with a large veranda overlooking the square and a lounge with a toasty fireplace you can settle into.” Parker says Perth’s culinary scene has grown up over the past decade. “They want variety, they want quality and where possible they want the produce and products to be locally sourced, made and owned. Doesn’t get much more local than a gin made right there in the bar you’re sitting in now, does it?” Delays in the supply chain because of the building boom in WA had been the biggest challenge in launching a new venue. “Some would say you’d be crazy to open a hospitality venue in these times however I think there’s a real future in suburban hubs like Karrinyup,” Parker says. “We’re here for the long term and being the eternal optimist, I have to keep my sight set on the road ahead. “It’s inevitable that more change is on the horizon. “We’ve adapted constantly over the past two years and will continue to do so. It’s scary but the industry will rally together and push through, just like we always do.” BAR ROGUE Beaufort Street, Highgate Sarah and Liam Atkinson always thought their acclaimed eating place Le Rebelle would be part bar, part restaurant. “But just due to demand and the way things panned out, we ended up becoming more of a restaurant than we thought we would,” Liam says. So the couple opened Bar Rogue just down the road in December, a place where they want to push the limits of what they can offer Perth and where Sarah gets to curate a beautiful wine list. “It’s all about the wine’s quality,” she says. “At Le Rebelle, it’s predominantly French because of the menu and Australian. It’s a little different here, there’s things that you can play with.” So what glass of white would she recommend? “Staying away from WA, the most popular international white we have been pouring is a Gavi from Piedmont in Italy,” she says. “It’s very fresh, kind of like a chablis, a nice wine that’s complementing our food. “I can’t keep it on the shelf, I have to keep ordering it. “ The menu features about a dozen small plates featuring cuisines from around the world. “It changes weekly but what we won’t do is take away the customers’ favourites,” Liam says. Already the lobster taco looks like it is here to stay and the grilled cheese roti is also proving popular. The couple say early trade has been great. “We have completely refurbished the space. When you push the door, it opens into a whole new world. It has a nice vibe, it’s buzzing and you can have some great wines and cocktails. The whole Mt Lawley area is starting to feel revitalised.” But still they must manage their affairs very carefully. “We need to make sure we are strong as a business and look after our staff the way we need to,” Liam says. “Nobody knows what is going to happen but we have a quiet confidence in the future.” NABER + IIII Oxford Street, Leederville Ask Kaden Pool about his favourite cocktail at Naber + IIII and his answer is enough to drive you to drink. “I make my own style martini highball,” he says. “I want a drink that’s similar to a martini, that has the flavour points of a martini, but I want it to highlight the gin. “We get a special summer gin from Republic of Fremantle, we get some watermelon flower nectar from our honey producer in the Swan Valley, we add a little Margaret River verjuice then we build it off into a highball drink. “So it’s a martini but it’s elongated, carbonated and super refreshing. “And the garnish is edible — really ripe pineapple wrapped in a little bit of smoked guanciale, lightly toasted with caviar on top, so it’s sweet and salty and fatty and you use this lovely herbaceous martini to wash it down.” Pool’s delicious martini says a lot about the business he opened last month at the old Varga Girl site with Nic and Kody Read, the brothers behind Rocked, which delivers hand-cut artisan ice to cocktail bars. They want to change people’s perceptions of what a bar is, pairing stylish food with fun, experimental drinks ordered from a menu and featuring the flavours of their neighbourhood across their food offerings, hence the name Naber. The + IIII is the casual outdoor area at the back which has beer on tap and food truck-style eats. “We are built on the idea of community,” Pool says. “We are strongly focused on WA products, like the cellar door of the community. “What we use is fresh and sourced from nearby. “We use local coffee, ice-cream from Chicho Gelato.” Demand for local produce had been booming and stock availability was a hurdle they needed to work around. “Demand is the issue,” Pool says. “But we find another supplier or get another item through the same supplier.” Pool got to know the Read brothers through his work at various hospitality venues around Perth. “One night, we had a wine, then another wine, then another and then probably too many at a dinner,” he says. “We talked about our ambitions and dreams and decided to have a bit of a chat when we weren’t seven bottles deep.” Naber opened last month and business has been buzzing. “Leederville is humming,” Pool says. “It’s been really busy, but in a good way.” ANY Queen Street, Perth The thinking behind the new ANY restaurant and bar in the heart of the city is it will deliver anytime, anywhere and anything. It’s a can-do attitude that fits perfectly in these times. “The environment is turbulent, to say the least,” says Preston Jurn, the managing director of Sevens WA (F&B), which runs the restaurant. “But things will get better. We are looking to the future and will enjoy what we have been missing.” The centrepiece of ANY is the 12-seat chef’s counter dining experience, where chefs cook and present their dishes directly to guests from their open galley kitchen. Matching drinks can be paired with each of the five courses. There is also a relaxed a la carte dining room with banquette seating and a lovely lounge bar where patrons can have a drink before or after dinner or simply relax with a cocktail or a spritzer. Jurn says the food will be progressive but also feature plenty of modern classics, with the emphasis on seasonal West Australian or national produce. He is confident the public are ready to embrace the new restaurants and bars that are opening, saying they have been diligent and sensible in dealing with the demands of the pandemic. But in the event of a lockdown ANY would have to close. “We couldn’t do takeaways because here you bask in the environment of the restaurant,” Jurn says. “But there are other concepts in the group, around Australia and in Singapore. We would move our staff around and direct our energy elsewhere.” CHECK OUT Frui Momento Caves Road, Wilyabrup A new, exciting partnership between local winemaker Larry Cherubino and former Wills Domain chef Seth James, Frui Momento (which means enjoy the moment in Latin) features a restaurant with a focus on seafood and the best in wine and a cocktail bar and alfresco champagne lounge serving up caviar, seafood and charcuterie. Old Young’s Kitchen West Swan Road, Henley Brook It has taken over the space previously held by the Rustique cafe and sits side by side with the award-winning Old Young’s tasting room. Head chef Rohan Park focuses on fresh, local produce and incorporates flavours from Old Young’s into his dishes. With a distillery next door, the beverage menu is, naturally, impressive. Gage Roads Freo Brewery A Shed, Fremantle Port The family friendly venue includes a working microbrewery, restaurant, bar and alfresco area. It will feature the company’s full range of beers, including Single Fin and Pipe Dreams, alongside a rotation of seasonal limited releases and brewery-only exclusives. Phat Lon Oxford Street, Leederville Jenny Lam, a former MasterChef contestant, has already had great success in Oxford Street with her Vietnamese street food venue Bunn Mee. Phat Lon, a Vietnamese tapas restaurant, sits right next door. It officially opens this week with seating for about 80 diners. Golden West Brewing Hay Street, Subiaco A great old WA brand gets a brand new home in the heart of Subiaco. The beers are brewed onsite, there’s food and plenty of entertainment. The Old Courthouse Henderson Street, Fremantle Fremantle’s old courthouse has been beautifully reimagined as a bar and restaurant, including a family friendly outdoor dining area, complete with sandpit. Ruin Bar Beaufort Street, Northbridge A 300-person bar centring around craft beer in a historic building on Beaufort Street.