Our restaurant critics’ picks of the latest and best eats around the country right now: Rockpool Bar & Grill, Perth.
Neil Perry, by his own admission, is mellowing in his old age. He might have written disparagingly about burgers with beetroot in the Rockpool Bar & Grill cookbook, but the divisive, distinctly Australian root vegetable is now a permanent fixture at Burger Project in Sydney. Following an overhaul of the bar menu at Perry’s western burger outpost, it’s now Bar & Grill’s turn to enjoy a more ocker Rockpool experience. Upmarket burgers are the game and the kitchen has plenty of new names to entice eaters. The most notable of these is Minderoo, a local grass-fed breed of cattle whose meat isn’t as rich (in taste or cost) as Rockpool’s famed David Blackmore wagyu number. Regardless of the patty you choose, sandwiches are offered in different configurations including chilli-spiked, sans bacon and a verily deluxe cop-the-lot. It’s tasty stuff and, paired with one of the state’s most formidable cellars and spirit stockpiles, the stuff smart-casual dining dreams are made of.
Rockpool Bar & Grill, Crown Perth, Great Eastern Hwy, Burswood, WA, (08) 6252 1900
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