#perthrestaurants

The Painted Bird has nested in Perth’s CBD. Co-Owner Kat Milton says the inspiration for the café name came from two references: a 1970s children book that Chef and Business Partner Ben Toye was reading to his son, and their signature dish.

“Ben’s trademark dish is a duck leg confit ‘painted’ with mustard and orange, and wrapped in puff pastry,” Kat says. “It’s delicious.”

The café-cum-restaurant opened late October. Kat was working as a restaurant manager at the time when she saw the block opposite their venue become vacant.

“It seemed an opportunity to good to refuse, so we moved in,” she says. “I’ve always been involved in food and hospitality, working in Europe and America, and the timing was right to start this place.”

The Painted Bird features dark furnishings with lots of lighting, high ceilings and a modern, clean finish. “A few people have come in and said that it seems very Melbourne driven,” adds Kat.

The Painted Bird serves Lavazza’s Grand Espresso blend, which Kat describes as “earthy, robust, and intense”. She says this is a popular blend for their business clientele who come in each morning for their caffeine fix and morning meetings.

“Coffee is such an important part of our business. We understand that in this state, and this country there’s such big emphasis on quality of coffee so we have to get that right,” says Kat. “Lavazza’s coffee had been recommended to us and we are really happy with their profile of coffee.”

With so much growing competition, Kat says it’s important to keep focused on what they do best. “In WA there’s a lot of smaller artisan businesses merging through, so our success comes down to serving an overall package – great food, coffee, and service,” she says.

Chef Ben cooks up modern Australian dishes with European influences. The Painted Bird Bar and Kitchen is open for coffee at 7.30am, lunch from 11.30am and dinner from 5.30pm. Must-try items include homemade gnocchi with beef, veal and lamb ragu.

“We want people know we’re here and ready to go. We’ve already built-up a regular fan base and we’re hoping to add to that each week,” says Kat. “I have always loved the buzz of a restaurant and café environment and I’m loving this place.”

The chocolate mousse, wattle seed cream and baked banana sorbet ($24) is not for the faint-hearted — or the “oh so full” like we were.Don’t get us wrong, the chocolate mousse was everything it should be — we were just too full. We did, however, fight over the banana sorbet, a fun and delicious additionWe left Wildflower feeling that much more appreciative of being Sandgropers.Not just because of the stunning view of Perth we enjoyed, but for the celebration of all the culinary marvels WA producers have to offer.IN the spirit of the new year, we decided to head to one of Perth’s hottest new venues, Wildflower at Como The Treasury.

Wildflower offers a concept new to Perth — a locally sourced, six-season menu with a different chef taking over the kitchen for each season.

Every dish is created using WA produce and foraged ingredients.

Perched within a glass cube on top of the newly renovated and oh-so-trendy State Buildings, Wildflower feels like the cherry on top of this temple to the culinary arts.

It’s a sophisticated space, with spectacular views of the Swan River, St George’s Cathedral and Kings Park.

We were so awestruck by the view, it was hard to concentrate on picking a wine — there are pages and pages to choose from — but a well-versed sommelier came to our rescue.

We already knew what dishes we wanted to order, so she suggested the 2013 Patrick Piuze Terroir de Courgis ($88). It was a pure delight — fresh and aromatic.

Wildflower is embracing yet another a food trend we envisage being big this year — a small menu done well.

With only four choices for entree and main, you can guarantee each dish will receive all the love, care and attention it deserves from the kitchen.

For entree, I (Kelly) just had to try the scampi, pig’s tail and apple ($33).

Chloe couldn’t go past the pressed rabbit, apricot, sour radish and macadamia praline ($34).

It was a tough competition, but my scampi won the first round.

Not that the fatty rabbit balanced with sweet apricot prepared three ways wasn’t divine. But the melt-in-your-mouth scampi on top of the rich, pulled pig’s tail meat encased in crisp crumbs was even more spectacular than the view.

Chloe was certain her toothfish cooked in squid ink brioche ($50) would win the mains round. But I was confident with my lamb with black sesame, cumin and sheep’s yoghurt ($46).

When the food arrived, however, all bets were off. We couldn’t choose a winner.

The fish reminded us of a fish finger — in the best possible way.

This wasn’t your run-of-the-mill freezer job, but a moist, perfectly cooked morsel of crumbed fish. And the potato and garlic cream was the perfect condiment.

The lamb was the best we’ve tasted this year (or last year even). Not an ounce of pressure was needed to cut through the medium-rare flesh.

The strategically crisped fat gave the meat even more flavour and the zucchini puree and spiced sides gave the dish a Moroccan edge.

Wide-eyed, we both had our “Wow! Just wow” faces on.

The dishes hadn’t seemed overly large, but the depth and intricacy of the flavour had us close to full. But there’s always room for dessert. Well, at least one to share.

The chocolate mousse, wattle seed cream and baked banana sorbet ($24) is not for the faint-hearted — or the “oh so full” like we were.

Don’t get us wrong, the chocolate mousse was everything it should be — we were just too full. We did, however, fight over the banana sorbet, a fun and delicious addition

We left Wildflower feeling that much more appreciative of being Sandgropers.

Not just because of the stunning view of Perth we enjoyed, but for the celebration of all the culinary marvels WA producers have to offer.