Perth Food Review

T oo lazy to cook, my brother decided we should go out for dinner last night. I was left with the decision of where to go, and I chose Cafe Villa, as they had recently changed their menu. We made reservations and showed up to a welcoming floorstaff.

As we were famished we ordered straight away, starting with a duo of dips. For our mains I ordered the Daube Provencale while my brother had the Rangers Valley Black Angus steak. The dips were served with toasted turkish bread, and they were very tasty.

The steak was beautiful, ordered medium rare and cooked perfectly. It was served with braised savoy cabbage, yorkshire puddings and green peppercorn sauce. With every bite of the steak you experience mouthfuls of fatty implosions of marbling that runs through the meat, whilst tasting the raw, sweet, natural flavour of the beef. Meat cooked like that just serves as a reminder that black angus, when cooked well doesn't run far behind a good wagyu. Still, a wagyu is a wagyu.

Beautiful as the steak was, I think my lamb was better. Daube provencale is basically a lamb stew, but only by general classification. It transcends that. Not mine, when I attempted it, although still very much edible. Villa uses shoulder cuts, where the meat is cooked slowly, the meat still on the bone. The finish is beautifully tender meat, lined with slivers of fat. It was served with steamed baby carrots, roasted potatoes and pitted green olives. The stew gravy, fragranced heavily (and rightly so) with orange zest, envelopes the elements of the dish to provide a hell of a gut-warming, flavour-packing and truly satisfying winter dish. I was well fed. My brother could not agree more.

Minus a few elements, the cliched Italian feel of Villa's previous menu and head chef is fast fading away. The new menu clearly promises much more. The service, while not of fine dining standard (which would be redundant in this setting), was attentive and friendly. I look forward to my next visit to Villa.

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