Perth Food Review

A fter much consideration, I decided to get a few friends together for a nice dinner at Restaurant Amuse for my recent birthday.. One thing I found interesting when I was making reservations is that I found out they don't take phone calls during service hours..

Anyway, on to the review...

We arrived a little early, and were still waiting on two more friends so we decided to head in for a drink first.. Hoping there was gonna be a lounge area, we were informed that that part was still under construction as they had just finished major renovations.. So we were seated at our table while we waited for the rest of our party..
They had a very nice wine list with a lot of French wines and local favourites.. Everyone got here and we were given the menus which isn't the best structured menu I must say.. We were given a choice of a nine course degustation menu ($110w/o, $165 with paired wines), or a five course set menu ($75).. I wanted to give the dego a try, but it required everyone on the table to do so, so we all went for the 5 course instead..
It started off with the amuse bouche of the day, which was sort of a tomato jelly (if I remember correctly), served in a shot glass with a crunchy parmesan cracker..
Then for the entrees we ordered the cep risotto with enoki mushrooms, the goats cheese tortellini with black olives and parmesan foam, and the cured kingfish with yuzu jelly..
The risotto was absolutely perfect, cooked just al dente.. The cep was pureed and cooked with the risotto, it had robust, earthy flavours that did well as a base for the dish, and the enoki's sharper hint complemented it well.. It probably is one of the best risottos I've had in a while..
The goats cheese tortellini was also an interesting dish with the parmesan foam (a trend that has yet to take off here I think)..
The cured kingfish was nice, and the yuzu was moderately used, not overpowering the whole dish..
For entree sized dishes I have to say the servings were quite small..

On to the mains, we ordered the duck breast with duck leg pot au feu, pork belly with braised cuttlefish and broccolini, as well as the black angus beef served with oxtail, horseradish ice cream (I think)..
The duck I ordered was perfectly cooked (I mean PERFECT), beautifully pink in the middle, pungently aromatic and roasted on the outside, and if I'm not mistaken it had some liver mousse served together (which was absolutely sublime..)..
The pork belly too, was perfectly cooked, sadly it was slightly overseasoned and a little too salty for us.. It was served with a pumpkin puree, but the broccolini, was nowhere to be seen...??
Another friend who ordered the duck as well also found it to be slightly too salty..
Our friend who ordered the beef said that it was good, although he had better..
The mains were just slightly larger in serving size, and I found this to be a little too small.. Maybe if it was another half portion more it would suffice..

I also went for the optional cheese course for an extra $7.50, and I think I had a Munster which was really good..

The pre-dessert of the evening was a coffee mousse if I remember correctly, and it was light, not too sweet, and really nice..
For the dessert we ordered a blood plum tart with a peach sorbet, a pain d'epices of quince, and a bavarois with guava sorbet and spiced strawberries..
The blood plum tart was absolutely superb - it had a crispy light pastry and the plums were baked till crusty on the top, and soft inside.. The peach sorbet was beautiful and complemented it well..
The bavarois (I think it was passion fruit) was very sour, but it worked extremely well with the guava sorbet, the flavours mixed really well..

All in all it was a great meal.. The unique ingredients such as cep mushrooms, quinces, yuzu paid off well as it was something different and definitely amused our tastebuds.. We could also tell that the technique of the kitchen staff were really really good, as everything was perfectly cooked.. However, there were still some inconsistencies in the seasoning, which I did not think should be a problem in a restaurant like that (or for someone with that resume for that matter).. Portion sizes could be bigger, but I did not think it was overpriced at all..
Service was also slightly patchy.. The girl serving us first couldn't remember who ordered what for the entrees, and when she confidently set the plates down in front of us for the mains she had it wrong.. There was also a stage where our wines were just left sitting too long when our glasses were running empty..

I would definitely recommend anyone to try this place.. It is unique, and is a breath of fresh air, despite it's few tiny flaws.. I would score food 7.5 out of 10 though.. And I'll be back in maybe 6 months, hopefully to better and more consistent food and service.. =)

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