Perth Food Review

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Date: 7:48 am 19th Jul 2004

Name: Ben

Host: p-nya.swiftel.com.au

The review you have published sounds rather fake (like it was written by the owner or someone connected) - have you verified its authenticity ?

Date: 10:42 pm 19th Jul 2004

Name: Tony J

Host: dsl-203-142-130-214.bne.directcorp.net.au

Funny you should say this Ben, because I don't know many of the people who submit these reviews, so I wonder about these things myself. But I can assure you that this review is not fake. It is written by a person who I know very well, and who loves food as much as I do. I remember talking with her many times about this experience. We try to weed out all the 'fake' reviews, and there have been a few. We try to maintain the independent nature of the reviews, good, bad, long or short, just not biased.

Date: 3:46 pm 6th Sep 2004

Name: Marisha

Host: pad-cache1-1.cache.telstra.net

I dined at Star Anise on the weekend. It was sensational! I honestly couldn't fault it at all. I was taking my boyfriend as a special birthday dinner and was so happy with my choice. We both had the duck. I have had both good and bad experiences with duck, but this was undoubtedly one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted. Rather than the traditional mandarin sauce, this was served with sour blood orange sauce which was fantastic. It came surprisingly quickly too. The table next to us was a little bit noisy, but you couldn't blame the restaurant for that. For dessert we had the liquorice ice-cream with meringue (the presentation itself was quite funky and the waitress recommended that we break off the meringue to scoop up the ice-cream) and the strawberry and rhubarb tart with pistachio ice-cream. We loved them both. One of the best things was that at the end of the night, neither of us felt too heavy. I can definitely recommend Star Anise, it isn't exceptionally cheap, but it is worth it.

Date: 10:06 am 14th Jun 2005

Name: kevrun

Host: imimicjo1.net.ecu.edu.au

I ate at Star Anise back in November for my birthday, and it very very nice, shortly after arriving from Toronto. The service I recall was very warm and friendly, and I remember having a most stunning appetizer of grilled scallops on caramelized duck: grand and rich. I recall the mains being just that bit less interesting, but it would have been hard to maintain that kind of deliciousness through a whole meal. It's a small space, and a table or two less would make it much more cozy, but that's a minor thing. Expensive yes; worth it yes.

Date: 6:54 pm 14th Oct 2006

Name: Jimmeneely

Host: d220-238-171-27.dsl.vic.optusnet.com.au

My partner and I went to Star Anise to celebrate a very special occasion, having heard that the restaurant was excellent. However we were very disappointed. While the ambience was pleasant and the service acceptable the menu choice was extremely limited. We both had the fish main and this was just OK, hardly memorable. This must be one of the most expensive restaurants in Perth and in our view it is not value for money.

Date: 10:18 pm 22nd Oct 2006

Name: LJMfoods

Host: 203-166-235-25.dyn.iinet.net.au

My girlfriend and I went to Star Anise on Saturday night, making sure to book in advance (~2 weeks just to be sure). The food was good rather than spectacular. The atmosphere was homely rather than professional, with a few too many places crammed in (to be expected given the popularity) and maybe a bit too much light. The service was adequate without being exemplary.
The menu seems limited, I think there were 5 entrees, 5 mains with heavy asian/seafood influences throughout and 4 desserts which had limited appeal to us. (Entrees~25-27, Mains~34-36; 45 for Wagyu; Desserts~15)
The serve of roe to initiate proceedings was delicious. Then for entree we selected Pidgeon with liver served on ginger bread and caramelized pork belly with king prawns. The pork was great, with a variety of flavous coming through. The pidgeon was less exciting. For mains, the venison served with a few roast vegetables was cooked to (just about) perfection. Crispy duck appears to be the signature dish for Star Anise (from the review above, it was on the menu in 2004 and is still there today), so we gave it a shot. It was tasty, though the asian greens were quite sour against the sweet duck/mandarin sauce.
Overall, we both agreed that it was a nice meal, not spectacular.