Tannic Teeth

So you’re fresh from your Christmas holidays with the crisp white pages of 2010 to unfold. Your desk is eerily vacant and suspended in time from the last joyous hours of 2009. You’re back into the daily grind till the cooling days of Autumn brings Easter (with more festivities). You also know what’ll help you along the days is coffee. Bitter, sweet, luscious and hot. And if you’re lucky enough to work in West Perth and be in need of the bean, there may be a little (coffee) house right up your alley (literally).

Pony Express O is a coffee house in reverse. Like me, you could be forgiven to think you’ve come through the rear, or heaven forbid, behind the bar. But you’d be wrong. If you’re trying to be smart and go on the other side of the bar, you’ll be faced with another expresso machine. Clearly the function of this coffee house is bring you to the steamy face of coffee. You get to see the extraction as clearly as the barista. This used to be the Ashton Stables, the building is now heritage listed. The space has been transformed. Art hangs from the walls, high airy ceilings upon to a faux-grassed lane-way under umbrellas. The only equine link is the rib-nudging name, Pony Express O. Get it. Hah Hah.

The brain-child of Garret of Blink in South Fremantle,  it carries some of those elements. Smart use of space, clear access to expresso machines, a funky coin payment system and above all else, fine coffee. Crema is his choice of bean. Get to know it. It’s the new Fiori. His attitude is casual, inquisitive and friendly. It’s a communal joint, where you’ll see regulars popping in, picking up conversations where they left off, and others lounging about reading books and eating their lunches. There is a bring-your-own-lunch policy here. Pony Express O plays its cards well, limited sweet pickings in favour of BYO. Bring your books too or read the paper, and use the foot massager. Yes that’s right. A foot massager.

Pony Express O

21 Mayfair Street West Perth

If you’ve been trundling down St Georges Terrace in the past few months, no doubt you would have seen the construction of one of Perth’s most anticipated small bars slash restaurants. The Greenhouse.

Drawn from the valiant effort of its older sister in Melbourne, Perth’s version has the rooftop garden (complete with veggie patch, fruit trees, and herb rows) and that oh so intriguing external lattice. Yes, those are individual terracotta pots. Yes, strawberries. Hundreds of them.

The idea here is simple. Be green. Minimise the carbon foot print. Make us scratch our heads over the energy inefficient lives we live. From the straw-bale insulation to the recycled plastic-container reinforced concrete, every effort has been made to reduce, reuse and recycle. More planning has gone into this than meets the eye. It’s one of those light bulb moments, where the environment and architecture have combined. It’s the way it should have always been. Ecologically sound, holistic approached. In many ways, The Greenhouse is leading by example.

On the menu you’ll find offerings for breakfast, lunch and dinner. All ingredients are sourced from producers either biodynamic or organic. Crushed peas & basil, poached eggs & toast to break your fast, or the tomato & goats curd tart, mixed leaves, aged balsamic for a midday feast, and dinner time it looks like a tapas. Piquillo pepper & manchego croquettes and pig head & trotter terrine, pickled cherries. Yum. And very reasonably priced.

It’s an interesting little zone, the Greenhouse. It’s unbleached, organic and recycled. It’s unapologetic hippy-esque nature lends to the charm. There is a prodigiously young staff-ship who look like they’re on their way to a Copenhagen; chirpy, hard-wired for action, in the first flush of youth.

Can’t wait to see those strawberries bloom. And for the place to put down roots.

The Greenhouse

100 St. Georges Terrace
Perth WA 6000

Mon & Tues 7am – 5pm

Wed to Sat 7am -12am

It has become somewhat of a Perth institution that lead the way into opening up the now gilded King St. From what used to be warehouse storage and a no-go zone of Perth, the change has been, to use a sorrowful pun – dramatic.

King St Cafe AKA 44 King St, is a contemporary Australian menu with offerings from pizza to cous cous in a laid back atmosphere. It stares across the street at Tiffinay and Louis. Quite possibly the classiest street in Perth.

For ten years it’s been operating, churning out it’s own breads, roasting it’s own coffee and providing the people of Perth a friendly, artisanal experience.

Not a bad environment to be in, when you’re sipping to the cup of inspiration. The coffee is very well made and fruit toast is amazing.

Speaking of amazing, the wine list is probably one of the best in the state. Any (Australian) wine worth its salt you’ll find gracing the carte de vin.

The place is decked out with the functioning bakery at the back, mirroring the other side where a coffee roaster sits flanked with rows of roasted beans. It adds to the grass-roots feel of the place, the open air kitchen pushes further the theatre of food. You may stay longer than you had intended, for this is what happened on this particular day.

And if you were after a live performance of whatever takes your fancy, His Majesty’s it’s less than 30 meters away.

7am till Late every day

44 King St Perth

Take your time. Enjoy.

I acknowledge it has been a while since the last small bar review because life seems to have its way of insisting to apply more attention to where it’s needed most.

So it was refreshing that to get back into a small bar late on a sunny afternoon in Fremantle.

Mrs Brown is the name. And she ain’t as boring as she sounds.

As the story goes Queen Victoria had a little thing for a Scottish servant called John Brown. Perhaps it was more than the companionship he offered or how he fiercely protected her. Either way, Vicky and John became something of an informal item, hence her name Mrs Brown. The location of the small bar (not the late monarch) is on Queen Victoria Street. The location of the bar is a good enough excuse for that name, I say.

You could be forgiven into thinking that this place brings back memories of The Stanley. In some ways it does.

There is a Flipside burger bar next door, and patrons are welcome to bring food over.

Even decor of the bar feels the same. Shabby-chic. Retro meets federation. Have a squiz at the portrait of Mrs Brown and spot the 10 modern elements. Check out the crazy welded lighting feature or play with the magnetic words. It’s mature-age fun.

Wines appear from across the international board, there is one tap beer and the rest are well selected bottles. A top range of spirits crown the shelves, Hendrick’s Gin appears to make an impromptu feature along the stairwell wall.

Grab a burger from next door, sit down with a G & T and watch the world blur by.

Mrs Brown

241 Queen Victoria Street

North Fremantle

P:  9336 1887

Monday to Saturday – open to midnight
Sunday – open to 10 pm.

Traipse into the James St. Check.

Cross dingy car park. Check.

Enter iron gates to graffitied alley way. Check.

Find chairs and tables, and enter door way.

Welcome to Ezra Pound.

It’s currently the word on everybody’s lips. Ezra Pound. Ezra Pound. Ezra Pound. I just rolls off the tongue like a Tom Collins on a hot spring day. Except it was wild and wooly and I had a Negroni. It still hit the spot even though it was 15C. It was expertly made by owner slash manager Talmage, formerly of 1907 and West End Deli. This is his first venture into the small bar scene. Not bad for a 24 year old.

Ezra’s going for the friendly American neighbourhood bar feel. There’s a table perfect for the dealing of cards, crescents of chairs for playful banter and what looks like pews of a church for something different. The atmosphere is friendly, almost as if this were in some ghetto and we were the privileged few to gain entrance. Some decor is tired, worn and weary. Other parts are plush and new. To pay homage to the man himself – Ezra – there is a book cabinet of various works of poetry.

The main feature here are classic cocktails. Tom Collins, Negroni, Sidecar, Old Fashioned. Don’t be offended if you’re refused a JD’s and Coke. Go elsewhere for that. Wines, are ‘In focus’ meaning a bi-monthly rotation of wine from different producers, acquainting the public with different styles. Not a Sauvignon Blanc to be seen. Horay. Beers follow the same suite.

It’s an of eclectic mix of novelty and nouveau. Coopers longneck in brown paper bags, old (and functional) cash register, signature cocktails in jam jars (courtesy of Matt from Palace Foods). Not entirely un-Northbridge. I half expected to see an ‘old timer’ with shiny skin and white fleecy hair playing the blues on a harmonica. It is Northbridge after all.

Ezra Pound
Williams Lane, Northbridge

(189 William St)

Tuesday 4pm-12am

Wednesday-Saturday 1pm-12am

Sunday 1pm-10pm

Prohibitionatory Charm.

For those that grace Beaufort Street would know there used to be an old shop at 513. Correct me if i’m wrong but was it a kebab shop, right? I remember it because there is a florist further down the road with the most amazing blooms. They’re always beaming towards the sun, perfect to take a few happy snaps.

But I digress.
So there’s going to be a small bar in that retail cavity left behind. I saw the Notice of Application the other week. Yes. It took me a while to actually blog this, and hopefully full renovations are well underway.

Mezza Tapas is the name.

Watch this space.

It’s one of those places where you would go if you wanted to be seen.

That is, it has a VIP lounge, complete with red roped off barriers that overlook the ‘lower loft’ and bar. You would get to rub shoulders with the DJ on any given night and have first preference service. If you were lucky enough — Wolfe Lane has it for you.

Make no mistake about it. This bar is chic. Wolfe Lane echos a lofty ambition of New York – an air of exclusivity, dedecance and no expenses spared. It has high ceilings and modern low key furniture. For all the sparse decorations, the ceiling roses call the strongest from black lacquered candelabras. Less is more in this case.

The wines are a hotchpotch collection of left off centre – the beers also mimic that seam. Spirits are top shelf, and presented as you would expect. It’s a given for a bar who’s focus is on cocktails. For grumbling bellys there is a small tapas menu on offer.

Rumor has it that the Perth Fashion Festival 2009 will wind down there.

Wolfe Lane

Wolf Lane, off Murray St Perth

Phone 93224671

Wednesday – Saturday 2pm – 12am

Sunday 2pm – 10pm

Relax your purse strings and you’ll have a good time.

There are probably only a hand full of restaurants around Perth where you can go at any time of day, day of week and get consistent quality food. Cantina in Mt Lawley is one of those places.

It’s looks like it’s an a small cafe that burst at the seams and spilled tables and chairs into the near by arcade. I’m sure this has been a crafted entrance as much as the menu is every few weeks. Yes I said every few weeks. There are a few dishes that are the mainstay but other than that, the produce is seasonal. I like that transitory nature of things. It keeps things interesting. Interestingly Italian.

The wine list is well chosen with imported reds sharing the carte du vin as much as Aussie ones.

I tried the slow cooked duck cannelloni with pine nuts. It came out bubbling like some primordial lava pool in a stoneware dish that retained the heat long after it disappeared. That was prequeled by seared chorizo with caper berries, The chorizo is as good as it gets this side of the equator. It’s made by local señora, Rosa.

This place is a no brainer if you don’t want to be disappointed.

Cantina 663.

663 Beaufort St, Mt Lawley

The Perth Hills Wine Show has been running for a few years now. From the very beginning the wineries have made a spirited effort to improve the quality of their wines, because at times, it has been thought the region has not made wines of any notoriety. This year saw a record number of medals awarded than any previous show. There was a 50% medal award. That may not sound like much but when you consider a large wine show like Sydney or Melbourne, the medal takings are hover below the 40 mark. You could draw two things from it. One the competition is not so great in a wine show like Perth Hills OR the Perth Hills is punching above its weight. I would go for the latter. As the judges brought in this year were a mix of outer regional and national. 5 Gold, 11 Silver and 42 Bronze. Not bad for region not considered to produce super premium wines.

Stand out wines (Gold Medal Winners):

Thumbprint Wines 2009 Rose

Western Range Wines 2006 Julimar Shiraz Viognier

MyattsField Vineyards 2008 Shiraz Mourvedre Viognier

Western Range Wines 2005 Shiraz Mourvedre Viognier

Western Range Wines 2006 Goyamin Pool Cabernt Merlot

Lion Mill Vineyards 2007 Home Block Reserve (Blend)

Western Range Wines 2002 Julimar Liquid Gold Liqueur Muscat

When: Sat 8 & Sun 9 Auguest  11am – 5pm

Where: The Hub Mundaring ( 8 Craig St Mundaring)

Cost: $15

Here is another small bar that’s proudly Perth. Melbournites, I know you rule the roost for the Small Bar scene, but c’mon you have many more little laneways to play in. We make do with what we have, and if it’s the law chamber of an old Anglo-Dutch building, that suits us just fine.

Andaluz is one of those contemporary tapas bars. Offering a variety of tasty morsels from slow cooked rabbit and chorizo with lentils and pearl barley, to oysters with smoked tomato and Tabasco sorbet. I would still be a purist and order a fino sherry but then again I’d be temped by the international wine list or the menacing shelves of spirits on display.

The bar’s entrance is open and clean. Clever use of mirrors spawn an illusionary space that reflects the plush leather sofas beyond. Dim lighting, shadow streaked corners calling for private chit-chats are the order of the day. Break out your Romance languages and you’ll

feel right at home – though you might want to rely on ‘The Britanica’ on shelf to settle any linguistic disputes. The overall bar is, well, small. Conscientious interior design breaks up what would be a crowded bar into something mediated and tempered.

You would think the basement of a Federation-era building would hardly be the place for a Tapas Bar. But then again, you would be wrong.

Opening Hours

Noon – Midnight Monday to Thursday

Noon – 1am Friday

6pm – 1am Saturday

Basement Level, 21 Howard St, Perth CBD.

Bar hop to Helvetica when your tummy is full.