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Suburban gems. Elite sandwiches. Bengali thrills: these are the newcomers that made mealtimes great over the past 12 months.
When I compare this year’s wrap of key food and drink newcomers with the list I wrote last year, a few things jump out.
One, our dining choices grow ever more diverse. Two, it’s encouraging to see more restaurateurs unafraid of having a point of view.
And finally, most of the exciting things are – at least to me – happening in the casual and mid-range sectors: a reflection, I feel, of the financial pressures operators and consumers are both feeling. (Of course, there will always be a place for fancy places to wine, dine and mark life’s important moments.)
But regardless of how anyone chooses to summarise the year that was, the truth is that hospitality remains a vital part of our lives and West Australian society and culture.
We’re blessed to have so many great eating and drinking options west of the Nullarbor.
And we owe these 15 key debutants from the class of 2025 – including a few latecomers that opened at the tail end of 2024 – a debt of thanks for our good fortune.
Adulis Restaurant (Yokine)
The closure of Injera House in 2022 left many crestfallen, not least those in the African community that regarded the Mirrabooka cafe as a de facto community hall.
The arrival of this homely East African bolthole in February helped turn some of those frowns upside down.
Chef-owner Eritrea Hadgat cooked at Injera House for years and it shows in her food.
Her meat dishes – juicy beef kitfo humming with the spice of mitmita, say – boast flavour for days, as does her imposing vegan beyayineto: an edible, flying carpet-sized spread of injera, dips and stews.
Authentic Family Recipes (East Victoria Park)
Perhaps there are other Bangladeshi eateries out there, but for now, Janet Faldeus’s earnest cafe remains my go-to for Bengali cooking.
Get the chitoi pitha (rice cakes) with gutsy vorta (condiments), the goat curry, those onthons dumplings and, as I’ve learned is the wisest ordering strategy, whatever else Faldeus says to try.
Charim Perth (Northbridge)
Korean food is more than just grill-your-own-barbecue (see cold buckwheat noodles, roasted seaweed, fritters galore and other deep cuts served at this charming 12-seater in Northbridge).
Then again, Charim chef-owner Hyun Cha also knows how to perform the hits with aplomb.
The wagyu topside bulgogi is complex as; a bold chilli and barley sauce feels like a cheat code for the bo ssam; while Cha’s kimchi pancake is the crunchy, generous flatbread ideal we should all aspire to.
The Cool Room (Fremantle)
Granola. Bacon and egg rolls. Plates of fruit: on paper, The Cool Room’s terse menu reads like Brekky 101, which is exactly why this suburban cafe is turning (new) heads.
Owners Charlotte Beeton and Drew Dawson might play a straight bat with their cooking, but a commitment to great produce and made-in-house helps reframe the familiar, not as ho-hum, but rather as classic.
Fins Bicton (Bicton)
In a short space of time, Fins has established itself as a key WA seafood player and trusted middleman between fishermen and chefs.
With the opening of its combined fish shop and small bar last December, diners have even greater access to Fins’ carefully sourced seafood.
Whether you keep it classic with fish and chips or give chef Seth James permission to flex his fine dining chops – crab spring rolls! Lobster dumplings! – Fins Bicton feels like stumbling onto a pescatarian Valhalla.
The Good Paddock (Forrestfield)
Restaurants that grow their own produce? To quote the legendary Wu-Tang Clan: can it be all so simple?
In this case, the chef isn’t Raekwon, but Fendi Bong: an Indonesian-born cook with the skills to coax maximum flavour from the ingredients grown at 11 Acre Farm where The Good Paddock is based.
And now that the farm has a dedicated kiosk looking after the cafe crowd, Bong, restaurant manager Kelly Pitman and their teams can concentrate on delivering the polished dining experience that the space deserves.
Lulu La Delizia Cantina (Subiaco)
Just in case glorious pasta wasn’t enough of a draw, team Lulu’s expansion into sandwiches equals more opportunities to carb-load with style.
By day, it’s about Italo-Australian panini (think poached chicken with lemon mayonnaise or veal cotoletta) while evenings see this brutalist den next to the mothership switch to vino, aperitivo and Lulu classics including meatballs, tiramisu and, naturally, pasta.
Magic Apple Wholefoods (Cottesloe)
George Kailis’s oceanside cafe is proof that health-conscious diners can have their rice cake and eat it too (along with a prebiotic-rich superfood smoothie).
Wholefoods might be the name of the game, but high-resolution flavour, the quiet offer of alcohol, plus a hip-meets-hippy treehouse setting ensures eating mindfully needn’t be a chore.
Magnolia BBQ (Victoria Park)
Like the new Nusantara food movement that’s sweeping through Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, Anisha Halik and Jacob D’Vauz’s pop-up offers new ways to look at Malay cooking and culture.
From high-end ingredients to great service and ace sweets – ant’s nest cake! – Magnolia is proof that the foodways of South-East Asia are, and always were, one of the planet’s most thrilling cuisines.
Mano Wraps (Dunsborough)
They’re the same crunchy, European-inspired buckwheat crepes you know and love from Busselton, only served in a bigger space in the heart of Dunsborough.
A lunchtime favourite that’s loved by both locals and out-of-towners.
Mima Pizzeria (Dianella)
This clean-cut neighbourhood cafe makes a strong argument that Perth is in a pizza golden age.
Pizzaiolo Andrea Muru might boast a strong resume, but the high-rise crust of his pies, the detail of his calzone – good cheese, the crunch that a patch of gratineed cheese cleverly brings to the party – plus the addictiveness of fried fingers of stracetti fritti lashed with Nutella is proof enough that this is pizza of a higher order.
North 54 (Leederville)
Contemporary kitchen thinking plus youthful swag equals North 54: Bac Pham’s cheery Vietnamese “snack bar” on Oxford Street.
While the menu showcases street food favourites, little tweaks help the familiar feel (and taste) fresh.
Xiu mai meatballs are shaped out of juicy lamb rather than pork; shards of crisp chicken skin lend crunch to glorious banh mi; and juicy fish sauce chicken wings pack a savoury marine funk that will perfume your fingers like Aesop hand cream.
Pearla & Co (North Fremantle)
Great seafood restaurants opening in December is a trend all of us can get behind. (See Fins, above.)
But whereas Fins sits at the more approachable end of the market, Scott Bridger’s new Leighton Beach digs leans more smart than casual, from the confident, cliché-free fit-out to how the kitchen handles pristine seafood, the majority sourced from WA and dry-aged in-house before being grilled over charcoal.
Meet your new summer crush.
Sunsets (Rottnest Island)
A freewheeling dining room serving family favourites and pub classics for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day of the week?
Sunsets’ approach to feeding and watering a crowd would be welcome anywhere.
That The Lodge Wadjemup’s all-day diner resides on everyone’s favourite island getaway – and is reasonably priced to boot, too – feels like a minor miracle.
A new Rotto essential (much like the hotel that it’s a part of).
Supper Club (Busselton)
Goodbye South West Wine Shop: hello Supper Club, an intimate new 30-seat dining room and atelier at Busselton Pavilion where head chef Tai Yokoyama can demonstrate his range beyond pub classics.
So cured amberjack is dressed with fermented kohlrabi; root vegetables get turned into fluffy shokupan (Japanese milk bread) and the rum baba is tingly with Sichuan pepper and built for two.
Pop-ups and guest chef takeovers are also on the menu.
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