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When it comes to deciding where to get dinner – or breakfast, lunch, supper and elevenses – WA diners continue to be blessed with choice.
Like the old saying goes, we are what we eat. (And the State Library of Western Australia has the food history exhibition to prove it.)
Which means that, when considered as a whole, this round-up of 2025’s best dishes suggests that West Australian diners are blessed when options galore when it comes to deciding where to get dinner. (Or breakfast, lunch, supper and elevenses, for that matter.)
But when you look at each entry on this list individually, another truth slowly slips into focus.
Which is that, despite the challenges faced by the industry – rising food costs, staffing challenges and reduced spending, just to name a few – the cooks behind the restaurants, cafes, food-slinging small bars, roving pop-ups and food trucks of this great state continue to find new ways to delight and astonish eaters.
These weren’t the only 10 great dishes I ate this year, but collectively, they paint a strong picture of the creativity and energy powering our food scene.
To anyone and everyone who plays a role in feeding us, we salute you. Thank you for another year of the good stuff. Here’s wishing you and yours a safe and restful holiday period: you have 100 per cent earned it.
Smoked WA whitefish, Oscar’s In The Valley
Minimal waste, maximum taste. If you want proof of how exciting leftovers can be, look no further than this rillettes-like jumble showcasing smoked fish bits – wings, heads, cheeks and other trim produced by butchering whole fish in-house – moistened with a sauce made from smoked fish frames.
A dish that’s as delicious as it is resourceful.
Calzone, Mima Pizzeria
Usually more appealing in theory than in practice, Italy’s legendary folded pizza is accorded the respect it deserves at this destination suburban pizza bar.
Among the tricks that pizzaiolo Andre Muru uses to make calzone great again: carefully fermenting his dough, filling each pocket with cloud-like Latticini La Delizia ricotta, plus putting a crown of gratineed parmesan and pecorino on top of each pizza before sending it out to appreciative eaters.
Cured bonito tostada, Casa
There are still places, sadly, where committing to the tasting menu feels more punishment than reward. (Or at least when said tasting menu is made up primarily of dishes with good margins that kitchens can send out fast.) Mount Hawthorn’s Casa, gloriously, isn’t one such place. Rather, its set menus are a showcase for Paul Bentley’s whip-smart interpretations of Mexican flavours. Think complex moles, duck leg flautas and, best of all, this Japanese-Mexican mash-up that sees bonito cured Kyoto-style with rice vinegar artfully arranged on golden tostadas.
Raw striploin, Lulu La Delizia
Also from the department of restaurants that get tasting menus: Lulu La Delizia.
While many hit this Subiaco osteria – and, as of June, its cantina spin-off – for meatballs, tiramisu and other Lulu classics, eaters are also lured to the house of Valvasori-Pereza by a fluid chef’s menu starring the new and the off-piste.
Should management ever decide to put this tartare special of chopped striploin studded with smoked tomato and showered with puffy shingles of ciccioli (fried pork fat), they might have a new signature dish on their hands.
Kimchi and pork pancake, Charim
Who knew that threads of enoki mushroom were the secret to making a benchmark Korean kimchi pancake? Hyun Cha, the chef-owner of this charming Korean diner in Northbridge, obviously did.
And this pancake is just one reason why Charim is one of the brightest new stars in Perth’s dining scene.
Torisoba, Yakitori Washokudo
A hidden cafe and bar. A speakeasy fine-diner. Japanese vending machines galore. Surprises are everywhere at Ginza Nanna Alley, including at the complex’s yakitori stand.
Among the menu’s offer of skewered chicken all-sorts lurks this bowl of springy egg noodles in a nourishing broth sharpened with ginger, studded with tender chook and – the real VIP move – a slick of rendered duck fat.
A masterclass in Japanese comfort.
It takes a heck of a side dish to steal the limelight from lamb that’s been carefully grilled on the hearth – especially when said lamb was raised on the property you’re dining at – but this baba ganoush remake packs that sort of star power.
Hit with the same fire used to coax maximum meatiness out of Glenarty Road’s Sheepmaster lambs, estate-grown eggplants are reduced to a quivering mess and ringed with whipped tahini, crunchy twigs of purslane and sparkly jewels of persimmon. Who says eating your veg is hard?
Bangers and mash, Edward & Ida’s
The only thing better than the meaty snap of Edward & Ida’s house-smoked sausages is knowing that these snags have the blessings of Dom Boult: the general manager of Big Don’s Smoked Meats, founder of Dom’s Craft Snags and teacher of sausage-making classes that the kitchen team at this throwback corner pub attended. Isn’t open-source cooking culture great?
Corn consommé, de’sendent
Yes, the corn consommé tastes like summery optimism and warmth, but this dish’s success hinges as much on the tumbleweed of swimmer crab meat that sits in the bowl like an iceberg as it does the golden strands of fried onion that bring sweetness and crunch to the party.
Think of it as the finest reimaging of crab and sweetcorn soup imaginable and an ideal spirit dish for this seasonally minded fine-diner.
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