The dozen restaurants that define eating out in Perth

What are the flavours of Perth? What are the foods that define P-Town?

What, to quote one Homer J Simpson, are the meats that make up our city’s (multi)cultural stew?

As we dry ourselves off after one of the last WA Day long weekends in June, it feels timely to reflect on the city’s dining landscape and the tastes and influences that make Perth, Perth. Not a wannabe Melbourne or a second-rate New York, but one of the planet’s most isolated capitals that grows ever more cosmopolitan yet remains in touch with its (West) Australianness.

This is no restaurant top 10 (or top 12, even). Nor is it a rundown of every dining category in Perth.

Instead, it’s an attempt to isolate the key strands of our city’s dining DNA and places that, circa June 2026, really represent each food style.

Hopefully it generates discussion: not just about the places that made the cut, but also the places that didn’t. Modern-day Perth is a big (sprawling) city. And big, sprawling cities are full of great places for flavour(s) to hide.

The handmade noodle joint: Yip (Victoria Park)

Thanks to geography and our university system, Perth is home to Australia’s best southeast Asian food. It’s a big call, but one I’m confident in making.

Consider the myriad Malaysian chicken rice spots, Indonesian eateries and Singaporean canteens dotted across Leach Highway, Northbridge and Vic Park.

The latter is where you’ll find cheery Yip, one of the last places on Earth still making southern Chinese-style bamboo pole noodles.

The pop-up: Fervor (various)

For more than a decade, Fervor duo Stephne Pronk and Paul Iskov have criss-crossed WA in search of native ingredients and ancient flavours that speak of Country and Indigenous culture.

The result: truly bucket list lunches and dinners in unforgettable settings that are conducted alongside traditional owners, and proof that roving kitchens inject plenty of vim and vigour to Perth’s dining scene.

The cafe: The Cool Room (Fremantle)

Occasionally, some pop-ups even settle down: just ask Charlotte Beeton and Drew Dawson who took over this beloved neighbourhood cafe last year.

They got a space to serve luxe-simple brunch food and a home for their Off Licence pop-up: we got a watertight reason to visit Freo.

In Vic Park, Sandro Puca’s Social Manna is another cafe run by a former restaurant chef that nails the daytime dining brief.

The pizzeria: Mima Pizzeria (Dianella)

Globally recognised pizzerias. Cult local favourites (hi Monsterella!). The multinationals: our pizza scene covers many styles.

As far as future talents go, I’m keeping a close eye on Andrea Muru.

Since arriving at Mima in August, the Sardinian pizzaiolo has been turning out deft, knockout pizzas of impressive structure, all while retaining the essence of a neighbourhood spot. A name to watch.

The precinct: The State Buildings (CBD)

True, State Buildings boasts a swish hotel and accomplished fine diner, yet you don’t need to be minted to enjoy this space.

Consider the soaring Postal Hall: a fine perch to enjoy a sandwich or pastry – or what’s in your lunchbox – while observing the human theatre of the city’s unofficial third place.

(But if required, the Thai fireworks of Long Chim plus Petition Kitchen’s assured all-day menu are waiting in the wings.)

The Italian restaurant: Lulu La Delizia (Subiaco)

As Lulu’s approaches its 10th birthday, Ivana and Joel Valvasori-Pereza’s osteria remains a paradigm of consistency and revelry.

With chef-patron Joel firmly established in the front-of-house, head chef James Higgs is quietly evolving Lulu’s Northern Italian cookery while safeguarding signatures including the tiramisu, tagliatelle ragu and meatballs.

The (brew)pub: Found Subiaco (Subiaco)

With the late 80s opening of the Sail and Anchor in Freo, WA invented the contemporary Australian brewpub.

Four decades on, establishment like this modern, smart-casual public house – a likeable blend of nostalgia and forward-thinking – are defining the genre’s future.

The bakery: Miller & Baker (various)

When Rachel and Mark Taylor opened Miller & Baker in 2019, it was one of the few Australian bakeries milling its own flour.

And as a result, you and I can now enjoy sourdough bread, pastries and sandwiches of real flavour and nutrition regularly: not just at the Northbridge HQ, but also at the Taylors’ North Perth spin-off, plus all the other venues they supply baked goods and fresh-milled flour to.

The (seaside) seafood restaurant: Pearla & Co (North Fremantle)

It says much about Scott Bridger’s resilience that, despite opening Pearla & Co on the same day a questionable fishing ban was announced, his sleek Leighton Beach dining room continues to push.

Seafood is integral to WA’s identity, and deftly handled crudos, grilled prawns and golden swordfish schnitzels do justice to these coastal treasures.

(Want new-wave fish and chips? Hit Fins Bicton or Gwelup Fish and Chips.)

The day trip: Oscar’s in the Valley (Herne Hill)

Yes, a meal at Glenarty Road or de’sendent is worth planning a Margaret River getaway around, yet thrilling agrarian dining also exists closer to home.

Take Oscar’s in the Valley: an earnest Swan Valley restaurant where Justin Hughes’ earthy kitchen approach – find good ingredients, make them taste like the best versions of themselves – yields delicious, country-style cooking of a higher order.

The wine bar: Casa (Mount Hawthorn)

The Court Wine Bar. Must. Wines of While: these trailblazers helped write the playbook for modern wine rooms.

The west’s wine bar to beat is Casa: a fantasy of organic vino, grown-up service plus Paul Bentley’s confident menu of-no-fixed-address starring tostadas, tonnarelli and things-grilled-over-charcoal. A polished house of both dining and wining.

The hometown hero: Big Don’s Smoked Meats (Bayswater)

While you can pigeonhole most places here, Big Don’s is in a category of its own yet might be the most West Aussie restaurant of all.

From cooking with local jarrah to its warehouse setting – BYO chair! – this democratic, one-day-a-week barbecue den leans bigtime into its home ground advantage.

It’s also a vibe.

Big Don’s crams more fun (and smoked meat) into one four-hour service than most places fit into a week.

Bonus track: The little fast food chains that could: Red Rooster and Chicken Treat (various)

WA has contributed much to Aussie fast food culture. As well as being home to the country’s first Hungry Jack’s (Innaloo, 1971) and Nando’s (Tuart Hill, 1990), we also gave Australia Red Rooster (Kelmscott, 1972) and Chicken Treat (Midland, 1976).

Have I dined at either brands’ outposts outside of WA? No.

Am I glad there’s a Chicken Treat at the airport to soothe any pre-flight quarter chicken and chips cravings? You bet.