13 minute read
MESSAGE FROM THE MINISTER OF TOURISM (Polly & the People
Minister for Tourism
Welcome to Western Australia and the 32nd edition of Menu Magazine.
For more than 15 years, Menu Magazine has provided locals and visitors with an insight into some of WA’s best restaurants, cafes, bars and culinary experiences; highlighting the latest trends and new products in the State’s thriving food and beverage scene.
In this edition, Menu features Oktoberfest, botanicals, refurbished historical buildings, WA Cheese Week; as well as regular articles on design, wine, products, education and events.
An impressive range of culinary adventures await in Australia’s largest State, with a variety of landscapes from the pristine white or ochre-coloured sands and azure blue waters of the north, to the rolling green hills and tall tree forests of the south.
Perth’s hospitality offering continues to grow, with Australia’s sunniest capital city welcoming a raft of new openings in recent times. This includes the latest addition to the city-fringing hub of Mount Lawley, The Beaufort, a state-of-the-art hospitality venue set over three levels.
Delights of the famed Margaret River region have become even more accessible to east coast travellers, with Jetstar’s direct flights between Melbourne and Busselton having launched in April. Holiday-makers can savour the region’s pleasures, including its award-winning wines, delectable local produce, stunning coastline, lush forests and underground cave systems.
Further cementing the west coast as a top holiday choice, an impressive selection of WA operators received national recognition at the Qantas Australian Tourism Awards 2022, including Live Ningaloo, Fremantle Prison and Tree Chalets taking home Gold in its respective categories. I hope you enjoy this edition of Menu Magazine and that it inspires you to discover more of WA’s exceptional food and wine.
HON ROGER COOK MLA DEPUTY PREMIER MINISTER FOR TOURISM
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A Rich Family History
Cervantes, 200km north and a couple of hours drive from Perth is a fishing village. Well, to be fair, it’s rather more than a village now. But back in the early 1960s it was just a collection of shacks, caravans and tents. This was the genesis of Cervantes’ roots as a commercial seafood industry pioneer, famed specifically for its Western Rock Lobster delicacy. Today, the industry has grown to become the home of the most valuable multimillion-dollar single species fishery in Australia, harvesting lobsters primarily for export to markets as far afield as the USA, China and Japan.
However, not all the lobsters are exported. Luckily for us, we get to eat them too. And as seafood never tastes better than when freshly caught, this is where Lobster Shack comes in. As its name implies, ‘The Shack’ traces its roots all the way back to those 1960s pioneer days, when David ‘Dogga’ Thompson began crayfishing on his boat 'Sea Tips', the first of many fishing boats to come. Now a substantial family run operation, their export business processes up to 900,000 kilos of lobster in a season. The Shack began life in the late 2000’s as a pop-up window in the factory. The Thompsons admit they never anticipated such rapid success and growth and today the Lobster Shack is a 700-seat venue right beside the ocean. Nautically themed and featuring an aquarium as one might expect, the décor is inviting and family-friendly, with many large bench tables plus a kids’ playground area. Outside, the view is gorgeous. When we arrived at 10am the morning sunlight was bouncing off the ocean, it was crystal clear and marine turquoise in colour. Simply stunning.
Right, time for some lobster. I start with a ‘greatest hits’ mix of the Shack Seafood Platter and the Cold Seafood Platter – these are The Shack’s ‘destination dishes’, their most popular, the ones that many visitors make it a day trip for and I can see why. These platters have got the lot – grilled rock lobster, Carnarvon king prawns, scallops, pickled octopus, salt and pepper calamari, battered Spanish mackerel and calamari rings, smoked salmon, fried garlic prawns, a bowl of lobster seafood chowder, all on beds of hot fries. All local produce, all delicious.
The lobster meat is tender and firm, absent of any bready texture. It doesn’t need any fancy preparation, because seafood is so often best enjoyed ‘as-is’. Likewise the prawns, scallops and the smoked salmon. The battered mackerel and calamari rings are as high quality as one would expect, and the fried garlic prawns balance the chilli and garlic for most palates, although I can usually go a tad spicier than most. Pickled octopus is a perennial favourite, and this is up there with the best I have tasted.
However, for me, the star supporting players are the salt and pepper calamari and the seafood chowder. The former has a lightness and tangy, zesty delicacy to it that is so often missing from this dish. I would happily order this on its own. Now, lightness is not an adjective that necessarily applies to the seafood chowder, containing as it does generous portions of butter and cream – “Everything that’s not good for you”, laughs manager Nikki Thompson – but it
tastes awesome. The chowder base is neither too heavy nor too sweet; rather it’s creamy, rich, savoury and full of lobster meat texture – it gives great ‘umami’. Definitely my new favourite comfort food.
The platter’s deliciousness is paired with a 2021 Deep Woods Ivory Semillon Sauvignon Blanc, a favourite wine find from this trip, as it possesses just the right amount of acidity to act as a palette cleanser without overdoing it.
The next dish up is the Half Rock Lobster Mornay, proving the old culinary adage that there is not much that cannot be improved by slathering melted cheese over it. It’s the same tender and firm lobster meat, now covered in Rose Valley parmesan cheese. What’s not to love?
Freshly Shucked Oysters and Salt and Pepper Octopus Salad are served next alongside – well, if I must – another, larger bowl of the Lobster Seafood Chowder. I am a bit of a sucker for fresh oysters and these are lovely. The trio of toppings – Kilpatrick, breadcrumbs, and cheese and herbs – are tasty, erring to savoury notes over sweet as I prefer, although personally, I would have appreciated one set of oysters to be served au naturel (these are available). The Salt and Pepper Octopus is fried and crunchy in texture and with good flavour, but to my taste buds would benefit from a dollop of the ‘lightness’ that came with the platter’s salt and pepper calamari. The chowder is the chowder again; so good I ate it twice.
The wine pairing on these courses was the excellent 2020 Excuse My French Rosé from Langeudoc, France. While the Thompson's do endeavour to feature and promote WA and Australian local produce wherever possible, sometimes an import hits just the right spot at just the right price point, which is a fair assessment of this wine. Unlikely to disappoint.
What else? Well, if a beer is what you are after, try their local Lobster Lager with its ‘Living the Dream’ tagline – I don’t doubt it! And a shout out to the managerial and wait staff, all of whom were extremely helpful and courteous.
The Lobster Shack operation features more than just its dining experience, as it has embraced the opportunity to both educate and entertain its guests. Factory tours are available of its adjacent live lobster processing plant, tracing a lobster’s journey from the sorting process to the holding lanes and then the pack-out room. Boat tours (September-April) run out to the nearby Cervantes Islands allowing lucky passengers to get up close with Australian sea lions, one of the world’s rarest seal species; as well as enjoy the unique experience of viewing the otherworldly stark beauty of the Pinnacles Desert from an ocean vantage point. Swimming and snorkelling are encouraged, and stand-up paddleboards are available for hire.
Should you require an overnight stay (highly recommended), the Nambung National Park and its Pinnacles Desert Discovery experience are just 17kms away, and Jurien Bay only 26kms north. The Shack’s nearby sister operation The Lobster Lodge, offers options for deluxe and budget shared accommodation.
However, whether you choose to stay overnight or just make it a day trip, in Cervantes you too are very likely to feel like you are living the dream. As the Thompson's like to say, enjoy the experience from lobster pot to cooking pot.
By Paul Hindle
Lobster Shack Cervantes 37 Catalonia Street, Cervantes PH: (08) 9652 7010 www.lobstershack.com.au
The Nu Noir Story – Serious Coffee
The story of Nu Noir Coffee Boutique began many years ago, when owner Alessandro Cariotto was just a child. Following his father into Fremantle’s Old Papa’s Café where he delivered fruit and veg, little Alessandro would be given a babyccino with just a sniff of espresso. Years later as a teenager, Alessandro began working at Old Papa’s saving for a pair of sneakers and he will tell you this is really where his interest in coffee began. He noticed that even though the coffee was made the same way it always tasted different. “That’s where I started to get curious about coffee because I used to see the difference in results”.
Over time, Alessandro’s experience as a barista grew and so did his frustration at the lack of information about the craft of making coffee. And so, as a young man, disenchanted by an industry that lacked respect and knowledge he left for a spell, turning in a different direction, yet always believing that one day he would return to the industry on his own terms. That day came many years later when Alessandro was offered the opportunity to be involved in a small café. By then, he had seen how the industry and society’s coffee culture had shifted. No longer controlled by the large coffee companies, the industry had evolved to a more collaborative model where baristas were becoming coffee roasters and based their business models on coffee education; the pursuit of excellence in coffee making and consumers were becoming more aware and selective in what they were spending their money on. This is what resonated with Alessandro as he began delving into the world of coffee, learning as much as he could to catch up on an industry he had been away from for so long. He valued the insights he learned. Getting closer to the source, seeing how coffee was roasted and refining his craft, Alessandro felt he was finally getting the answers to the questions he had all those years earlier and this was the turning point for his career.
Alessandro became the Business Development Manager for Phillip at Di Bella Coffee, one of the country’s top coffee suppliers and credits Phillip as being one of his main mentors in the industry, “in coffee roasting knowledge, he’s in a class of his own”. It was with Di Bella Coffee that Alessandro stepped out and opened The Roasting Warehouse in Fremantle. This modern-day coffee roastery café was a one stop shop
offering breakfast, retail and education. But for Alessandro it was only part of the journey. While he felt he had learnt all he could about roasting and coffee making, he felt the extraction methods weren’t as sophisticated as they could be.
In 2016, Alessandro sold Roasting Warehouse and went to work with Veneziano Coffee Roasters, “probably one of the best coffee company’s in Australia”. Working with them Alessandro received training from world-class baristas and realised there was a lot more to understand about making coffee. And it was this understanding and his education that was the tipping point to opening Nu Noir Coffee Boutique. Not only had Alessandro worked with Veneziano Coffee Roasters, he also trained, becoming a specialist in his industry.
And that brings us to where we are today, to Nu Noir Coffee Boutique on Oxford Street in Mt Hawthorn. Here the focus is on the coffee and customers are offered a range from traditional to boutique coffees. This is where you come to be educated – to experience a whole new level of coffee.
The name explains it all – Nu Noir means ‘naked black’ and is a tribute to the naked espresso shot. The overall mission here is to bring back the beauty of drinking an espresso coffee, giving one an experience with every shot produced, without the need to add sugar and/or milk to cover up the flaws of traditional coffee one is accustomed to. The secret is in the traditional style of brewing and unique machinery that is used. Sure you can eat here too, but food is the accompaniment and there’s a small selection on offer. For something savoury enjoy a Breaky Wrap filled with egg, ham, hashbrown, spinach and a touch of sweet chutney. It is one of the best I’ve tasted. A classic Ruben Bagel is hearty and delicious toasted, while the Arancini balls are filled with gooey beef ragu. If you have a sweet tooth, help yourself to a Nutella and banana filled croissant. The traditional cannoli are a lovely sweet treat to go with your choice of brew or for something more fulfilling, a giant chocolate muffin goes down a treat.
The location of Nu Noir on Oxford Street in Mt Hawthorn is a deliberate choice in this story too. The area takes Alessandro back to the early days of business, where owner/operator businesses all supported each other. Alessandro tells me that it’s here you find tradition and life, rather than commercial production and he believes people are still looking for that artisan appeal, where you know that you’re in touch with the person making the coffee.
This is how Alessandro likes to do business and this is reflected in the partnerships he makes. Putting the relationships at the top, he has deliberately sought out small owner/operator local businesses to work with, those he can just pick up the phone to and have a conversation about what he needs. He feels strongly in the strength of community, “If everyone’s supporting each other in an area, everyone is better off. If your kid needs a job they come and work with us. Let’s go back to the values of the 60’s and 70’s and bring that back”.
All of the coffee on offer at Nu Noir is made with a high graded bean and the various single origin coffees available are from some of the world’s most exotic coffee growing countries. The coffee extraction process is done using their La Marzocca Leva machine and the price range is between $4.50 and $50 a cup. If you are a coffee connoisseur then make the time to come in, learn and experience the Nu Noir way. You will never view your humble cup of coffee the same again.
By Sarah Schmitt
Nu Noir Coffee Boutique 377 Oxford Street, Mt Hawthorn Ph: 0419 462 588 www.facebook.com/NuNoirCoffeeBoutique
