"Hello"
"You up for a threesome?"
"Aren't I always?"
"West End Deli?"
"Righto"
"You up for a threesome?"
"Aren't I always?"
"West End Deli?"
"Righto"
Get your minds out of the gutter. Right, now read on about a most awesome eatery that you all have to try if you haven't already. The West End Deli is in an old corner delicatessen (you didn't see that coming did you?) in Carr st West Perth. I'd driven past many times but never stopped, until last night that is. Waz, Gaz and myself rolled in around 7.30pm
There were 2 or 3 other tables there last night with others arriving after us, one large table of shall we say seasoned citizens, who complained about having the front door open on what was possibly the warmest night in Perth in weeks. I guess your bones feel it more as you age. So after their request to close the door was met we all started to get fairly warm. We gave them a good twenty minutes to "warm up" and then asked that it be opened again. The staff were more than happy to oblige and thankfully it didn't become a war of warmth v cold. I so would have taken out the old dude on the end of the table if it came down to it...no mercy. Plus they ordered before us and a large table meant we waited a bit for our first course, not too much though, but I had a score to settle if they wanted to take me on.
Now to the food, some "little things" to start with a bowl of olives and some baked fresh on the premises bread which was sensational. For our appetisers we chose a gnocchi and two scallops. The scallops were cooked perfectly and the brandade accompaniment was perfectly balanced. The gnocchi is clearly made on the premises or at least nearby as all good gnocchi should be and very nice. However the only gripe for the evening happened here when the waiter asked if we wanted pepper on our dishes, which was fine for the scallops but it seems the gnocchi already had a fair bit of pepper throughout and the extra serving hurt the dish. Perhaps it shouldn't be offered until it's been tasted.
For our mains we chose the rabbit linguini, the brioche encrusted veal and the barramundi. All of them fantastic dishes. Who knew pork belly and fish liked each others company that much "Best pork belly I've ever had" - Gaz. What was really cool was that you are served a salad of picked greens and potatoes with your mains. No charge! yeah you read right, no charge. This is so against the grain were extras are a easy way to bulk out the dining bill, I know I've been responsible for it myself over the years in a few restaurants. Now that I no longer chef I'm excited to see somebody offering this. Oh and the dressing on the salad - to die for, seriously, an awesome explosion of flavours.
We finsihed it all off with dessert, trying one of each of the three on offer, the creme caramel, the lemon tart and the poached pear. All were great but the lemon tart was one of the lightest and nicest I'd ever eaten and I love my tarts, I've had a few. So I guess by now you can tell I'm pretty keen on the West End Deli, I've been told I have to try the breakfast there as it's fantastic, no problem
Highlights: The food, the service
Lowlights: Pepper Attack
Apologies: The Pet Shop Boys for destroying their lyrics in this reviews title
Scoring: 8.5 nineties pop songs out of 10
This place looks great, we decided it had a more Sydney than Melbourne feel to it, but still a lot of Perth <- that's a good thing BTW. We were seated straight away by smiling staff. First gold star right there, nothing worse than staff who are too cool for school, the crew at the West End are cool, don't get me wrong, but they're happy to see you and gave us great service all night. Our wines were always topped up and the attention to detail was more than I had expected.
There were 2 or 3 other tables there last night with others arriving after us, one large table of shall we say seasoned citizens, who complained about having the front door open on what was possibly the warmest night in Perth in weeks. I guess your bones feel it more as you age. So after their request to close the door was met we all started to get fairly warm. We gave them a good twenty minutes to "warm up" and then asked that it be opened again. The staff were more than happy to oblige and thankfully it didn't become a war of warmth v cold. I so would have taken out the old dude on the end of the table if it came down to it...no mercy. Plus they ordered before us and a large table meant we waited a bit for our first course, not too much though, but I had a score to settle if they wanted to take me on.
Now to the food, some "little things" to start with a bowl of olives and some baked fresh on the premises bread which was sensational. For our appetisers we chose a gnocchi and two scallops. The scallops were cooked perfectly and the brandade accompaniment was perfectly balanced. The gnocchi is clearly made on the premises or at least nearby as all good gnocchi should be and very nice. However the only gripe for the evening happened here when the waiter asked if we wanted pepper on our dishes, which was fine for the scallops but it seems the gnocchi already had a fair bit of pepper throughout and the extra serving hurt the dish. Perhaps it shouldn't be offered until it's been tasted.
For our mains we chose the rabbit linguini, the brioche encrusted veal and the barramundi. All of them fantastic dishes. Who knew pork belly and fish liked each others company that much "Best pork belly I've ever had" - Gaz. What was really cool was that you are served a salad of picked greens and potatoes with your mains. No charge! yeah you read right, no charge. This is so against the grain were extras are a easy way to bulk out the dining bill, I know I've been responsible for it myself over the years in a few restaurants. Now that I no longer chef I'm excited to see somebody offering this. Oh and the dressing on the salad - to die for, seriously, an awesome explosion of flavours.
We finsihed it all off with dessert, trying one of each of the three on offer, the creme caramel, the lemon tart and the poached pear. All were great but the lemon tart was one of the lightest and nicest I'd ever eaten and I love my tarts, I've had a few. So I guess by now you can tell I'm pretty keen on the West End Deli, I've been told I have to try the breakfast there as it's fantastic, no problem
Highlights: The food, the service
Lowlights: Pepper Attack
Apologies: The Pet Shop Boys for destroying their lyrics in this reviews title
Scoring: 8.5 nineties pop songs out of 10
Comments
You could have ordered some warming soup for the old codgers, in the manner of ordering a bottle of champagne for a particularly fetching lady. A couple of winks for good measure and he would've been warm enough for sure. Or just too uncomfortable to take it any further.
Good to see one corner store staging a comeback!
On the subject of 130, I was sorely disappointed to see that it's closed down. It was my favourite spot in Leederville for a long time.
The owner has set up across the road in the old Greens and Co premises. I tried that last Thursday and it's not too bad.