Top 21 dishes for 2021: Rob Broadfield reveals the eats we couldn’t forget

It’s the first mouthful. It’s always the first mouthful, that moment when you know something good has come into your life. At Santini, it’s squid ink risotto. The first reaction to this powerfully black rice dish is to swoon like a fan boy. It’s creamy, saline, glossy, properly seasoned, wet (as it should be) and just buttery enough. And then there’s the pageantry of its delivery. It is served reverentially at the table, spooned from a small copper pot onto a warmed plate and garnished with soft ropes of cooked squid. It’s more than just a perfectly honed dish, it’s a memento mori, a reminder that if you died mid-mouthful, it would be a happy ending. There are just a handful of dishes in WA that can stand on the podium with Santini’s risotto. They are the 21 dishes which drove us crazy with desire in 2021. Some were as low key as a taco. Others were complex, scientific renderings of great produce. Many of them made us weak at the knees with their brilliance and originality. This small band of dishes have a few things in common: they taste amazing, they make a virtue out of simplicity and they are honest: no bull, no overwrought tinkering, no sophistry. They are most often made by chefs who have great talent, bolstered by savant-level creativity and tempered with humility. Their dishes are the reason we go out to eat: to be delighted, wowed and often comforted. There were some big trends this year. Our top chefs were loving on roast chicken — it popped up everywhere in 2021 — steak tartare, meringue-based desserts and charcuterie. All make an appearance on this list. These then are the 21 best things we’ve eaten all year. * 1. Beef, XO, milk, radicchio Vasse Felix. Margaret River Chef Brendan Pratt is the best chef in WA. His Wagyu sirloin is aged in koji, before being cooked over coals. it sits on a slurry of house-made taramasalata. When the beef comes off the coals it is brushed with an XO sauce made from fermented tomatoes, black garlic and anchovy. Pratt’s XO defies nature and science. He has set out on his own path to create his version of the famous Cantonese condiment and it is a mystery how he infuses so much traditional XO flavour into a sauce that does not use ham or dried shrimp and scallop as they do in Hong Kong where it was invented. It is testament to Pratt’s palate and skill. But we digress. The radicchio is dressed in the XO before being lightly barbecued over coals. then finished with a beef fat milk. Yes, you read that correctly. It is milk infused with bay leaves and garlic before being emulsified with smoked beef fat. The dish is finally seasoned with a garum made with smoked toothfish bones. It is indescribably accomplished perfection. We would camp out in the Vasse Felix dining room if we could, to ensure we get a daily dose of Pratt’s seemingly effortless perfection. 2. Squid ink risotto Santini, QT Hotel, Perth CBD We’ve said everything we need to say about this dynamic dish in the story intro, but to reinforce our fandom, it’s sufficient to say that this risotto is simply the finest we’ve eaten consistently in Perth. You’ve heard the term mouthfeel? it could have been invented for this rock star rice. Beware though, it’s not a first date plate: your mouth and teeth will be stained black with inky goodness. It soon fades though, so just do it. 3. Dry-aged, grass-fed, 220g Mishima skirt steak Rockpool Bar & Grill, Crown Perth, Burswood The David Blackmore-grown Mishima Wagyu is new to the Rockpool menu this year. They sell a few different cuts from the cow — they break down whole carcases and dry age in house — but it is the skirt we love. It has a 9+ marbling score and is unreservedly the best steak in Western Australia. Skirt is our go-to cut at any restaurant for it’s mega beefy flavour and pleasingly chewy texture, so to find a skirt steak with this pedigree on the Rockpool menu, was a win with triple pike. When writing this list we promised ourselves we wouldn’t use the term OMG. Sorry ‘bout that. OMG! It is spectacular in every way: flavour, char, cooking technique, rest period, seasoning, ruby red colour. There are a range of condiments offered with the steak, of which horseradish cream is probably the best pairing, but hold off: eat it plain with salt, at least to begin with. Extraordinary. 4. Barley and malt ice cream, beer caramel, charcoal meringue Corner Dairy, Doubleview Is it art? Is it the scales of a mythical dragon? Radar deflecting stealth armour perhaps? Nope, but is was certainly one of the most accomplished desserts we ate this year and it comes with a name, usually the sign of a chef stuck in the 80s. Chef James Cole Bowen, who is decidedly not stuck in the 80s, calls his meringue-enrobed pud, “Unknown Pleasures.” It wasn’t unknown for long — we hoovered it. Meringue shards were deployed like sharp scales across the top of the dish, They were sub-atomically thin, crisp and two-toned — the top layer is charcoal black, the bottom layer is white. (how the hell does he do that with such accuracy?) The flavour proves that meringue doesn’t have to make your teeth twinge with sweetness. It was teamed with an earthy, creamy malt ice cream and a squidgy, chewy caramel made from beer. Remarkable. We salute you chef. 5. Pork collar, sugarloaf cabbage, abalone, wild onion Leeuwin Estate, Margaret River Leeuwin Estate head chef Dan Gedge doesn’t share the same public profile of some of WA’s more prominent chefs, but his talent and cooking is equal to the best. For his winning pork dish he brines pork collar with miso then sous vides it in the combi oven overnight. It is cooked for service on a hibachi grill and glazed with a pork bone tare (the brazenly flavourful and intense stock typically used as the base for ramen soup). The abalone are confited gently in koji oil, which amplifies the mollusc’s natural umami. Then there’s chive flowers from chef’s garden, lacto-fermented cabbage warmed in pork fat and a porky abalone sauce. Outrageous. 6. Half buttermilk chicken with zoug and toum Young George Bar & Kitchen, East Fremantle Zoug and toum sounds like a Middle Eastern circus act. Not quite. Toum is an ambrosial whip of garlic, oil and water (Lebanon’s mayo but without egg — the garlic is the emulsifier). Zoug is Yemen’s chimichurri, a zesty, piquant, mortar-and-pestled smash-down of toasted peppercorns, coriander, cumin and cardamom seeds, oodles of fresh coriander and parsley, green chillies and garlic. Both are fragrant, boldly flavoured and, as it turns out, perfect with Young George’s buttermilk-brined, sweet roasted chicken. Young George is all about the extraordinary inventiveness and cooking of chef owner Melissa Palinkas, but her head chef at YG, Elai Mann, is the man with the golden whisk when it comes to making zoug and toum. In the year of the roast chicken, YG’s half roast chook is 2021’s most fabulous fowl. 7. Char siew pork hock (for 4) with braised miso cabbage, Sichuan pickled cucumber, hoisin and mandarin pancakes Will Street, Leederville Rarely does a restaurant hit the ground running, dare we say sprinting, quite like Will Meyrick’s Will Street. It opened just three months ago and judging by the breathless social media posts, Perth’s foodies are fizzing with delight about it. There’s much to love on Meyrick’s unique pan-Asian menu, but it is the pork hock which is his marquee dish, and for good reason. The pork and its accompanying condiments, garnishes and lashings of fresh soft herbs are an invitation to pull apart the massive hock and make your own pancakes as you would for Peking duck. It’s great food, of course, but it’s also performance art, a shortcut to piggy heaven and a vehicle for the rambunctious flavours of South East Asia that is Meyrick’s signature. 8. Half chicken, fragrant yellow curry, soft herbs, chilli oil Willi’s Bar, Royal Hotel, Perth CBD Yes, another roast chicken, but not as you know it. Like just about everything The Royal Hotel, Standard Bar and Fleur restaurant managing chef Chase Weber invents, it is complex, well-honed, razor-sharp flavour presented without fuss or fanfare. It is simply . . . simple, but its Asian-ish, bright flavours pound away like a kickboxer with roid rage. The chicken is cooked with precision, of course, but it is the glistening yellow curry sauce and fragrant chilli oil which combine at the bottom of the plate to create a dish to be reckoned with and one of the great casual eats of the year. 9. Steak tartare, cognac, horseradish, pommes frites Le Rebelle, Mt Lawley Steak tartare has had a resurgence this year and chef Liam Atkinson’s version treads a near perfect line between traditional and modern. Close your eyes, have a mouthful (on one of his homemade potato chips, nonetheless) of the properly tempered, chopped meat and there you are, back on Paris’ Left Bank at La Pie Noir bistro (a famous tartare spot). It’s that good. Soft, beefy, not too finely chopped (nothing worse) and seasoned just right, it is a champion dish among the many tartares gracing our most accomplished restaurants in 2021. 10. Duck terrine with preserved cumquats Millbrook Estate Winery, Jarrahdale This country terrine is former WA Chef Of The Year Guy Jeffreys take on duck a l’orange. Jeffreys is an avowed paddock-to-plate chef and a striving “no waste” culinary creator. His “old” ducks are from Wagin and are at an age and stage where they would normally be dispatched to the big duck pond in the sky. Jeffreys uses every bit of the pensioned-off quackers to make his glorious chunky terrine with copious silky fat coursing through it. He makes his preserve from cumquats grown at his mum’s house and this classic starter is garnished with caigua and nasturtium leaves. Wonderful. 11. Besan flour-coated Rankin cod with marron, chat masala and spinach Pepper & Salt, Forest Hill Estate, Denmark Beyond the culinary hotspots of Perth and Margaret River, Silas Masih is the finest regional chef in WA. There are many hardworking rural chefs doing great things but it is Masih’s stylish and subtle dishes which put him at the top of cheffing’s country cohort. His cod and marron dish is a fine example with techniques and flavours taken from his Fijian homeland and his ethnic Indian background to create this seafood masterpiece. The fish is coated in a house-made masala spice and chick pea flour then fried gently. Ditto for the split marron, which is nudged into doneness with the lightest touch of heat and pan time. The flesh remains creamy and soft and the gentle curry at the bottom of the plate is rich with Masih’s seven spice mix which includes coriander, lip-numbing Sichuan pepper, star anise and cumin. We’re told it’s just the way his Fijian grandma used to make it, but upscaled for contemporary tastes. A modern classic. 12. Charcuterie plate Vincent Wine, Northbridge There’s a lot of great house-made cured meats and charcuterie around these days. But it is the trad moves and precise cookery of veteran charcutier Andre Mahe at Vincent Wine which keep us coming back time and again. Silky, pink duck liver parfait by the slice, pate en croute inside flaky, buttery pastry, pork galantine and a shiny, chunky ham hock persillade are served with house made pickles. Every day. 13. Sushi Nobu, Crown Perth, Burswood Nominating sushi for this list might seem a little general, but how does one differentiate between one spanking fresh, glossy seafood slice on rice from another? Chef de cuisine, Pingping Poh, the first woman to head a Nobu in Australia, maintains the scrupulous freshness and precise cutting which has made Nobu Matsuhisa’s temple to raw seafood one of the best in the world and certainly the best in Perth. Our picks are toro (the creamy, fatty, expensive tuna belly cut), ama ebi (sweet prawn) and unagi (glazed, torched eel). Best way to eat it? Grab a seat at the sushi bar. It’s more fun that way. 14. Roast chicken with mole sauce Casa, Mt Hawthorn Casa has joined the 2021 chicken run and they’re not doing nanna’s roast chook. It is served with lashings of deep, dark mole sauce. But this is no quickie simulacrum of Mexico’s most renowned sauce. It’s the real deal, with complexity and deep-lasting flavour courtesy of a long list of ingredients and, thankfully, not too much chocolate. It is one of the finest sauces in Perth. The chicken is moist and sweet from a good brining. Sunday roast will never be the same again. 15. Tamarind-glazed pork belly, peanut satay, pineapple, kimchi, soft herbs, congee The Standard, Northbridge They say that dogs have more refined taste receptors than humans. Perhaps then, Perth’s wunderpalate, Chase Weber, is half Labrador. His palate is exceptional as is his love of pleasing you and me with his pugnacious approach to flavour. Which brings us to his pork belly. The belly is slow roasted and glazed with a bitter grapefruit caramel sauce with added Sichuan pepper for that numbing feeling. Cooked pork is dehydrated, turned into a “floss” and tweezered on top of the luscious hog with smoked salt to season. The dish sits in a silky pool of Philippines-style congee with garlic, ginger and chicken stock (from The Standard head chef Rod Panganiban’s Philippines culinary roots). The summer version of this warming dish sees the congee replaced with a perky salad of pickled pineapple and bean shoots and freshened up with soft herbs and a palm sugar, fish sauce dressing. 16. Chargrilled veal tongue Cosy Del’s, Lathlain There’s tongue and then there’s Cosy Del’s tongue. From the minuscule kitchen at this Lathlain Italian, comes a dish of significance. It, like so many of these Top 21 dishes, is simple. The technique to get a cow’s tongue prepared for grilling over coals is time-consuming and technical. Get it wrong and you might as well be eating a flip flop. Chef Ben Ronaldson plates up the most fastidiously prepared tongue, made dark and crunchy from the char grill and soft and perfectly rendered on the inside. The flavour really hits you. 17. Pan-fried Shark Bay whiting with coriander crumb, green papaya salad and blackened chilli aioli Vans, Cottesloe When we first ate this dish at Cottesloe’s favourite cafe, we swooned. It’s a belter. Shark Bay whiting is coated in a breading of coriander seed and fresh coriander and pan-fried. The blackened chilli is “burnt” in screaming hot oil before being blitzed through Vans’ fresh-made aioli. To cut through the pan-fried oil is then folded through fresh-made aioli . . . green papaya, coriander, cherry tomato, garnished with crispy shallots and peanuts. 18. Pie floater Nieuw Ruin, Fremantle If nostalgia is your jam then Nieuw Ruin chef Blaze Young’s plates are for you. She’s a self-confessed “country girl” and her professional cookery is inspired by her mother and grandmother. Hence her dishes like roast chook (brilliant) and her pie floater are modernised throwbacks to Aussie country nosh with a dash of CWA cookbook. Paddock-raised rabbits are braised with pork belly and the wonderfully rich filling is laced with chopped leek, shallots, fennel and parsley. It is formed into a pie with burnt butter pastry and plated with lashings of rich cognac gravy made with the braising liquid. The final touch? Fresh peas floating in the gravy. For summer, chef Young has pivoted to a fish pie version (just as good), but, rest assured the rabbit pie floater will be back again. 19. Banoffee bombe Bib & Tucker, North Fremantle There’s a broadly held view in commercial cookery that blokes don’t do dessert. Tell that to Scott Bridger, head chef at Bib & Tucker. His banoffee bombe belongs in a posh restaurant at twice the price and yet beachgoers can order it for lunch overlooking the sands of Leighton Beach. Italian meringue — the one made with boiling sugar syrup — is piled around a frozen core of banana and toffee ice cream, oozy dulce de leche and a crumbly biscuit base. The chefs prod the meringue to make it all spiky and then torch it to gently caramelise the sugary egg whites. Spectacular. Indulgent. 20. Smoked roe, crumpet, tomato, creme fraiche, spring onion Republic of Fremantle, Fremantle Emily Jones, the talent behind the pass at Republic of Fremantle came to our attention because of this small but perfectly formed bar dish. She had us at house-made crumpets, then upped the ante with a simple quenelle of herb-infused creme fraiche and a spoon of salmon pearls which burst in your mouth like salty rain. Impeccable. 21. Tacos al pastor La Cabana, South Fremantle La Cabana is proof that some of the finest dishes in WA don’t have to come from flash restaurants and name brand chefs. Al pastor is a rotisserie of pork neck and shoulder marinated in achiote paste, ancho and chipotle chillies, strawberries, orange juice and Mexican spices, then mounded on a large skewer as you would for the Middle Eastern shawarma. The meat is shaved off the revolving mound of piggie and presented in fresh tortillas with thinly sliced white onion, a mouthgasming green salsa and a chunk of the roasted pineapple that sits on top of the skewer during cooking. Moist, juicy, complex, smashable. *Please note: some of the dishes on our list may be off menu by the time we publish, but we highly recommend these chefs and their kitchens, so if one of our Top 21 dishes is not available when you plan to visit, make a reservation anyway . . . and enjoy! RB

Top 21 dishes for 2021: Rob Broadfield reveals the eats we couldn’t forget

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