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Bobeche and The Trustee Bar and Bistro, Perth City

Posted by  | Categories: Bars, Bistro, Degustation/Fine dining, Featured, Perth, Restaurants, Wine Bar

The Secret Cake Club is a Perth based group of of keen bakers that were originally known as the Perth Clandestine Cake Club. The Clandestine Cake Club is a worldwide phenomenon that was created two years ago by cake lover Lynn Hill in Leeds, UK. Her aim was to get people together in a relaxed social environment so they could “Bake, Eat and Talk about Cake”. Her concept is strictly for cake only and no cupcakes, brownies, pies or tarts are allowed. After received a scolding from Lynn Hill herself after not adhering to these rules the CCC organisers decided enough was enough and the Secret Cake Club was born. This new group prides themselves on having no rules and has reached considerable popularity with avid bakers from all around Perth. Their events are held every 4-6 weeks and places fill up fast.

One night when the SCC girls were out on a bar crawl, they got the inspiration to create a similar styled group but not to eat cake, to bar hop and drink! The new group was christened the Secret Bar Crawl and they had their first official event on the weekend of Eat Drink Blog Conference. Our planned bar crawl was to take us across the City of Perth starting at Bobeche in Brookfield Place then moving onto Wolf Lane before ending the night at The Stables Bar.

"cocktail" "gin cocktail" "Tanqueray gin" "Noilly Prat vermouth" "crème Yvette"  "Fee Brothers orange bitters" "Trilby" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "gluten free blog" "perth gluten free" "Perth bars" "perth bistro" "perth wine bar" "The Trustee" "The Trustee Bar and Bistro" "Bobeche" "Brookfield Place" "St Georges terrace" "Perth CBD" "Perth fine dining"

Trilby ($18)

I joined the crew for the first half of the bar crawl at Bobeche’s, a cute little basement bar tucked away off St Georges Terrace. Earlier that afternoon at work, I had to go through the heart breaking experience of putting one of my long term patients to sleep. He was a gorgeous sixteen year old dog that had captured many of our hearts but after braving a long battle with illness we all knew it was his time. Knowing this sure doesn’t make it any easier however and a whole bunch of us ended up blubbering at work. RIP dear Boofa.

To liven up my mood and be sociable I knew I needed a strong drink with a short, sharp and throat burning kick. I asked the gurning bartender for advice and she suggested “The Trilby”. The Trilby has Tanqueray gin, Noilly Prat vermouth, crème Yvette and Fee Brothers orange bitters all shaken with a high amount of vigorous energy and served in a Martini glass. No frills, bells or whistles this was exactly what I needed to cast away my thoughts of death and disease.

The girls had organised our own cordoned off area complete with bowls of complementary popcorn on the tables. The popcorn had been cooked in coconut oil and had a subtle coconutty after-taste. It was great to see some familiar faces there but also to meet some people that I had been following on Twitter for some time but never actually met. This is a common problem for social media addicts like myself, friends are easily made on Twitter but many of them you don’t meet face to face for some time if ever. I continued on for a short while at our second venue Wolf Lane before I received a phone call from the Boy wanting to meet for dinner.

"Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "gluten free blog" "perth gluten free" "Perth bars" "perth bistro" "perth wine bar" "The Trustee" "The Trustee Bar and Bistro" "Bobeche" "Brookfield Place" "St Georges terrace" "Perth CBD" "Perth fine dining"

After a five month hiatus from wearing my high heels due to the stupid broken toe, I have discovered that I am no longer accustomed to wearing them and I had to walk embarrassingly slow and carefully. It is a strange feeling being clumsy in heels. Having a shoe designer for a father meant that I worked out how to walk in heels from a young age. Being a bit of an unplanned night out we didn’t have any dinner reservations made so I suggested that we head over to Brookfield Place. Given how many restaurants they have in their complex I figured there was bound to be at least one that could fit us in.

"peach puree" "Campari sorbet" "Tuna tartare" "fat chips" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "gluten free blog" "perth gluten free" "Perth bars" "perth bistro" "perth wine bar" "The Trustee" "The Trustee Bar and Bistro" "Bobeche" "Brookfield Place" "St Georges terrace" "Perth CBD" "Perth fine dining"

Tuna tartare ($24.5) with fat chips ($13)

After just a short wait at their bar we managed to score a table at the first restaurant we stumbled into; The Trustee. As I sunk myself into their Chesterfield-styled seating I gazed around the dining room and deduced that we were probably the most sober people in the room. And after several rounds of rocket fuelled cocktails we were definitely not THAT sober.  The group of men at the table next to us were so amped up like they were at a football match and kept making loud whooping noises that could be likened to one of our primate counterparts. In fact, in the dim lighting they may have even resembled them…

It was late and neither of us were that hungry so we decided to share an entrée and ordered the tuna tartare. Lightly tossed in sesame seeds, the tuna was a deep red colour and buttery fresh. It was served with a peach puree and some icy cold Campari sorbet. We also ordered a serve of their fat chips which for $13 were quite possibly some of the most expensive potatoes in town. Disappointingly they were a touch undercooked and were very firm to bite into. They sure looked better than they tasted.

"celeriac veloute" "apple hazelnut" "labna salad" "Barramundi" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "gluten free blog" "perth gluten free" "Perth bars" "perth bistro" "perth wine bar" "The Trustee" "The Trustee Bar and Bistro" "Bobeche" "Brookfield Place" "St Georges terrace" "Perth CBD" "Perth fine dining"

Barramundi ($41)

My main choice was the barramundi and the skin was cooked to a wonderful caramel colour whilst the flesh underneath remained smooth to the point of near creaminess. It sat on a bed of celeriac veloute and came with an apple, hazelnut and labna salad. Curiously, next to my fish two random fat chips sat innocently alongside for company. Maybe this was their rebuttal against my lack of acceptance.

"Prawn" "shiitake" "linguine" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "gluten free blog" "perth gluten free" "Perth bars" "perth bistro" "perth wine bar" "The Trustee" "The Trustee Bar and Bistro" "Bobeche" "Brookfield Place" "St Georges terrace" "Perth CBD" "Perth fine dining"

Prawn shiitake linguine ($35.50)

The Boy had the prawn shiitake linguine which was filled with vibrant colours of spring. Whilst as I’m sure you all know we are always more that happy to pay a premium for good food, the Boy thought this small serve of pasta with a few teeny prawns was over priced considering its size and quality.

If a restaurant chooses to price themselves in the higher price bracket I expect them to fulfil two simple conditions; awesome food AND awesome service. Simple. Our recent meal at Print Hall which is only metres away from The Trustee is the perfect example of this. Despite reading so many positive things about The Trustee from mainstream food critics, we were surprised how poor their service was throughout the whole evening. It was consistently slow, jolted and totally disorganised. On multiple occasions waitresses would walk past our empty plates, look down at them and then walk off empty handed. Once our plates were eventually cleared, we waited forever for the dessert menus and then when I enquired about what was gluten free, my waitress said she would be right back with my options but then never returned! After a half an hour wait we had finished our wine, got up and left. Not ordering dessert is an unusual occurrence for me indeed!

Bobeche
131 St Georges Terrace, Perth WA 6000 | (08) 9226 5596 | www.bobeche.com.au

Bobeche on Urbanspoon

 
The Trustee Bar and Bistro
Brookfield Place, 125 St Georges Terrace, Perth WA 6000 | (08) 6323 3000 | www.thetrustee.com.au
 
Price:                     $$$ (Entrees $20-26, Mains $38-50)
Food:                    3/5 (get the simple things right)
Service:                2/5 (inattentive, disorganised)
Ambience:          3/5 (subdued lighting, opulence and luxury)
Drinks:                  4.5/5 (allow yourself some time to peruse the 40 page wine list!)
Total:                     12.5/20

The Trustee Bar and Bistro on Urbanspoon