Revisiting Greenhouse, Perth
Posted by | Categories: Breakfast/Brunch, Featured, Modern Australian, Perth, Restaurants
As most of my regular readers will be aware I recently married the love of my life in Phuket, Thailand where we had the most magical dream wedding I could have ever imagined. In the coming weeks I will soon be getting around to posting a review of the fabulous venue Andara coupled with some snap shots of our big day.
In order to make our wedding ceremony in Thailand a legally binding one back home in Australia, the Thai government required us to travel to Bangkok for an undetermined period of about 3-5 days prior to the wedding in Phuket to allow for translation of documents. After giving this much thought we agreed this was way too much hassle and decided to wait and get the legal stuff done once we returned to Perth. To make it more meaningful, we planned to do this on our anniversary, a date we have celebrated for nearly 15 years.
Westwind Cutlass Gin and the Boy’s beer (he cannot recall what!)
Although we reinforced to our friends and family that this was to be a casual affair I still needed to have an outfit fit for a bride. I imagined finding myself something totally opposite to a bridal gown, something short, something funky and something dark coloured. With this in mind I hit the shops the weekend before with the ever so patient Boy in tow. After trawling all of the department stores to no avail I could feel my anxiety building. As an off-chance I decide to drag the Boy down to the other end of the mall to the Enex100 building to look in Lisa Ho. To my (and the Boy’s) relief I found the perfect dress…..but it was ivory and girlie; the complete opposite of funky and black! At least it was short!
Rock oysters and fresh lime
Standing right on Greenhouse’s doorstep feeling thirsty, famished but totally satisfied it didn’t take much convincing to get the Boy to agree to stop in for a late lunch with the promise of beers. Commencing with some super fresh rock oysters to freshen our palates along with some Westwinds Cutlass Gin I allowed the feelings of relief that my mission was accomplished wash over me.
Rock oysters and fresh lime
After chatting with our waitress I was pleased to see there were a lot of options for those on a gluten and fructose free diet. She relayed her conversation with the chef that he was more than happy to alter dishes that contained onion and much of the dishes on the menu were already naturally gluten free. I chose the marron with kipfler potatoes, native citrus and green olives. The delicate marron flesh flaked out of its shell easily and was so tender soft. I haven’t had marron cooked this beautifully in a long time. The salad had lots of crunchy finely sliced fennel and radish through it giving a fabulous texture contrast to the buttery marron.
Marron
The Boy chose the rare seared emu but instead of coming with “grains” the chef kindly altered it to come with a gluten free version of quinoa and lentils so I could try some. Fresh herbs and sliced green grapes were tossed through this dish adding some sweetness and depth of flavour. The emu was a dark plum red colour and had a milder flavour than I expected. Being a very lean meat it was a wise idea to serve this rare as it remained juicy and succulent.
Rare seared emu with quinoa
Sitting enjoying a relaxing meal together without having one hundred and one things to do felt like a new experience to us. In the lead up to the wedding we had both been so flat out. We were so grateful to have this time with just the two of us sipping our drinks, gazing out the window with nothing to do and nowhere else to be. To prolong the experience we order a dessert to share. Unlike the mains there was only one dessert choice that was gluten free. This was the watermelon foam with berry salad and almond milk jelly. Those of you who are fructose malabsorbers know very well that we have to be a little careful with melons however I figured that I could just try to avoid most of the foam and eat the fruit.
Watermelon foam and berry salad
Our dessert was delightfully light and incredibly refreshing; the perfect way to end a meal without feeling like you have stuffed yourself full. I do confess though as we left the restaurant I realised that it might have been a bit too much fructose for my belly and quickly dashed into the chemist to grab some glucose tablets. Glucose can counteract the fructose in fruit and reduce symptoms. It doesn’t work with onions unfortunately as the fructose contained in these is the starch form. If you want to know more about fructose malabsorption check out here for more.
It has been couple of years since we last visited Greenhouse and I still remain a huge fan. Their menus are always interesting, they use seasonal produce and source it locally were possible and are forever accommodating for us more difficult customers without compromising the taste of our meals.
Greenhouse 100 St Georges Terrace, Perth 6000 WA | (08) 9481 8333 | http://www.greenhouseperth.com/ Price: $$ Food: 4.5/5 (I was spoilt for choice, ultra fresh ingredients and made to order) Service: 3.5/5 (we arrived for a late lunch so service was a little slow) Ambience: 4.5/5 (you love it or you hate it; recycled and reused with a quirky feel) Drinks: 4.5/5 (fabulous wine and cocktail list, Westwind gins too!) Total: 17/20
