Friday 19 December 2008

A longish history of Perth's dining out scene

From giblet soup and tipsy pudding to rollerskating waiters and mayo made with condensed milk, Perth’s dining-out scene has gone through a fascinating evolution.

In 1935, you could buy a round of brain and nut sandwiches at Soldiers Sandwich Supply on St Georges Terrace for threppence.

Or, if this didn’t quite take your fancy, you could nip around the corner to Hay Street where, in that same year, Reno’s cafe was offering fricaséed lamb chops and green peas for the grand old sum of one and six; tuppence extra if you wanted home-made chutney.

Given that Perth’s earliest European settlers were British, inevitably it was traditional pommy fare that found its way into our earliest public dining rooms.

Not that there was one hell of a lot of dining out happening back when Perth was declared a township in 1829. It was all most people could do to feed themselves, let alone anyone else.

But by the late 1800s, there was at least a little bit of dining out happening in the city, and three of Perth’s fancier hotels – The Palace, The Esplanade and The Adelphi (later to become The Parmelia Hilton) - had a reputation for their “fine cuisine and silver service”.

If you were a member of the Chamber of Commerce or someone high up in politics, you got invited to the occasional shindig. Otherwise, you ate at home.
So, what were people eating back then? Well, giblets were kind of big, as were oysters, boiled chook and all the usual olde-worlde offal delicacies – ox tongue, calves head, that sort of thing.

Perth’s Newest Australians were also very much into their meat. They ate it fricaséed, they ate it boiled, they ate it minced. Mostly, though, they ate it roasted, and always – and I do mean always – with potatoes.

Not that everyone was ecstatic about Perth’s hotel dining-out scene. In 1906, Royal Consul Leopoldo Zunini came to WA to establish an Italian Consulate and reported back to his countrymen that:

“The menu is almost always limited to roast beef, drowned in a black, evil-smelling sauce...the helpings...are usually spread with an indefinable, whitish, viscous substance which resembles remarkably the paste used by bootmakers to stick the soles of shoes; I presume it has the same flavour. All this is washed down with tea or coffee (which means chicory). Don’t even mention fruit.”

Even by 1935, just nine businesses were listed under the “cafes, restaurants and dining rooms” section of the Perth phone book, most of them English-style tea rooms serving sandwiches, cakes and tea in thick-rimmed cups.

Down on Barrack Street in the city, a couple of places run by Greek and Italian migrants offered fish and chips or steak and eggs, but that was about it.

But change was a-coming, and how. On 6 January 1939, entrepreneur Bernie Hardwick opened a little stall selling fresh seafood down on Mounts Bay Road. For a community starved – quite literally – of places to eat out, Bernie’s was a godsend. Soon, his little lantern and kero stove were a Perth landmark.

“Dad spent his entire working life there, on the exact site where The Mount Hospital now stands,” says Bernie’s son, Mal Hardwick.

When American servicemen came to town in the early 1940s, Bernie saw an opportunity. “Dad erected tents and sold steak, bread rolls and all the trimmings and people would cook their own, “ says Mal. “So Bernie’s was Perth’s very first cook-your-own-steak restaurant.”

Throughout the first half of the 20th century, Australians continued their love affair with meat. In 1941, Perth’s King Edward Hotel was offering “roasts of turkey, goose, chicken, duck, beef sirloin, lamb, pork and suckling pig” on its Christmas menu. One wonders where they found room for the guests.

The first Soho coffee bar opened in London in 1952. Two years later, Melbourne got its first espresso cafe. Not long after, Perth followed suit and took its first tentative steps towards the cosmopolitan cafe culture we enjoy today.

These continental-inspired dens of iniquity, which stayed open until the wee small hours, and where folk occasionally put – gasp – booze in their coffee, were frowned upon by the community’s more straightlaced members.

Meanwhile, WA’s ethnic migrant community was busily swelling, mostly as a result of Italians, who settled in Perth after the Goldrush.

Many of these migrants were fishermen and used Fremantle as their base. By the mid-1950s, two Italian cafes, The Capri and The Roma, had opened in the port town, both offering fare never seen before in Perth; chicken and spaghetti, scallopini, osso bucco.

Mayor of Fremantle Peter Tagliaferri has fond memories of both restaurants.
“The Capri opened just before the Roma, which was the fancier of the two places,” he says. “The Capri was more for migrant get togethers.”

Peter, whose father used to co-own The Capri, says the restaurant was very much a part of the community.

“On Saturdays, when Fremantle closed at one o’clock, they’d all come in, the bootmaker, the tailor, and we’d sit around talking about the football, this and that. People joined your table even when you didnt know them. I loved the sense of community you got there.”

Nella and Frank Abrugiato ran the Roma from when it opened in 1954 until Frank’s death in 2000. Nella and her children continued on, but she found the going pretty tough without Frank. She closed the Roma’s doors in 2006.

“Now that it’s gone, what I miss most are the customers,” says Nella. “They used to come in and hug you and kiss you. They were such beautiful people. The women used to get all dressed up.”

In the 1960s, Perth residents discovered overseas travel and began to explore further afield, embracing new cultures and becoming interested in a wider range of cuisines.
“Quench your thirst with dripping fruits and shivering drinks served by broad-shouldered Fijians,” read a newspaper advertisement from the then BOAC.

Northbridge, too, was evolving, and had become an enclave of Italian and other ethnic eateries and coffee shops. To go to Northbridge – or “north of the line” as it used to be called – was considered very daring indeed by members of Perth’s fairly straightlaced community.

By 1971, I Dream of Jeannie was showing on Channel Nine and Ansett could fly you from Perth to Sydney return for $121. Culottes and baby doll smocks were all the rage and at Liquor Barons you could buy a half-gallon of sherry for the grand sum of $1.50.

Western Australia’s interest in all things culinary was growing, too. In his autobiography, The Voice of the Great South, Eoin Cameron, who hosts ABC radio’s morning programme, remembers getting the 1970 version of The Australian Women’s Weekly Cookbook as a wedding present.

“Every self-repspecting cook of the seventies mastered the pepper steak, not to mention chilli con carne, kofta curry and savoury meatloaf. And what would we have done without veal?...weiner schnitzel, veal parmesan, dutch veal croquettes, veal marengo, veal cordon bleu, veal and mushroom ragout....the choices were mind boggling.”

On 2 August 1970, The Sunday Times published its very first Night Owl column, written by Bill Thompson. At the time, there were just 30 restaurants in Perth. If you wanted glam, you went to Luis in the city, or to Perth’s one and only oceanside restaurant, the Seacrest in Cottesloe.

The State’s mining boom saw Chinese restaurateurs from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane move to WA. In the early 1960s, there had been just two Chinese restaurants. By the mid-70s, according to Perth’s Chung Wah Association, this number had grown to nearly 200.

Jack Lau opened the Swan Lake restaurant in Floreat in 1979. A few years later, he moved to Cottesloe and opened the Jade Court. He’s still there.

In those boom years, says Lau, the Jade Court was incredibly busy. “We were fully booked three or four weeks in advance. We’d turn over a table two even three times a night.”

Mind you, back then every restaurant in Perth was busy, says Lau. “You’d go to the Sunday buffet at a hotel in the city or to the Parmelia Hilton’s Garden Restaurant and everywhere was full.”

It was the days of boom or bust, of flashy entrepreneurs and expense account lunches which merged into dinner. At Luis in the city, Perth’s fat cats were ordering Caviar Royale and escargots. At the Hilite 33 revolving restaurant, you could dance to live music every night of the week.

When Aldo and Connie Dichiera opened Julio’s Restaurant in West Perth in 1985, people queued at the door for a seat.

“Back then, no-one seemed to care who paid,” remembers Dichiera. “They’d just toss a coin and stick it on their expense account.”

Perth was clearly enjoying itself. At Bar Bzar in Subiaco, food was served by waiters wearing rollerskates. And at the Bacci Restaurant in Mount Hawthorn, $12.50 bought you six courses of Italian fare with all the house wine you could drink.

Yet by 1982, Bill Thompson was predicting disaster. “Five years uncontrolled growth has reached its day of reckoning,” he trumpeted in an editorial of the time, “with many restaurants on the brink of financial ruin...restaurants in Perth continue to open at an alarming rate...the situation is becoming chaotic...”

Worse was to come. In 1986, the Labor government introduced Fringe Benefits Tax and Perth restaurateurs immediately felt the pinch.

“I estimate we lost around 25% of our revenue as a result of FBT,” says Terry Bright, Executive Director of Restaurant and Catering WA.

Not that it was all bad news. By early 1987, Fremantle was in the throes of Americas Cup fever and, as a result, the al fresco dining scene took off.

Mayor of Perth Peter Nattrass says it took his own city a little longer to embrace the concept of outdoor dining.

“Our health officers used to say we could never have al fresco dining in Perth because of all the flies.”
But the Americas Cup changed all that, says Nattrass.

“We had one red tape opposition after another, but people finally realised how stupid it was, all these international visitors wanting to enjoy our beautiful weather and nowhere to sit outside. Fremantle led the way and Perth was very quick to follow.”

Then, in late 1987, The New York Stock Mark crashed. Suddenly, the big money had gone and Perth’s high flying dining-out scene simply couldn’t sustain itself.Restaurateurs were forced to re-think their marketing strategy.

Enter cafe culture, which took off in the 1990s and is still with us today. Mind you, the noughties have seen a resurgence in the more traditional restaurant.
“I think people are ready to eat properly again,” says Aldo Dichiera, one of a handful of restaurateurs to have ridden the wave of dining-out fashion and survived.

“The cafe scene slowed us down a bit but we’ve made changes to accommodate the public’s desire for lighter, healthier fare, and we’re as busy as ever.”

Tanis and Geoff Gosling opened The Witch’s Cauldron in Subiaco in 1970. They, too, are still going strong and have seen a change in people’s eating habits.

“In the old days, people would order three courses,” says Tanis. “Now everyone’s eating less.”

Today there are around 3,000 restaurants and cafes in Perth, a third offering “modern Australian” fare, 20% serving Chinese and other Asian and just 9% which class themselves as Italian.

According to a recent Roy Morgan survey, fast food is a major player in the dining out stakes, with more people reporting a fast food experience than a meal out in a three month period.

All this goes hand in hand with a community that, increasingly, wants to dine casually. According to Harry Ferrante, President of the Restaurant Catering Industry Association of WA, Perth is following the European trend for more casual places which blur the line between restaurant and cafe.

“It’s all about superfluous rituals which are no longer needed,” he says.
Which, if you ask me, is just a teensy weensy bit sad.
Lobster Thermidore and crepes suzette, anyone?

Other stuff you may not know about Perth's dining-out (and drinking) history:

The six o clock swill
Contrary to popular belief, this State was never subject to the notorious “six o’clock swill”, which came about because hotels were required to close at 6pm. Here in the west, the closing time was always much later; around 9pm.

We did, however, have to contend with “the gallon licence” – a forerunner to the current liquor store licence held by such outlets as Liquorland and Woolies.

Basically, this licence forbade the sale of anything less than one gallon of liquor.
Because of this, it was apparently fairly common back in the early 60s to see a smartly-dressed couple on their way to dine out with a gallon keg of beer tucked under one arm.

Perth remembers
“The ‘40s was the era of the set price dinner. For about a shilling, you’d get soup, a main course, shepherds pie, fish, lamb, something like that, followed by jelly and custard. Sometimes there was a steamed pudding.” Perth resident, Ken Mellet.

Dad’s 1964 stockmarket windfall when I was 10 sparked my first visit to a “proper” restaurant: the Canton in Hay Street. I remember the exotic aromas, the gooey, cornflour-thickened sauces and the wonderfully strange and sticky sweet and sour pork." David Hummerston, restaurant reviewer for The West Australian newspaper between 1988 and 2005.

“In 1969, the Adelphi Steakhouse at the newly-opened Parmelia Hilton Hotel was considered so out there. We cooked our own steak and helped ourselves to the salad bar. I have fond memories of a baked potato beautifully wrapped in alfoil. And of course, we drank claret” Gail Williams, restaurant reviewer for the Sunday Times newspaper.

We first arrived in Perth in 1971 and the immigration people put us up at a hotel in the city. Our first breakfast was cold lamb chops, beetroot slices, fatty bacon and a fried egg with a greasy brown frill around it. The white bread had curled up and long since died. The lumpy gravy they’d poured on top had merged with the juice from the beetroot. My black coffee came with an orange slice in it. When I queried it, the waitress said ‘Well, you have lemon in tea, don’t you?”’ I very nearly went back to Europe then and there.” Ian Parmenter, Festival director, Tasting Australia.

“Back in the mid 70s when I ran the Matilda Bay restaurant, we wouldn’t dare go into a Saturday night service without six cartons of cold Ben Ean moselle in the fridge.” Graham Bolton, Restaurateur and Chair of the Hospitality Industry Training Council.

“In 1976, my sister’s latest beau took us both to Perth’s first revolving restaurant, King Arthur's Table at the Red Castle motel, built and run by his parents. I remember how the sword Excalibur magically rose and fell in the middle of the fountain outside, the white damask tablecloths, the fine fare. I ate chicken kiev nestled on a potato nest followed by crepes suzettes. I was giddy with pleasure at it all.” Geraldine Mellet, Radio and Television Broadcaster.

“In the heady days of the mid 80s, my family regularly enjoyed Sunday buffet lunches at the Parmelia Hilton’s Terrace Restaurant. I remember the furry gold wallpaper in the loos, learning how to shell prawns...and always getting a crème caramel.” Emma Green, Scoop mag's Editor.

I grew up in Cowaranup and the single biggest moment in my childhood restaurant-going life, quite seriously, was when Kentucky Fried Chicken opened in Bunbury. Mum and dad drove us up there specially. It was an absolutely massive thing for us.” Russell Blaikie, chef, Must Winebar.

Timeline
1899: The Terrace tearooms open in Kings Park. Nine years later, a second tearoom opens, on the site now occupied by Fraser’s restaurant.

1932: ABC Radio transmissions commence in Perth.

1934: Pavlova is invented by chef Herbert Sache at Perth’s Hotel Esplanade.

1935: The Boans Cafeteria opens

1934: Bernie’s opens on Mounts Bay Road

1947: The Capri opens in Fremantle. In 1957, it’s taken over by the Pizzale family, who still own it today.

1954: La Roma cafe opens in Fremantle and is run by the Abrugiato family until it closes in 2006.
1968: WA’s first drink-driving legislation is introduced and diners begin to look closer to home for places to eat out.
1971: The first Hungry Jacks outlet in Australia opens in the Perth suburb of Innaloo.
1977: Nunzio Gumina introduces pavement dining at Papa Luigi’s in South Terrace, thus heralding the beginning of Freo’s Capuccino Strip.
1979: Alain and Lizzie Fabregues open The Loose Box in Sawyers Valley. Nine years later, they move to their current premises.
1982: Perth’s first Macdonalds franchise opens at Cinema City.
1986: Fringe Benefits Tax is introduced.
Jan87: Fremantle hosts the Americas Cup Challenge.
Oct 87: New York stock market crashes.
1988: Random Breath Testing is implemented in WA and Perth diners have even more reason to stay home.
1995: The booze bus is introduced to WA.
1999: WA passes legislation which prohibits smoking in enclosed public places where food is served.

What was big when
1940s: Sweetbreads in aspic, jelly and ice cream, peach melba, roasts, offal, fruit pies.
50s: Angels on horseback, lobster newburg, roasts, plum pudding at anytime of year
60s: Seafood cocktail, crepes suzettes, gammon, chicken and crumbed pineapple, knickerbockerglorys, buffets, cook your own steak, crayfish mornay, candles in chianti bottles on the table, seafood generally.
70s: Dinner parties, Fillet mignon, tournedos, theme nights at restaurants, trout with almonds, chicken liver pate, pavlova, cassata, ceesecake, black forest gateau, 1000 island dressing, duck a lorange, steak diane chocolate mousse, beef wellington, garlic prawns, the womans weekly cookbook. burgundy tablecloths and fresh flowers on the table, fondue,
80s: Chinese restaurants, nouvelle cuisine, chicken a la king, nut sundae, crayfish thermidore, chicken kiev, chateaubriand, Mexican restaurants, croutons in soup, coquilles st jacques, valet parking.
90s: Cafe culture, bruschetta, ceviche, gazpacho, risotto, White Rocks veal, big plates, bigger glasses, white napery and tealights on tables.

29 comments:

vk6zgo said...

There is a lot of twaddle spoken about how "Perth's food scene was so bad back in the 1950s, '60s, '70s, '80s, etc, depending upon when the person commenting came here.

A classic, but one that wasn't included on you blog, was the allegation that Perth people in the 1950s "only encountered spaghetti in tins with tomato sauce".
This, of course, is nonsense,----- there was a pasta factory in Guildford, for Pete's sake! ( It was there when I was 9, in 1952 & wasn't new then.)
Mum used to cook with spaghetti---not classic Italian stuff, but it was definitely part of our diet .
Ever had spaghetti custard, or just plain cooked spaghetti as a dessert?

In "Northbridge, before it was known by that name, Re Bros had a Restaurant which, as well as the usual pasta dishes, sold delicious
Gelato, including the best Cassatas I have ever had.

By the way, does anyone know where I can get a Cassata these days?
They seem to have gone out of fashion--Benny's ice Cream had a reasonable factory made one, back in the '70s/80's, but they've gone
out of business.

I had my first Cappucino there, too at about 14 years old -- delicious, & it was sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, not chocolate!
( I thought that might be weird until I had the same thing in Bali a couple of years ago)

From memory, the "1 gallon rule" allowed you to buy that gallon in a number of separate bottles.
Is the person thinking of the cardboard wine casks?

Unknown said...

I've been mourning the loss of Bennys gelato for years.
Also does anyone know what years Burgandys on Wellington st was open in the 80s?

littlebanonwa said...


Wow interesting blog.
Vegetarian Lebanese Restaurant in Perth

Unknown said...

Can anyone remember the name of the cheerful restaurant opposite Perth Mint in Hay Street in the 1980s? I used to eat there lots. Wish it was still there. Thanks. Ruby

Unknown said...

Can anyone remember the name of the cheerful restaurant opposite Perth Mint in Hay Street in the 1980s? I used to eat there lots. Wish it was still there. Thanks. Ruby

AB said...

Minty's!

Unknown said...

I remember dad taking all 10 of us to Uncle Domenics restaurant and was worried about if he had enough money for the bill which was about 30 dollars.

Louise Everett said...

Anyone remember the name of the baked potato restaurant, maybe around Cottesloe/Claremont in the 1980s?

Alan O'Meara said...

Can anyone remember the name of the coffee shop /cafe which was located in Gledden Arcade corner of Hay and William Street in the 1960's.

Prego Restaurant said...

Prego-The fine dining set menu in Perth

Prego Restaurant said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
PM said...

Café in Gledden Buildings’ basement was Corica’s, I think. Related to. Corica Pastries 106 Aberdeen Street in Northbridge

Unknown said...

Trying to recall the name of a couple of Asian restaurants in Fremantle, around the 1980/1990s,one was in High Street,and had the interior decorated like a cave,left over from a previous enterprise I believe. The second was upstairs in Market Street,on the L.H.S. heading towards the port.

CATCO Enterprises said...

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Unknown said...

Can anyone remember the cook your own steak restaurant in Salisbury Avenue in South Perth, just of Canning Higway, late 70's - 80's

PM said...

Was it the Bullseye?
PM

Unknown said...

Does anyone remember the Le Normandy in Northbridge during the 1970s,run by a French family, great food well priced. The wife,who ran front of house, while the husband did the cooking,never wrote down the order,but always got it correct.
Should also mention the La Cascade,in the Chelsea Village,also the Elegant Sufficiency in the same complex,and Le Chaumiere,next door.All in the 1970s,except the La Cascade which continued for much longer.

PM said...

Or perhaps the Hindquarter. One was in Leederville, the other south of the river.
PM

Unknown said...

Franco's

Unknown said...

The Hindquarter Steakhouse opened Feb 1966 by Gerry and Lyla Howlett together with Gerry's brother architect Geoffrey Howlett who was responsible for the decor or the former Noonans Bakery site.

Unknown said...

The Hindquarter Steakhouse was opened by Gerry and Lyla Howlett together with Geoff Howlett who was responsible for the decor (Howlett and Bailey red panels with the rest black) in Fedruary 1966. One of the first lisensed restaurants in Perth and the first to ban smoking in the later 80's.

Unknown said...

A previous 'blogger" referred to La Cascade in Chelsea Village ... a great restaurant, Witches Cauldron in Subiaco, and going back further the Bullseye in Leederville (for meat lovers ... where you cooked your own steaks) and in the Perth CBD on the corner of Hill and Hay Streets there was a Spanish themed (my wife thinks it was Italian)restaurant, that escapes my recollection, that many of us rated highly.. If someone could recall please (it wasn't the Hairy Spaniard (with peanut shells on the floor) that was on the corner of Victoria Ave and Hay St at the Commodore.HELP !!!

Unknown said...

Re.the Hairy Spaniard,I think you are correct with the location, but as to the theme,I'm not sure.Only went there once,more for the novelty, and couldn't have been that impressed.

PM said...

Corner of Hay and Hill - it was Franco's. Run by José and Sharon Monterrubio.

Unknown said...

PM..Thank You, as soon as I read your response I remembered.... FRANCOS...a great restaurant which was always full, with great food and atmosphere.

Unknown said...

Anybody remember the Matsuri Satay restaurant on Albany Highway, Victoria Park.?
Great satay,three or four different types,spicy egg noodles ect.For dessert there was green pancakes.
Always seem to be well booked,for either lunch,or dinner.
Richard.

Trust-time said...

I am trying to find details on behalf of an elderly friend, who frequently went to Oceania Chinese restaurant on Scarborough Beach Rd in Innaloo. She remembers the owner, Bill, very fondly. She is trying to find out when the restaurant closed and what happened to Bill and his family - who she would love to get in touch with. If anyone has any info, please share :)

Unknown said...

No mention of The French Taverne on Stirling Highway Claremont owned and run by Alain Khul which was our almost weekly go to in the early to mid 70's. Lovely French food with super hors d'oeuvres plates. Alain moved on to the Hilite 33 but The French Taverne was always special.

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