The Heritage Bar and Brasserie

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Brookfield Place. The current 'it' place in Perth. A wind tunnel of über cool bars and restaurants. Business by day, play by night. Apple Daily. Print Hall. Theobroma. The Trustee.

And The Heritage.



I will start with the negative because I could only find one problem: parking. It's not The Heritage's fault that all of a sudden people actually want to go to the Perth; that we have festivals and international rock gods visiting, and people actually live in the CBD now. But on a Friday night in the middle of festival season, it was difficult to find a car park that cost less than $20 unless we were willing to trawl the streets for hours [hint: try the Convention Centre or catch the train].



Parking issues aside (it made us fashionably late) our night at the Heritage was brilliant. Yes, it's expensive with most of the main meals exceeding $30 (and approaching $40) but they also have daily specials which are $25 plus a range of posh sandwiches that are less than $20. On top of that, if you are an early diner (dining between 5-6pm) you can have a set two or three course menu for only $39 or $49. You can eat here and not spend a fortune if you want.

But it's also easy to spend a fortune.



A lot of money obviously went into converting the deserted but iconic Royal Insurance building from its ruined condition to its current pewter and marble topped state. The linen and stemware is top quality, the lighting dimmed. You can just as easily imagine a marriage proposal taking place as you could see a table of businesspeople brokering expensive deals.

We were a group of six, our monthly dinner club. The first thing I appreciated were the round tables, which meant that we could actually see and hear the people across the table. Wire baskets of baguette and glass dishes of salted butter ($5) were already being consumed.



The menu is relatively small, with nine main dishes ($29-$44), the changing $25 daily special and a range of sides, salads and starters. We ordered three side dishes to accompany our main meals, but unless you order the steak and chips or the daily specials, all the mains come with various vegetables, making the sides a delicious, but unnecessary, accompaniment.

Fish of the day ($39) was salmon and it came with a generous serving of avocado and crushed potato and three spears of asparagus. The salmon was still pink (the way I like it) and the skin was crispy and salty: spot on.

The barramundi ($39) came on an enormous pile of minted heirloom carrots and a delicate, sesame tuille which melted in the mouth. It also came with an undescribed vegetable of sorts, cubes of jelly and some foam. Yes, jelly and foam. Although many restaurants seem to have banished these molecular gastronomy techniques to the memory of 2012, they are still alive and well at the Heritage.



The sole vegetarian main option was tagliatelle with haloumi ($29). It was an enormous dish, with generous slices of squeaky cheese and a bundle of vegetables including mushrooms, snow peas and olives. There was also foam. It was the only dish that couldn't be finished.



Cheapest on the menu at only $24 were the Cumberland bangers and mash, with two pale, fat sausages sitting atop a creamy mash and dark gravy, with four of the biggest onion rings you have ever seen. I so desperately wanted to try one of those onion rings.

I get a little anxious when I don't see any dessert items on the main menu. It makes it difficult to know what to order for mains: if they have a small, boring dessert selection then it's ok to go all out on a pricey main, but when there are desserts made in heaven, it's wise to leave a little space. And I need to know this in advance.



At The Heritage, the dessert menu is separate, but here is my advice: save space for dessert. Gosh, have a starter and skip straight to dessert. Have two or three, as they are beautiful.

I am a fan of crème brulee ($14) and I had every intention of ordering it. One of our group did and it was one of the biggest I have ever seen, and complete with a flaky tuille. However, I was curious about what was simply listed as 'hot fudge sundae' ($16). When I asked what was in it, the adorable waitress needed to read it out twice (and I still think I missed some of it): sponge cake, peanuts, salted caramel, sour cherry jelly cubes, meringue, vanilla icecream and valrhona chocolate sauce.

It was a bit of chocolate show biz, with the sundae being served in a brandy balloon with a chocolate disk covering the top of the glass. With no warning, the waitress tipped a generous jug of hot melted chocolate over the disk, melting it, and sending streams of hot chocolate all over the sundae. It was pretty incredible, although it had so much going on, sometimes it was difficult to tell exactly what I was eating. Not a dish recommended for the dieters and too steamy to photograph.



Other deserts were more gentle on the eye, although not necessarily on the waistline. With more aspics, foams and jellies, each of the desserts promised and all delivered, and at $13-$16, were good value.

Compared to other restaurant and bars in the Brookfield Plaza, the Heritage is probably a little more subdued. After all, it has the Boardroom where actual business people can go to do actual business. With the Print Hall absolutely going off across the way, and Bobeche Bar downstairs oozing with money and cocktails and long legs, the Heritage fulfils another role. It is fine dining in a beautiful room, with friendly service and great food, but it also offers you a chance to enjoy a really good meal with change from a $50.

How many places in the city can offer you that?

#bars
#fine_dining
#food_wine
#perth_city
#restaurants
#romantic
%wnperth