I’ve been wanting to go to Greenhouse in the Perth CBD ever since the trendy eatery was featured on last year’s Masterchef Australia.
It’s rare that I find myself sans family in downtown Perth and on a Saturday no less. I was afraid Greenhouse would be too busy to seat a trio of friends but we were in luck (and Perth is dead in July).
As soon as I walked inside, I knew I would love the place. It’s warm and the kitchen is open, leaving no room for sloppy cooks or dodgy practices. I scanned the place for head chef Matt Stone but I couldn’t see him. Damn.
Nevermind.
We three sat down at the end of a long slew of tables right in front of the bar. Right away, I was entranced by the creative way they displayed the bottles of booze.
Our waitress was young, friendly and approved of my photo taking. I liked her until she broke the news: NO decaf.
Though I’ve been primarily off coffee since early May, I have started to partake occasionally and I really felt like a decaf soy flat-white. I do not fancy ingesting caffeine so I declined a regular. Instead, I ordered a fresh juice: grapefruit and orange. It was delicious; I downed it in about 2 minutes. That was a fast $5.50 spent.
I reviewed the brunch menu over and over searching for something that appealed and that was of course, gluten and dairy free too.
There were a few options but in the end I (and both of my meal companions) chose the tea-cured ocean trout. I also asked for a side dish of sauteed wild mushrooms.
I kept myself busy taking photos while I waited for my meal to arrive. When it finally arrived, I was very pleased with the visuals.
The portion looked sufficient, but I could have eaten more at the end of it all. My friends ordered bread with theirs, which may have helped a little. Mr Male had 2 pieces of toast and 2 extra eggs and said he was still hungry. Probably why he grabbed dessert on the way out.
But the meal was divine, really.
The trout was soft and moreish and although I cannot comment on the taste per say, my friend noted the lack of tea flavour.
Because I have no sense of taste or smell, it makes it hard for me to comment on food but I use texture a lot and I do still have the ability to detect the basics: sweet, salty, bitter, spicy and sour. I can often “sense” a flavour.
My favourite element by far was the wild mushrooms. They were cooked to perfection and gave a real earthy distinction. I’ve been hooked on a variety of mushrooms ever since: portobello, oyster, shitak, enoki…..
The meal came with a 62 degree egg. If you don’t know, these eggs are prepared in the shell. They are cooked to, you guessed it, 62 degrees and when cracked open into a dish, they look like a poached egg.
I’ve never been one for very runny eggs. It’s only the past few years that I can stand to eat a slightly runny yolk. Therefore, I asked for a longer cooked egg – “this will come well done,” said the waitress.
“Okay then”
Well, it certainly did come well done. It was no longer a poached egg, it was hard-boiled. So, they do not cater to your egg preference. It’s either 62 degrees or hard-boiled. I still ate it.
My friend ate hers too (same as mine) but did ask about it. She was offered another one at no extra charge but because the meal was not super fast to arrive, she declined the offer. Okay, so our eggs were too hard but the salad was yummy.
It was fennel, herbs and dill; crunchy and refreshing. It was a nice contrast to all the soft food on the plate.
The retro popcorn maker filled with desserts mocked me the entire time but as I had only just come off my elimination diet, I did not want to return to sweets so quickly. Nothing was really tempting me anyway. I was impressed that they had gluten-free choices though.
All up my meal coast approximately $26, which I thought was quite reasonable for a meal out with friends.
I loved the trendy, cosy feel of the place; the food was yum and the service was pretty decent considering Western Australia has a ripe reputation for lacking in this area.
Greenhouse score: 8/10
Will I return? YES
Have you been to Greenhouse Perth? What did you think?
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Kai Chronicles 