the sneaky pigeon: Blackbird, 6004

Tuesday 7 February 2012

Blackbird, 6004

Most noteworthy is of course the setting; situated in what is in my opinion, the better end of the East Perth water inlet. There's more foliage, it’s quaint, it’s pretty and relatively out of sight.

My advice is to dine on a fair weekday for lunch – they offer a special menu ($37 for two courses and forty-something for three courses); it’s not busy, so you will be served quickly and well; and the nearby water feature and plain trees look that much more beautiful under the sunshine.

Service is on the ball and amicable - our waters were kept topped up, napkins rolled neatly and ordering was even interjected with some witty banter from our waist person.

Chilled prawn, mango, wattle seed, apple, cucumber

The food is a contemporary mix of French, Italian and Modern Australian. On our impromptu mid-week lunch this day we opted for the chilled prawn entree with mango salsa, the sweet potato gnocchi with candied hazelnut, a pulled pork sandwich with curried pickled cabbage and I chose the fish of the day which was a pie of three different fish in a creamy sauce, set into a ramekin and potted under herbed, crushed potato. You can probably tell by my detailed description that I was quite fond of the fish pie; it was delicious! I want to re-create my own version.

Fish of the day - Trio of fish pie, potato

Mmmm so good!

The other dishes were all excellent too, particularly the pulled pork pieces in the sandwich and the lightly pan-fried pillows of gnocchi which were all slightly mis-shaped in rustic presentation. We were only let down by a half-mast representation of a vanilla panna cotta - the panna cotta itself was more like eating heavy cream and it was sealed under a too-thick paste-like jelly of some sort of berry flavour.

Pulled pork sandwich, homemade crisps

Sweet potato gnocchi, roquette, witlof, hazelnut

Dessert aside, Blackbird is a fantastic little fine-dining restaurant and the surrounds and service would make it a memorable setting for a starry-eyed date. I will definitely go back to try their al la Carte menu soon!