Bistro des Artistes, 6008

When I heard French chef extraordinaire, Alain Fabregues and pastry magician, Emmanuel Mollois were opening a French bistro together, I knew it was going to be a match made in French culinary heaven.

The restaurant located on Hay St, is an airy light-filled room with polished floors, wooden bistro chairs and floor-to-ceiling mirrored wall. The room is dotted with Alain’s own whimsical artworks, mostly of which are food. The place is charming, light, and softly elegant.

You order from a set menu – two courses for $45 or three for $50, including unlimited supply of crunchy French baguette. This is superb value for the quality of food. 

For entrée I ordered Salade Nicoise my way, with Tuna, Anchovies, tomato, eggs, cos lettuce, potato salad, herbs. Every element was cooked to perfection and arranged meticulously on the plate. Potatoes blanched, tuna seared, and eggs poached, with precision. Even the little crunchy herbed crouton set off praise. Attention to detail is Alain's and Emmanuel’s strong suit. 

Tuna Nicoise

I have been to Bistro des Artistes twice, and after trying the Salmon Sausage aux Aromates with mash potato the first time, I couldn’t go past it today. Delicate salmon sausage rests on creamy garlic mash and a pool of tarragon herbed butter sauce. So good! The dish is crowned with a sweet little pastry crescent. Emmanuel takes charge of the sweet stuff, but traces of his pastry artistry are speckled throughout the savoury menu. Cute. 

Salmon sausage

The Duck confit with Sauté potatoes and pepper sauce didn’t disappoint either. The tender duck meat just about rolled off the cutlery, and the sauce had a unique flavour.

Duck confit

For desserts we shared a Floating Island and Caramel walnut tart with coffee brulée. My favourite was the tart. The coffee mousse was gooey-caramel and fluffy-whip-divine. And the pastry base? Emmanuelle’s marvelous work with pastry is unmatched. 

Floating Island and Caramel walnut tart with coffee brulee

So the food received rave reviews and the ambience was lovely, but the service does need a bit of polishing. Cutlery was forgotten, bread crumbs left  uncleared, and menu items not clearly explained. The positives definitely outweigh those negatives though.

Food: 4/5 (Delicious authentic French cuisine, thoughtful plating, careful details)
Ambience: 4/5 (Light, airy, comfortably classy)
Service: 2.5/5 (Friendly but a bit away with the fairies)
Value: 4/5 ($50 for three courses of first class French cuisine is fantastic value)

Bench Espresso, 6000

Whilst I'm no coffee specialist, I have drank enough Soy Cappuccinos to recognise an excellent coffee when I try one. The tribe of discerning coffee drinkers is becoming a noticeable wedge in Perth's sub-culture, and the availability of a quality brew is vast and growing, particularly in the CBD.

Soy Mocha, Cappuccino

Allow me to illustrate my point with newcomer: Bench Espresso.  At the less happening end of Hay St, the espresso bar has a sleek, modern interior, punctuated with deep purple and lime green. You can pick up slices and bakes, or try one of their really tasty looking toasties.  I don't need to go on about how delicious the coffee is, but I will recommend trying their hot chocolate or a mocha. They use those most exquisite liquid coverture chocolate. If coffee alone isn't enough caffeine to buzz you out of that 3pm slump, doubling it with Belgian chocolate is sure to do the trick.

Coffee: 4.5/5
Service: 3.5/5
Ambience: 3.5/5

Collodel Ice Creams & Sorbets, 6076

Don't be fooled by the generic blue and white cups because what's inside is far from ordinary. Collodel is a family-run Ice cream parlor located on Haynes Street in Kalumunda. This place sells the real deal, and often misleads new customers with it's ho-hum exterior, making that first lick of Collodel gelato, even more memorable.

The dreamy gelato is made using traditional techniques that come from the Dolomite region in Northern Italy, and they make it every day, right there on the premises. How it should be.

Soft, rich, voluptuous gelato, the stuff here is on par with that I’ve tried in Italy and Spain. With flavours like Coconut, Crème Caramel, Coffee Cream, Vanilla Bean, Yoghurt & Berries, Cookies & Cream, it’s very hard to settle on a single serve. Faced with this difficulty, I ended up choosing three scoops; Cookies and Cream, Chocolate Rocher and the stand out flavour - Mascapone with Cointreau and Lemon Curd.

My goodness they were delicious! The Chocolate Rocher tasted like Nutella and is honestly the best chocolate/hazelnut version I've ever tasted. Eye-popping good. The Mascapone with Cointreau and lemon curd was exquisite; a perfect balance of tartness, sour and sweet. It tasted like a richly creamy cheesecake, stained with citrus. The Cookies & Cream was a treat too; a real vanilla bean base with crumbled bits of what tasted like half-baked tiny teddies.

At $4.50 for three scoops and $3.50 for two, I think this is pretty decent value. For amazing quality gelato, this is definitely worth the drive (and the calories). I'm calling it. Collodel Ice Cream & Sorbet; best gelato in Perth!

Food: 5/5
Service: 3/5
Ambience: 3/5