Lifestyle
Paddock-to-plate experiences you can enjoy close to Perth
Eating fresh, local, and sustainable is getting easier, with these paddock-to-plate options within a two-hour drive from Perth.
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6 min readLifestyle
Eating fresh, local, and sustainable is getting easier, with these paddock-to-plate options within a two-hour drive from Perth.
Published
6 min read
Text size
Published
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The Kermit green spring peas, star-shaped borage flowers and dill fronds garnishing a dish of sliced rare beef have travelled all of 200m at The Good Paddock, a new paddock-to-plate restaurant on Perth’s periphery. Forrestdale isn’t exactly the country, yet homegrown produce, low food mile ingredients, and sustainable dining is possible close to the big smoke.
Sourcing direct from farmers or growing it in restaurant gardens isn’t just something you find in WA’s foodie-focused South West and beyond anymore. Instead, supporting the resilience of local producers and communities – and accessing the freshest food - is doable within a two-hour drive or less from Perth.
Forrestdale
The idea that farming can give more than it takes is at the heart of The Good Paddock, a paddock-to-plate restaurant that sits beside the family-friendly Cubby Kiosk, on 11 Acre Farm.
Once horse agistment grounds, the property was bought by the Erceg family in 2020, keen to create the closest thing they could to a working farm. Now, a collection of rescue animals – from former cage chickens to weed-nibbling goats, bug-beating ducks and manure-producing sheep – share space with a playground of cubby houses made from upcycled materials and repurposed goods; there’s even a flat-tyred tractor.
The casual restaurant of sophisticated Asian-European fare is supplied by the farm’s permaculture-inspired market garden and orchard, with local growers making up the balance. Dine on chicken liver pate with farm mulberries, beef tataki with spring peas, and wine-braised shellfish mopped up with sourdough
– with a citrus gin from Damaged Goods, the Swan Valley’s (nearly) zero-waste distillery. Then visit the animals ($5 single entry/ $20 family) or join a behind-the-scenes farm tour.
thegoodpaddock.au
Jarrahdale
No Waste Mondays at Millbrook Winery have earned a cult following. Each dish is created from the week’s leftovers before the restaurant’s Tuesday and Wednesday closure. Different tables eat different dishes, as homegrown ingredients are cleverly used up. The $50pp Monday menu, and the restaurant’s usual a la carte, are supplied by a thriving market garden, egg-laying chickens, Berkshire pigs and a century-old orchard rich with stone fruit.
Millbrook was built on the Fogarty family property in the 1990s - Lee Fogarty still manages the roses, whose scent wafts over the front decking. “For the bosses it’s about the wine but for me it’s the vegetables,” says Guy Jeffries, who started as the winery’s chef-gardener in 2010 and is now its ambassador. “We save 60 per cent of the seeds from the heirloom varieties and replant them – we have six different types of eggplant alone, plus a local Jarrahdale pumpkin and Richmond green apple cucumbers,” he says. Guy runs a new Monday garden tour and preservation class ($95pp) that finishes right in time for the included four-course lunch.
millbrook.wine
Coogee
The terraced market garden at Coogee Common is bigger than the restaurant itself – at least that’s how it seems as you wander between rescued olive trees, figs, and saltbushes before diving into freshly plucked produce on the plate.
Resident bees pollinate botanicals used in cocktails, while heirloom tomatoes, rhubarb, radicchio and more find their way onto the seasonal menu. Anything not farmed on the rehabilitated land is sourced from local growers. The restaurant is housed in the restored Coogee Hotel, which was originally built in 1894 near Coogee Beach (Coogee means ‘body of water’ in Noongar). The meeting place became an orphanage before lying
dormant for decades.
Today, the menu is dictated by what’s ready for harvest. It might be garden herbs decorating honey-drizzled ricotta, zucchini elevated with black garlic and fennel, or market fish with broad beans and rainbow chard.
coogeecommon.com.au
Pickering Brook An 80-year-old orchard is at the heart of Core Cider, a working farm and artisanal cidery that hosts the Orchard Bistro. The 16-hectare property is run by the fourth generation of the Della Franca family, with at least nine apple varieties budding, blossoming and fruiting throughout the year.
Sustainability anchors everything, with treated wastewater feeding the orchard, solar panels on the Apple Shed roof supplying natural energy, and nitrate-free, composted waste apple pulp used as orchard fertiliser. It’s a similar spirit at the restaurant: at least 70 per cent of the produce on the menu is locally grown and
sourced. The cider itself is made on site, allowing for a fizzingly fresh orchard-to-glass
experience.
Try salt and pepper squid tostada teamed with homegrown pear and herb chimichurri, native rosemary and saltbush lamb shoulder, or apple and mixed berry crumble.
corecider.com.au
Wokalup
About two hours’ drive, or 140km south of Perth is Brugan Brewery, hidden behind The Wokalup Pub. The name
is an amalgamation of the owner-couple, Bruce Hathway and Megan Hardwick, east-coasters who hit the
reset button with a move to WA.
After taking over the country pub, they built the brewery, which uses locally grown hops and malt. Some 40 per cent of the menu is locally sourced, often direct from farmers in the Harvey region. In Wokalup, family-owned Halls Dairy supplies its lauded suzette cheese, while other cheeses and seasonal vegetables come from a cheese maker and farm in Brunswick called Melville Park. Olive oil is delivered by Delle Donne Produce
from nearby Leschenault, meats come from Dardanup, and lemongrass, chervil, chives and coriander are
plucked from the brewery garden.
Food scraps go to a local pig farmer, in keeping with a minimal-waste ethos. Order the pan-fried olive and
herb gnocchi or togarashi pork fillet with udon noodles to maximise your paddock-to-plate experience.
brugan.com.au
Kelmscott
Sprawling on the edge of the Canning River, this rural retreat, restaurant and bar taps its own orchard for kitchen supplies. As you’d expect, there are dozens of avocado trees on the property, making the
Avocados Avo brekky dish - poached eggs and feta with dehydrated miso sprinkle - the obvious go-to. Beyond the world’s most popular green fruit, ingredients like persimmon, lime, mango, apricot and pomegranate are plucked from onsite, chemical-free trees as seasons shift (and strawberries make their way into cocktails).
Chefs have fun creating special dishes to use the produce, such as Indian spiced apricot chicken or honey prawns, with the sweet elixir harvested from farm hives. Beyond the fence line, the surrounding Perth Hills provide much of the fruit and vegetables, such as Roleystone cherries and free-range eggs from a nearby farm. What a way to reduce food miles and support local producers.
avocadoscafebar.com.au
