Review: The Silver Spoon

Juxtaposed as it is, with a used car yard and a 24 hour convenience store, The Silver Spoon (691 Albany Hwy, Vic Park) is curiously located, but still, quite wonderful and well worth a visit. With its modest exterior and perhaps a few too many silver trinkets and baubles inside, the food and service does all the talking.

I visited on a Saturday night, and by seven, the room was mostly full, while the six waiters hovered around with ease and efficiency. The tables are adorned with large bowled wine glasses and pleasingly, they offer BYO for wine, for a very reasonable $6.50 per bottle. The published list is modest in scope and curiously offers the wines for two prices. Members can purchase wines from the list for not much more than retail, while everyone else pays a standard mark up. The Vasse Felix Chardonnay for instance is $53 to members and $75 to commoners while the 1999 Pol Roger is $125 or $180.

The food was very good and certainly there were no disappointments on our table. For starters we sampled the Charcuterie plate, the Seared scallops with shredded duck confit and the Woodfired chilli prawns. Each plate was thoughtfully constructed and each had small, but welcome flourishes - the riesling jelly on the duck liver parfait, or the perfectly cooked baby fennel bulb with the prawns. . . Mains were also of high standard, perhaps the standout dish on the table being the perfectly seared duck breasts. The other pleasing facet of the meal, was the sides. The potatoes are roasted in duck fat and they offer a superb plate of heirloom vegetables served with honey and fetta. Having lived on mass market produce for most of my life, these vegetables are quite extraordinary - the depth of flavour and sweetness is a revelation. (Note to self - grow some heirloom carrots and beets).

Concluding comments - if you order sweets, try the rose and hibiscus trifle, its $11 dollars, which like the rest of the menu seems about 10 - 20% cheaper than most establishments in Perth who are attempting to inhabit a similar niche.