Review: Yú

I had a wonderful lunch today at arguably Perth's finest Chinese Restaurant. The setting is wonderful, elegant and refined, the food is well executed, and the wine list is comprehensive, fully priced, and studded with vinous bling. Grange and Hill of Grace feature prominently, there's Petrus and Mouton, Vintage Krug, Dom and a 95 Winston Churchill, though curiously only one red Burgundy from the unassuming village of Santenay.

Being lunch, the room was quieter than usual and the more cavernous back half of the restaurant was unused. Even so, the service was reactive (they come when called) and inattentive (water glasses were not replenished for duration of the meal), and sure annoy some, especially given the hefty prices, reputation and the salubrious decor. I thought the food was excellent and compared to the handful of recent Chinese meals I've had, it seemed less riddled with MSG. Of course the Barramundi they served was perhaps the smallest one I've seen on a plate ($A65) and many of the other dishes seemed similarly modest in size.

In conclusion, a place that is sure to polarise. The food and setting is lovely while the service and value is less convincing.