It was superb weekend of food firsts. Saturday saw us at Cooee on the river beneath Kings Park (review to follow) and on Sunday we breezed into the fab Emily Taylor in Fremantle.
The latest offering from W1 Hospitality group, Emily Taylor is joined on the heritage listed site by the 11 room Warders Boutique Hotel.
It’s a big, airy, Bread in Common style room opening into a cool and inviting courtyard. The place oozes charm and is buzzing on its third day of opening.
We were pounced on by a smiling Lauren, the efficient front of house, who took us through the food options.
We were guided to a shady table in the centre of the generous courtyard. We could order at the bar or scan the QR code on our table and order without getting up - cute.
The menu is deeply Asian infused and has something for all palates. We had spoken with the dumpling chef on the way in and opted for the pan fried Oxtail dumplings with black vinegar and chilli crisp (15). We paired this with the Rendang stuffed crispy bao with daikon pickle & hot sauce (12).
To tie it all together the Uber Blonde chose a Gonc "Pavel" Kerner from Slovenia and I went for a Paradise Garage bubbly from Victoria.
Kerner is a grape indigenous to central Slovenia and produces crisp, mineral, dry whites - perfect against Asian food.
As we chilled in that gap between food and wine arriving, we discussed how hard it was to believe that this place only opened two days prior to our visit. The service was slick (one of the dishes arrived before I had gotten back from paying for it!), the staff all over you and the vibe was ultra chill.
The dumplings lobbed and were a picture. Not for long though. Perfectly ground protein in silky dough. The black vinegar juices were worth fighting over.
The rendang bao was just as delicious - spot on Malay flavours in a crisp round bun.
Another round of whites and the final dish was upon us, Pomelo and Jackfruit salad (18). Dish of the day really, we had added the optional crab and along with the fragrant herbs, peanuts, shallots, nước chấm & rice crisps, this dish sang.
As a first outing Ms Taylor is impressive indeed. Another excellent reason to eat in Freo.
Another excellent review. Mouth watering.