Petition Kitchen | Still one of the best!

Aged Mottainai Lamb neck - Petition Kitchen

Another Saturday lunch and we had a plan - well we thought we did.

Heading into town for some Thai at Long Chim in The Como, on a bitterly cold August day, seemed like a great idea.

And it almost was, until my old enemy surfaced - a very loud crowd in a small room. Exit stage left.

We ventured up one floor and breezed into Petition Kitchen - still one of the better dining rooms in Perth. And thankfully their a la carte menu is back in full swing.

We asked for and were quickly seated at the pass, looking directly into the galley kitchen - the warmth from the stoves welcomed as immediately. Nom nom.

The service had always been fab here and this time was no different. Both menus appeared quickly and there are lots of new additions.

We ordered a NV Airlie Bank ‘Yarra Cuvee’ Yarra Valley, VIC (14) each and surveyed the room - half full but we could still hear each other. Nice.

As we sipped the slightly under chilled, but delicious, bubbles we scoped out the “winter” menu - beef ragu arancini, warm beef tartare, poppies in wine and ginger were just a few of the items that were not featured on our last visit.

Of course, there are lots of other new additions, but you will have to check it out in person.

We settled on the eggplant schnitzel, parmesan custard, parsley, lemon (18), Witlof, kohlrabi, apple, comté candied walnuts salad (17) and the, Lancelin grown, aged Mottainai lamb neck, black garlic, tarragon emulsion (39).

Thirsty work indeed, so we ordered a 2017 Monte Schiavo Verdicchio from Marche, Italy (14), a crisp, full bodied Italian charmer.

The team in front of us were barely raising a sweat as the turned out some fab looking plates. We were so entranced that we did not even notice our first course leave the kitchen and be placed in front of us - a total trip of about 3 metres!

The eggplant schnitzel could easily be mistaken for its less nutritious namesake - thick, perfectly light brown and surprisingly large. Certainly, a dish for sharing.

Sliced open, the tightly compressed, char-grilled slices begged to be devoured. Not a problem.

No salty flavours, just beautiful succulent flesh. Winning!

We watched chef slice our lamb in front of us and it arrived, with the salad, about 30 seconds later.

It is easily one of the best cuts of lamb I have ever eaten and there was a lot of it - thank god there was two of us. It pinged perfectly with the salad.

Absolutely superb food and a wonderful lunch.

We were planning to head next door to the Wine Merchant for a roader and asked if we could get dessert from the menu in there. Yes for every desert, other than what we desired - the wattle seed slice, caramel budino, salted jersey cream (18).

So, we sat back down and waited.

And it was well worth the wait. The moist slice was beautifully offset by the caramel custard and the rich cream. Stunning desert.

We waddled off to the Merchant, eagerly discussing what we were going to have next time. A lunch to remember....