There is something tantalizing about going out on a school night – maybe it’s enjoying a ‘bonus night out’ or maybe it’s the thrill of wondering whether you’ll turn up hungover at work the next day, or maybe its simply that you get to something out of the ordinary. Either way, mid-week dining is a sure-fire winner.Its even better when you’re celebrating a special occasion and someone else has made the booking – and all you have to do is frock up and rock up! Such was my situation during the week when Dave surprised me with dinner reservations for our ‘dating anniversary’ (11 years… time has flown!) at one of Perth’s trendy hotspots, The Standard.

Perth’s 2016 Fringe Festival is still in full swing, and Northbridge was buzzing as we arrived and parked on Roe Street in time for our 7pm reservation (cos hey, let’s be honest, we do have work tomorrow…!).

The snazzy bar

We were shown to an indoor table for two, and I must admit, after taking into account all the space in the converted warehouse, it was disappointing to be basically elbow to elbow with our fellow diners despite so much space around. The dining room itself was airy, and true to the ‘industrial warehouse’ vibe. There was a long, stunning bar area with hipster cocktail mixologists shaking their mixers, and the whole décor was of a minimalist design, complemented by the numerous ‘living art’ (aka plants) pieces hung on various walls.

After having a quick scan of the cocktail list, I decided to stick to my tried and true favourite cocktail – a dirty, dry, gin martini, with olives – while Dave ordered a Budvar. We are a sucker for cured meats and so straight up ordered the Charcuterie Platter to enjoy with our drinks.

Pre-dinner drinks

The platter came out pretty quickly, and looked like a lovely work of art – the silky jamon serrano and wagya bresaola were creatively arranged alongside thick slices of juicy chorizo, thinly sliced salami casalinga, and crusty sourdough bread. There was a chunky green mango chutney, some pickled onion slivers with a little spoonful of mustard resting upon it, and some homemade pickles.

Charcuterie Platter

I cannot speak highly enough of the quality of jamon The Standard use – silky smooth and deliciously softly-salty, this is probably the best I have had in Perth – loved every mouthful. Dave felt the same way about the bresaola – which worked out perfectly in terms of divvying up the final slices!

The mango chutney had good flavour but unfortunately the consistency missed the mark a bit, when I smear chutney over my sourdough, I want it to actually spread, whereas this was more just chucks of fruit (tasty though) that sat on the bread. The pickles were fine, missing a bit of tang, but I liked the fact they were clearly pickled in house, maybe just abit more flavour in the pickling liquid is required. All in all, this was a good platter, and the addition of some creamy butter, olive oil and balsamic, or another dip / spread of some sort would have made this good platter, a great platter.

Whilst we were sampling the charcuterie platter, Dave kept glancing furtively around behind him, looking at the wall..  when I finally asked him what he was doing, he replied that there were mozzies swarming around his head and sure enough, he was being accosted by a swarm of mosquitos. We spoke to the lovely host, and she was fantastic, and immediately offered to move us to a table outside and upstairs which had just become available.

The food menu

Great move. The fairy lights decorating the outdoor space was magical, and the raised outdoor balcony afforded beautiful views of the city skyline from where we sat. It was also nice being in the night air, as the air-con inside had been a bit on the chilly side.

View from the  topWe ordered a bottle of New Zealand pinot noir and a couple more dishes while we sat back and enjoyed the serenity. We didn’t have to wait too long before our mains came out….

  Pleased as punch 

White anchovies with buffalo yoghurt and smoked tomatoes on sourdough. Dave and I both love anchovies, especially those of the pickled variety… This dish was literally like a party in my mouth! The flavours were perfect and my only complaint would be there weren’t enough anchovies or tomato on the fairly large pieces of sourdough.’

White anchovies with buffalo yoghurt
and smoked tomatoes on sourdough

The sourdough itself was almost like it had been deep fried-it had that crispy, light, crunchy texture and was thinly sliced so it was more like a cracker than bread. Super tasty.

And a close up…

Next up was the Beef Carpaccio with wasabi cream, soy pearls and baby leaf. I love carpaccio, and this one had some really good and some really disappointing factors to it.

Firstly, the carpaccio itself was delicious, little bundles of rare beef joy, sliced lovely and thin. The wasabi cream was a nice touch, and perfectly balanced, not too spicy in flavour, but strong enough to complement the beef. The leaves were fine, a nice touch, and filled out the dish a bit.

Beef Carpaccio

Now, for the not-so-great. The black, soy pearls were little bursting bubbles of salt. In a not-good way. They tasted wholly and solely of salt, and it was so overpowering, you really only needed one or two pearls with each mouthful of carpaccio, but there were probably ten times that amount on the plate. It took me awhile to figure out what on earth was making each mouthful so salty, and I must admit, this did spoil the dish for me to start with. Once I figured out it was the soy pearls, I just picked out one or two specifically to place on each forkful, and it was much better. This dish could be a winner, but please, ease up on the saltiness of your balls!

I still really wanted to try the Pineapple and Fish Curry, as well as the Squid Dish, but we were, after only three courses, just about full to the brim, and thought we would save those two dishes for next time, and instead go for one of the three desserts on offer.

I am not a big fan of banana, but we were both intrigued by the idea of chambord gel, so we went with the following…

roast banana mousse, chambord gel,
peanuts and white chocolate

The dish came out with two lovely halves of what seemed to be roasted, caramelised banana, little tasty dollups of zesty Chambord gel, and what seemed like a white chocolate mousse… although by this time the wine and gin martini had certainly worked their magic and I was concentrating less on the components of the dessert and more on just how well it all went together!

This was a surprisingly light dessert for something with so much richness, and there was plenty for the two of us to share. A great way to finish off a really enjoyable evening. For the cocktail, beer, bottle of wine and the tree dishes our bill came to just on about $160, which really is pretty good. Our booze cost more than our food, but I did find the food particularly reasonable.

Despite a couple of glitches, I really enjoyed The Standard and would definitely go back to try the pineapple and fish curry, the squid and a few other dishes that caught my eye. Particularly recommend the outdoor area for some casual after work drinks or a Sunday sundowner sesh.