Print Hall Dining Room

There is a new "it" place in Perth, and rightly so. The hype is huge and it should be. Located in the newly renovated precinct on St. George's Tce, where Brookfield Place is, sits a bunch of restaurants on heritage listed buildings sites. Once abandoned and now refurbished and renovated to inject some life into an otherwise dead CBD. One of those renovated places is the old print houses, there sits a three storey building filled with 2 restaurants (Print Hall Dining Room and The Apple Daily Eating House), 3 bars (Print Hall bar, The Apple Daily Bar and Bob's Bar), and a bakery and roastery (Small Print) - this venue is collectively known as the Print Hall.

View of the Print Hall Bar area from Level 2

 

The "poster" lit sign of The Apple Daily Bar and Eating House

 

The amazing lighting on the stairs to Bob's Bar (rooftop)

 

The neon light at Bob's Bar (this photo is from Print Hall website the other photos above and below are taken from my compact camera/phone)

I had a pleasure of dining there on Wednesday night and then checking it out again for after work drinks on Friday Night and I must say there is nothing like it in Perth. The crowd that go there, the ambiance, the interior design the service and of course the food.

Let's get started with my dining at Print Hall dining (with David Coomer former owner of Star Anise calling the shots - Director of food with Head Chef Shane Watson for the Print Hall Dining Room).

Where the magic of culinary experience happens - the Print Hall dining room's kitchen

 

CHEESE DISPLAY!

For a Wednesday night the restaurant was packed, granted it doesn't take a lot of seating, perhaps 30-odd, and it doesn't really matter, the Print Hall bar adjacent was pretty busy for mid-week so was much of the building. We had trouble finding parking (down side to having to go into the CBD), but once that stress was over, entering into the building was rather impressive with high ceilings, old lights, exposed beams and pipes of yesteryears, succulent and cacti terrarium deco everywhere,  modern, elegant with a touch of rustic (minus the vintage cutesy look that a lot of rustic places have).

Lots of amazing glassware everywhere

I took a photo of this because this is a decanter and I want one it's just AWESOME!

I was there with a couple of girls from my high school that were very much due for a catch up and we didn't want to leave it like last time where it took nearly 2 years to get our act together. We didn't chose a wine because C & E weren't much wine peoples and the wine list was a booklet thick. This meant that for those wine connoisseurs this is your place! I guess you can thank Daniel Wegener (former wine sommeliar for Sydney's Quay restaurant) for that!

We also decided to skip the entree despite it's tantalising options of mushroom on toast, traditional pork pie with a twist and blue manna club, mainly because we were sure we going to be stuffed with entree and main and really wanted the desserts. So yes, we opted for main and dessert.

The staff at Print Hall were pleasant and polite and checked on us a couple of times to see if we were ready to order and when we were bread and butter were promptly placed on our table. Although the bread wasn't warmed, which was a bit of a pity, but nonetheless not the end of the world. The butter was soft, creamy and lightly salted.

Ok so this is a photo of butter mainly for my benefit because I just love all that glassware and the dish!

For our mains C & E both opted for the White Rocks Veal (one of my options!) which had seared veal fillets, corned cheeks, sweetbreads, carrot and capers.

White Rocks veal - veal fillets, corned cheeks, sweetbreads, carrot and capers

I had the pleasure of trying some and I must say the sweetbreads was fried goodness, can't even tell it was offal, the veal was beautiful cooked tender and pink, while the corned cheeks melted in your mouth and was what C called "stringy" (although I don't think that makes it sound all too appetizing). Overall, it was a beautifully balanced dish, although I must say the different textures of the different cuts of meat provided such contrasts that it almost borders on confusing, because you are not really sure what you are eating.

I on the other hand opted for the Smoked Ocean trout with pumpernickel, lemon yogurt, oyster and pickled shallot.

Smoked Ocean trout, pumpernickel, lemon yogurt, oyster and pickled shallot

The smoked ocean trout melted into your mouth as soon as you placed it, it was also almost creamy at the same time. So hard to describe. The lemon yogurt provided the "sauce" for the trout and I wished there was more of it then just the dots on the plate. The oyster was so fresh you can still taste the ocean in it. The pumpernickel was a little soggy. But the pickled shallot with the trout and the yogurt worked so beautifully, it was refreshing, yet creamy with a bit of zest to it all. An enjoyable dish.

To go with our mains we ordered a side of blue royal potato puree - a silky smooth creamy mashed potato goodness.

 

Blue potato puree

After the mains we were stuffed, so we let our stomachs settled a bit, caught up on everything from real estate, life, work, travel plans to everything in between before ordering our dessert.

C & I both knew we wanted the lemon meringue with almond crumble and blood orange sorbet (and one which bf can have too! pity he wasn't there!). It came out in such an impressive form!

Lemon meringue, almond crumble and blood orange sorbet

It reminded me of a pot plant tipped over with everything falling out of it. The almond crumble being the dirt, the meringue being the flowers, the bits of herbs being the leaves, the lemon being more dirt and the sugar stick being the stand that kept the plant standing tall and straight. Such a creative concept! Apart from the stunning presentation, the taste was incredible. Zesty balanced with sweet with faint fizziness of the meringue! The almond crumble added a texture and crunch to otherwise a smooth dessert. Just make sure when you eat it that you don't leave all that lemon in the pot behind and nothing to ease the zest! The blood orange sorbet didn't have much flavour (unlike the one I had at Oggies Ice Creamery) but it did ease the zest a little.

Bittersweet Chocolate Fondant, Hazelnuts with Honey Ice Cream

E on the other hand had the bittersweet chocolate fondant hazelnuts with honey ice cream (instead of the vanilla one). The fondant was perfection. The honey ice cream was such a hit of flavour! A yummy, satisfying dessert for those who have a love affair with chocolate!

Overall, I'm happy to say this is one place I will take people from interstate and overseas to. I am happy to call this Perth's dining place. It's an amazing concept with 3 levels of culinary and bar exploration to do, to chill, to eat, to enjoy each other's company. The service is rather fantastic, even though they are run off their feet and are so new at it too. The dining experience was pleasant, with a lovely waitress, so softly spoken, with recommendations of her own when asked, who topped up our drinks, scrapped our table after our mains to rid of crumbs. The ambiance is chilled, relaxed and although there are many in suits it's not just for the business people. It's sophisticated, elegant without the pretentious-ness. It's a great place to people watch if you are at the bars. I don't feel as though I'm in Perth and it's good like that! It shows we are growing up as a city and it's fantastic. Go check it out, but a word of caution, it's not exactly cheap.