Blackbird

Blackbird is one of my local restaurants whom I have sworn I will visit. It has been how many years and how many times I've said I'll try it, and finally this weekend that just went by I went with bf before going to La Marea (an outdoor play that is part of the Perth Art Festival - I'll save that for another post).

We didn't have a booking but we were there just before 6pm, they were just getting ready to open and although fully booked were able to fit us a seat outside in their alfesco area.

To start the night, I got myself a white (because it was such a hot day!), a mascato. Lovely, sweet and refreshingly cool. I also loved the vase and the little salt pot that was on the table so took a photo of it. It was just too cute!

So many people walked past, families, couples, runners, and of course those that were coming to the restaurant. I've forgotten how beautiful this part of East Perth was. It helps when the duck pond is filled with water and there are ducks. Most of the time, in summer at least, the pond dries up. But obviously the council is looking after the area.

Blackbird's alfesco area is lovely, with little pot plants of succulents and flowers lining the windows of the restaurant. They also have a basket with Aerogard! (Mossie repellent!) - SCORE. All restaurants with an outdoor area should have one! We didn't use it, but I probably should have because I was starting eaten alive. Anyway, the restaurant is so cute, all painted black inside, cosy little thing. Very Mediterranean style on the outside. Reminds me of the many Paris and Nice restaurants.

We were served by a very friendly, funny waiter, who was very helpful in terms of choosing our dishes to eat for the evening. We were rather indecisive. Even though the menu was small, everything on it sounded pretty yummy. We ended up sharing an entree, a main each and having two small desserts to share.

For the entree we opted for the Blackbird plat du jour - which consisted of skewered prawns and squid, brie with toasted bread and blackberry jam and chirozo on fried polenta. The skewered prawns and squid was delicious. Lightly grilled and had that smokey taste to it. It was on top of a bed of salsa/tomato sauce. Perfect for summer. The brie and the jam was delicious, the jam was sweet and lovely, I wish there the slice of brie was thicker or more brie in general (they kind of skimped out on it) because the jam seemed to have overpowered the taste of cheese. The chirozo were a little tough but are of good quality. I would have preferred it without the polenta and perhaps a few more pieces of chirozo. I suppose we did only order for one plate, but it left us wanting more. Overall it was a good start to our dinner.

Blackbird's Plat Du Jour

For the mains bf had his favourite meat - beef.. This time in the form of beef stracci, sweet potato, mushroom. The beef was delicious. It was char-grilled. It had this lovely smokey taste and the beef was tender, although it was on a bit of well-done side (he preferred medium) and it was odd that he wasn't asked how he wanted his beef done. Nonetheless, the flavours in the dish worked well and that smokey taste and smell was just fantastic. Was glad he gave me a decent portion to taste.

Beef stracci, sweet potato, mushroom

Unlike the boy, I had huge troubles making up my mind about what I wanted. Torn between the pasta, the fish and the lamb oh and I also wanted the beef. In the end I decided I will get the healthier option and opted for the fish of the day. The fish of the day was grilled snapper in a wonderful seafood broth, with a "nest" and salad. The snapper was perfectly cooked and again had that smokey flavours through it. The seafood reduction was so well seasoned and you can really taste the seafood, in particular prawns. Which, I wasn't sure if it was coming from the fish at first, but it was from the broth. The seafood broth was definitely flavourful and lovely, and slightly salty. Surprisingly it came out looking like nothing I imagined, but a pleasant and delicious dish that I enjoyed.

Fish of the day - grilled snapper with seafood broth and nest

Then to throw our diets right out of the window we opted for dessert. We ended up getting their homemade ice cream, which really should be three different ice cream but because one of them was macadamia nuts (the curse of that nut for poor bf) we ended up getting two scoops of the honey and fig and one scoop of orange mint chocolate. The flavours of the ice cream were rather intense and they also had pieces of fig on the plate which was a nice touch. However, the texture of the ice cream was all wrong. It wasn't smooth and creamy enough and was a little icey and it definitely didn't look like it was frozen long enough. Perhaps it was a fresh batch? It melted way too fast much to our disappointment.

Trio of in-house Ice Cream - Honey and Fig and Orange Mint Chocolate

We also had the chocolate truffles to go with our ice cream. 5 little chocolate truffle balls coated in coconut. It was lovely, but it felt like it was frozen for a while, because you really couldn't get that texture of silkiness in the centre that you usually get with truffles.

Chocolate truffles

Bf and I ended up having a lovely dinner at Blackbird and I wouldn't hesitate to refer the place to you. It's a cosy restaurant, rather romantic and relaxing. The waitstaff are friendly and the service is always present. The menu is small, but they do the dishes very well and from the looks of the different plates coming out for other people it all looked beautiful. To top it off, the price is so decent for Perth. Worth checking out at least once.