WA Good Food Guide Regional Restaurant of the Year, 2024

We were thrilled to celebrate the Vasse Felix Restaurant team last week as they were named Top Regional Restaurant in WA, as well as being one of three venues to receive a coveted '3 Star Rating' in the WA Good Food Guide Awards;

"The restaurant business is tough, and many would argue it can be tougher in the regions. But, visit Vasse Felix year on year and you’ll see a continuity that any restaurateur would envy, wherever they are. Service is polished yet has the appropriate amount of country charm under Caleb Dreaver, and despite a changing of the guard in the kitchen newly minted head chef Cameron Jones is flexing his creativity and talent. There can be a temptation to categorise winery restaurants as a class apart, but really Vasse Felix is simply a class act."

The WA Good Food Guide Top 100 Restaurants list is generated from over 5,000 restaurants in Western Australia. It was a joy to be recognised amongst such esteemed company, with the full review from the WAGFG judges below.
 

Peerless plates meet iconic wines at one of WA’s very best.

"Chef Brendan Pratt’s departure means that the reins have been handed over to Cameron Jones in the Vasse Felix kitchen, but this winery-restaurant still remains one of the state’s essential bookings. Above all, it’s because of its unbridled commitment to going all out, layering fat, acid, salt, umami and all the rest in dishes that almost radiate flavour.

Take an opener of fried flatbread topped with beef intercostal meat, strips of translucent fried lardo, tomato and anchovy XO sauce and burnt butter: a more is more moment that really works. Then there’s the half quail, deboned and stuffed with mortadella, then glazed to a cartoon-like sheen as if it were char siu – pure deliciousness in novel form.

Mains see toothfish coated in salted egg glaze brought back into check with onion dashi, spring onion and pickled enoki, while quadretti are heaped to form a sort of free-form lasagne, with onion and kombu béchamel and spinach and hazelnut pesto. All the while, the service remains pitch-perfect, charming but never stuffy, with estate wines bringing an air of luxury to match the room and the setting. Occasion dining, that’s undimmed."

A huge congratulations to all of the outstanding venues in the 2024 WA Good Food Guide Top 100. Explore the full list here.