Frasers

Earlier in the year one of the Perth radio stations had a brilliant competition called Real Friends with Benefits. It was bascialy getting people to sign up to their facebook page, check out their status update, then manage to be the lucky caller through when they opened up the hotline.

On one such occasion I was this lucky caller and managed to score myself a $500 voucher for Fraser Restaurant. An amazing prize, given that it is a substantial amount of money to spend on a meal!

So I had decided that I would like to take along GG’s parents for a lunch. So we lined it up for a weekend in May and soon enough the day had rolled around.

There is a fair bit of work going on around Frasers at the moment, given the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting was to be held in Perth later in the year in Kings Park so they were madly trying to get everything in order. I mean the Queen is rocking into town, clearly you want everything to be in ship shape.

The view from Kings Park really is spectacular. It shows up the city skyline, set against the expanse of the beautiful Swan River. It’s not a view I think I”ll ever get tired of (completely biased Perth gal after all!). So anyways we walked into Frasers and the first thing that struck me was the impressive fit out! I’ve been to Frasers before, the most recent visit having been late last year and wow what a chance since then. We found out the renovations had been finished in February and March this year and they really have done a very impressive job. Rich timbers and oritental carpets with only a few subtle colours included throughout. It worked really well.

Now $500 is a decent amount of money between 4 and one big bonus for GG and I was that his parents had driven to to our house and picked us up so we didn’t have to worry so much about whether to have one glass of wine or two (or maybe three..). We lived large and ordered a bottle of white and a bottle of red, guarenteeing that we were both happy with the selections. Leeuwin Estate Art Series Riseling is a sensational drop, which I throughly enjoyed (Rest assured others did have some, I didn’t knock off the whole bottle) and GG had a lot of time for the Juniper Estate Cabernet Sauvignon.

So we all enjoyed a glass of wine and nibbled on some tasty turkish flat bread, which came served with a babaganoush and a mixed selection of olives ($11), and perused the menu, trying to make the tough decisions…… what to have for entrees and mains.

In the end there were 4 different selections made for entrees, before 3 of us went for the duck for mains and GG’s mum decided to try the chicken. First off though, the entrees. They all looked amazing, a lot of attention had been paid to presentation. GG went for Panfried, goats cheese gnocchi with tomato sugo ($24)which I was lucky enough to have a bite of and it was delicious.

GG’s dad went for the Scallop option ($22.50), served in the shell with a pumpkin and vanilla puree, and again another big winner.

GG’s mum had the Chargrilled field mushrooms, watercress and tomato salad with vincotto ($18.50), which came in an impressive stack and from all accounts was quite the tasty dish.

And my Carpaccio of ‘wagyu’ beef fillet ($21.50)? Well it was very nice, not the best I’ve had but it was good.

So we sat there chatting and enjoying the ambiance of this lovely restaurant, which its pictureque surrounds and it wans’t long before our mains arrived.

The chicken did look good (A Breast of ‘Mt Barker’ chicken with baby turnips and pea puree ($47) but I was super happy to have gone with the duck ($47). It looked so beautiful with its splash of pink from the beetroot puree. And the flavour – oh the flavour. I have developed a real love for duck this year and it was more than a little exciting ot have it served two ways in this dish. First was some perfectly cooked breast – tender, moist and full of flavour. Then they had made a sausage from duck confit. It probably didn’t look overly pretty but it tasted sensational! Chewy and a little salty and just generally some kinda wonderful. All that were left on my plate and GG’s and his dads were a few pink smears.

We also shared a few of the tasty sides – a vine ripened tomatoes, fresh buffalo mozzarella, shallot, olive and lemon herb dressing ($16.50)

And also broccolini with olive oil ($9.50)

There was then one final decision to make and this was another occasion when we all decided to give something different a go. GG’s mum wasn’t sure if she would enjoy her choice of a yoghurt and citrusy dish, but she was pleasanatly surprised, would perhaps just had been an added bonus if the meringue wasn’t quite so hard, but apparently it did still taste nice.

GG’s dad raved about his fig and ginger pudding with butterscotch sauce and pouring cream ($15)!

GG was pleased with his Saffron and honey creme brulee with its pretty piece of tuille on top and vanilla bean ice cream on the side…

And my Valrhona Chocolate Tart was divine ($15)! The little brandy snap cone on the side with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream was such an indulgent addition.

In all I was completely impressed with Frasers. The service had been friendly and attentive and the timing of delivery between courses was pleasant for a lazy long Saturday lunch. I would not hestitate to go again. It returned itself to my list of special occasion places and if you have overseas/interstate vistiors in town then it would be entirely perfect. I have to admit that when I made the booking (and after my previous visit) I didn’t really have very high expectations, but Frasers you blew me away – loved it!