please note
Don’t panic! David Coomer has shut Star Anise for three months to take a well deserved rest and go travelling. Star Anise is highly recommended and will reopen April 13, 2010.
22 February, 2010 AO
Star Anise Restaurant
225 Onslow Road
Shenton Park Perth Western Australia 6008
w www.staraniserestaurant.com.au
e info@staraniserestaurant.com.au — email bookings taken
t +61 8 9381 9811
f +61 8 9381 9822
FOOD Star Anise is a special restaurant and confirms our opinion that chef/owner restaurants are nearly always the best restaurants of a city. Star Anise ranks in the top four in Perth and ranking them within that top four is impossible as nothing separates Perth’s finest apart from their very individual approaches to the cuisine they cook. This tiny suburban restaurant is adored by its patrons for very good reason. The fine food of David Coomer and his kitchen team and the assured smoothness of the front of house ably run by his long–term restaurant manager Danish Merete Black. The simple suburban location and environment is refreshing. No ritz or glitz in the obvious sense but as we all know you can eat the décor. Everything about the menu and wine list at Star Anise is indulgent clearly driven by an obsessive passion for food and wine.
The food is not so influenced by Asia as the name Star Anise might suggest, but is driven by a passion for good ingredients and an intimate association with the people who produce it.
If you are a local you can work your way through the menu, however if you’re visiting the very best way to enjoy Coomer’s wonderful food is to opt for their signature menu with matched wines. Coomer’s food is an interesting mix of modernity with obvious influences of elBulli and molecular cuisine in combination with fine ingredients and a very broad range of cuisines and cooking styles. His use of molecular cuisine is intelligent and restrained carefully picking his way through the possibilities and choosing only to use the very best elements. Nothing came blanketed in a pretty, but tasteless and pointless foam. As an example of the intelligence, on the degustation menu a Pearl of rockmelon with jamon Iberco (really good and very expensive Spanish ham) just one of the three spoons presented as the amusebouche on their signature menu. A traditional flavour combination given a modern twist it was wonderful.
The mention of degrees is a cooking technique. This method of slow cooking is nothing new, but the accuracy with which it can now be executed is thanks to equipment developed by the elBulli kitchen. Meat and fish cooked by this method have the advantage of rareness that is hot and set protein that means no running blood and a much better texture, tenderness and flavour without any loss of moisture.
What is particularly pleasing about Coomer’s food is that he doesn’t
muddle cuisines. Ma Hor, also on the signature menu is a classic example
of a well–executed South East Asian dish, with all the crunch, sweet, sour
and salty one should rightly be able to expect. It not only looked wonderful
but tasted fantastic and was perfectly matched with the 2004 Hugel et Fils
Riesling that had just the right amount of residual sugar to balance the
mild chilli of the dish. Coomer’s current signature menu/menu features
Manjimup truffles now in season and there is a comforting referral to food in
season throughout his menus. There are no weak points on the menus at Star Anise
and desserts are as exciting as entrees. The Licorice bullet ice cream cone with
its fine crisp tuille cone and perfectly textured licorice ice cream comes unembellished
strutting with complete confidence of its excellence. Complex strong flavours
without excessive sweetness takes a restrained and self-assured hand to perfect.
Star Anise is rightly packed every night and arriving without a booking is to risk being turned away, however it doesn’t mean that you can’t find a spur of the moment booking late afternoon and they do stay open late. Star Anise is highly recommended.
WINE Cocktails can be a fun start to dinner, and with an Asian influence and openness to experimentation, a lychee and lemongrass martini might just hit the spot. A glass of Pol Roger NV ($25, Champagne) or Clover Hill 2003 ($13, Tasmania) will provide a suitable alternative while settling in at the table. A small selection of 11 wines by the glass has Paringa Estate Pinot Gris 2006Bowen Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 ($11, Coonawarra) as the highlights.
There is a worldly outlook to the wine list at Star Anise. Riesling covers the great regions of the world with Mesh 2006 ($60, Eden Valley) and Josmeyer ’Le Kottabe’ 2005 ($85 Alsace, France) catching our attention. A smattering of very good French, Italian and Spanish wines adds diversity to the assortment of new and established Australian producers such as Shaw & Smith, Scorpo and Chateau Tahbilk.
Exploring the 69 red wines on selection leaves one with a broad palette to compliment the diverse flavours of Star Anise. Those looking to Europe would be content with the 2002 Rioja Reserva from either Marques de Riscal or Muga at $89. On home turf is a selection of big South Australia Shiraz from Torbreck, Mitolo and Two Hands, although the Henschke Mount Edelstone 1996 ($180, Eden Valley) would be a tempting companion if price were not a consideration. The selection of Cabernets is very good and provides aged choices such as Wynns 1998 ($80, Coonawarra) and Dalwhinnie 2001 ($90, Moonambel, Victoria). Less expensive red wines at around the $50 mark are few, and wine styles such as Valpolicella at $52 are not good value drinking for the ’average’ Australia diner.
Post dinner conversation can be carried on with the company of a sound selection of spirits ranging from Tullamore Dew at $8 a glass up to Hennessy Paradis Extra Rare Cognac at $42. Typos’ aside, the list offered by Star Anise gives a mixture of Australian classic wines along with adventurous European choices to compliment their cuisine. Duane Coates
OWNER AND CHEF — David Coomer
RESTAURANT MANAGER AND SOMMELIER — Merete Black
