Print Hall launch – a WA venue we can call our own

burger boy & I were honoured to be invited to the much anticipated launch of Print Hall on Thursday, September 6.

Once home to The West Australian newspapers, the iconic heritage listed newspaper house has been transformed to a beautiful four level bar and restaurant.

As we entered Print Hall we were welcomed by the beautifully lit up open plan bar, which has as its feature a vertical wall of luscious pot plants.

My bro-in-law @gypsyciderkid was behind the bar making The West Wind Gin ‘Saber’ Gimlet cocktail which he had tested out on us on Father’s Day 😉 This was his first time publicly making cocktails so burger boy & I were both super proud.

The Gimlet cocktail had:

• 60ml The West Winds Gin The Sabre
• 10ml marashchino liqueur
• 20ml grapefruit juice
• 30ml lime juice
• 30 ml gomme

The Gimlet went down really well and burger boy and I were pretty “happy” by the end of the night 😉

As we enjoyed our cocktails, we started our tour of the historic building. We spotted Jerry Fraser, the oyster shucker, doing what he does best at the other side of the bar. burger boy loved the natural oysters and spent a bit of time here…

We then headed to the blue cow cheese stand (this is where The West Australian money safe used to be!), where we marveled at the size of the cheese on offer…

The blue cow brie was soft, creamy and just simply delicious.

The West columnist and 6PR morning show host, Paul Murray, opened the evening with stories from back in days when the beautiful venue we stood in that evening was a newspaper production house.

The chief of the new Print Hall, Lyndon Waples, CEO of Colonial Leisure Group & the guys behind successful Perth venues like The Raffles and The Royal told us they really worked to the same tight deadlines as the old newspaper house with the liquor license coming in just 40 minutes prior to the launch event!

As Premier Colin Barnett officially declared the four-level venue open with his speech recalling the boom-and-bust history of the Terrace, we all felt tremendously proud to be a Western Australian and to have an iconic venue to name our own.

Besides the gorgeous open plan bar, the ground floor hosts the Print Hall dining room which is headed up by executive chef, David Coomer and head chef Shane Watson who will be offering a modern Australian menu driven by local Western Australian produce.

We then made our way up to the first level, home to The Apple Daily Bar and Eating House, a modern Asian restaurant named after the popular and fashionable daily newspaper in Hong Kong and set to deliver a flavour-packed South East Asian street-style menu.

I loved the giant beer jug filled with Colonial Pale Ale!

From the first level kitchen & bar we walked through the doors to The Apple Daily Bar and Eating House…

The booths reminded me of The Toff in Town in Melbourne but I was soon reminded I was at WA’s Print Hall when the smell of freshly printed newspapers got my attention

Throughout the evening, we were treated to a sample of the menu from each of the Print Hall venues and an endless supply of NV Bollinger Special Cuvee, West Wind Gin cocktails, Colonial beer, Fraser Gallop ‘Parterre’ Chardonnay, Dandelion Vineyard Riesling, Ad Hoc ‘Cruel Mistres’ Pinot Noir and Carpe Diem Sangiovese.

The pork terrine was the first of the canapes to be served, they were really tasty - we had a lot of these!

The rice paper rolls with crab were fresh, tasty and the flavours stayed true to the traditional Vietnamese entrée…

The confit duck cromequi with walnut and lemon thyme was my favourite. It was like a croquette filled with slow cooked duck… it just melted in our mouths!

The prawn biscuit is cooked traditionally with the shell & all intact…I didn’t have any but both burger boy and fellow food blogger Perth Food Journal found this quite ‘interesting’ to eat…

I personally don’t eat octopus but everyone loved that it was tender and enjoyed the pairing with potato allioli, paprika and herb oil…

burger boy being typical burger boy was happy when the snags arrived…

He then had another burger at this point I couldn’t fit any more food or drinks!

Vietnamese Banh Mi Thit…

The passionfruit vanilla slices were amazing, I could have done with a few more but it wasn’t an easy dessert to eat with fingers & standing up…

As we made our way up to the rooftop bar, we took a walk through The West Australian newspaper memory lane…

How times have changed…

The rooftop terrace bar named ‘Bob’s Bar’ dedicated to Bob Hawke was impressive and despite everyone shaking from the cold…it was where it was all happening!

The original neon West sign features prominently on the wall and backs the beautiful city skyline…

The rooftop bar is decked with gorgeous wooden finishes (we could smell the freshly coated varnish), you can choose to stand around, sit on the benches, on the stools or square couches, all whilst enjoying the view of Perth’s skyscrapers.

Please excuse the quality of the photos…they were taken towards the end of the evening, a few cocktails or so later…

Print Hall really lived up to our expectations and really made us feel proud to be Western Australian. It was a fun evening, filled with first-class food and drinks. The company was lovely, amongst the 600 guests we had the pleasure of hanging out with fellow food blogger Perth Food Journal and my dear friend Grace Millimaci, The West Online Life+Style Editor. We also met the lovely Belinda from Cooking in Choos, chatted to the infamous Rob Broadfield about all things food and talked pizza with Theo Kalogeracos, the entrepreneur behind Little Caesars.

I am sure Brookfield Square will be buzzing even more than usual when Print Hall officially opens to the public on Tuesday September 25!