It didn’t occur to me that I hadn’t seen my burger boy until he called me at work and said he was going to take me out to Must Wine Bar for dinner as we hadn’t seen each other in days.
We haven’t been to Must Wine Bar for a proper dinner before. Last time we went was for canapés, champagne & beer in the champagne lounge as part of the Beaufort Street Roving Dinner and the time before that was in Margaret River a couple of years ago.
I had a glass of pinot noir and burger boy had a pint of beer to start…
I love it when restaurants surprise you with complimentary bread…
Everything seems to taste better when it’s free 
we probably shouldn’t have eaten as much bread as we did - as it was tough getting through our next two courses!
We were looked after by JC, nephew of Must Wine Bar’s head chef/owner, Russell Blaikie. JC was absolutely fantastic, he had an answer for all of our questions
burger boy’s qs…
• Which pasta do you recommend?
• Should we have the entrée or main size of the pasta if we’re having dessert too?
My qs…
• How strong is the olive tapenade in the gnocchi?
• Will the gnocchi dish still have flavour if you remove the olive tapenade?
• How strong is the citrus in the crème brulee?
• For the panna cotta, can I have something else instead of the caramalised banana, as I don’t eat bananas?
JC had strong recommendations on what he thought we’d like and as a result we loved every dish we had.
I went with the snapper fillet with tomato risotto…
The fish was cooked just perfectly with a slight crisp on the skin and the tomato risotto was just the way I like it. Side note: I’m really picky with my risotto, I don’t like it too runny or creamy. This risotto was tasty and complemented my fish really well.
Satisfied with JC’s responses, burger boy went for the pan-fried gnocchi with braised rabbit. Must Wine Bar happily removed the olive tapenade from burger boy’s dish. I was impressed that Must were happy to do this as most restaurants aren’t as accommodating and often the dish becomes quite bland if they do agree to remove a key ingredient and don’t replace it with anything else.
Dessert was a hard choice for burger boy as he wanted everything! He was choosing between the white choc and the warm chocolate brownie. He went for the chocolate brownie in the end as JC said the white choc had a slight bitter flavour and we like our chocolate sweet…
I went with the Panna Cotta which was served with olive oil, fig & macadamia ice-cream and caramalised pear in place of the banana.
The desserts were as delicious as they look!
Our three-course dinner cost us $140, which was less than I had expected for the fantastic service and quality of food we received. burger boy who isn’t usually that into his dessert wants to go back to Must Wine Bar just for their dessert next time – might make up our own dessert degustation as inspired by Amuse
He he he! Great minds think alike hey? I posted my dinner at Must this week too! It really is one of our best gems here in Perth.
Chompchomp recently posted..A long awaited reunion at Must Wine Bar, Highgate
Hehe think it was your post that prompted me to finish my review off
It’s only in Australia where complimentary bread is not served. Restaurants in the states of New York, California and even in Asia like SIngapore and Hong Kong, automatically serve complimentary bread.
Hungryepicurean recently posted..Yan Ting Dim Sum at St. Regis Hotel
Hopefully Australia will follow the free bread trend one day! At the moment it feels like a luxury to get anything free
Mmm what a delicious looking meal! Pretty good value for two three course meals as well. I love free bread too heehee
These are hard times, so anything free is always a welcome blessing. And yes, it does taste better.
Thanks for writing this review, I enjoyed reading it. I have been to Must Wine Bar three times now, it seems to be the go-to special occasion restaurant for my partner and I.
Whenever I see pan friend gnocchi on a menu, it is always extremely hard to convince me to order anything else. Olive tapenade is not something I would typically through I would like, but figured with the strong flavours of the braised rabbit it would not be too overpowering- I was right. For someone that does not take to olives (and I had never eaten rabbit in my life) this was one of the most delicious dishes I have ever eaten in Perth. The rabbit literally melted in my mouth and the gnocchi was perfectly panfried.
I agree with regards to the free bread, we were almost shocked when our basket was placed on our table (as restaurants of a similar standard such as The Heritage, charge you $5 for a bread basket). It is nice to see that Must is aligning itself with international service levels.
Ourselves, we did not have desert, but opted for a cheeseboard instead which included 2 french cheeses of our choice. We opted with a blue cheese and a cheddar- both divine and many accompaniments such as quince paste, apple and crisp bread to compliment our pungent cheeses.
Overall, an extremely delicious experience backed up with superb service.
Thanks for your comment Isabella and reminder that I need to go to Must Wine Bar for dinner soon
I think we are definitely due. With new restaurants and bars popping up everywhere, I’m sure Perth restaurants will be following suit in the service space.