Box Deli has more than a dollop of New York, Melbourne or Sydney and it is worth tarting yourself up for a night at what Jean-mic Perrine hopes will one day become the “Paris end” of town.
Box Deli is the newest, foxiest kid on the city block. It’s a fair bet you’ll bump into bachelor boy Troy Barbagallo there or adultshop.com’s Malcolm Day or several other nocturnal funsters, who regularly grace The West’s Out & About social pages. Box Deli is a playboy and buck magnet – perhaps because some of the apartments in the exclusively hip Box Building above are owned by cashed-up young eligibles. Others just visit and pretend.
Box Deli, in the bottom of the apartment complex, is the city’s latest dining drawcard. It has a ground floor bar and restaurant, an upstairs bar, lounge and private dining room – all created in slick, cosmopolitan style by architect and owner Jean-mic Perrine.
Within seconds of arriving we met one of Perth’s smartest sommeliers at the bar sipping a pre-dinner French champagne on her night off, and spotted a singlet-wearing stud order a Perrier and oysters snack for delivery to his apartment. Perth’s ebullient oyster shucker Jerry Fraser was there, too,gregariously plying his trade alongside a cocktail.
Although Box is located at the slower end of town (but right next to the excellent 78 Records) it could be just the tonic the area needs – sucking some of the wellheeled, chisel-toes spenders back from Subiaco and Claremont. And it is open for breakfast, lunch, dinner and late-night drinks every day of the week, which is impressive.
Jean-mic Perrine has designed the place to have a European feel with marble floors, high ceilings, smart bistro tables and chairs and black organza and leather-spotted wall drapes. But all this would amount to nothing more than artifice if the service, wine list and food were not up to scratch. Fortunately, Box Deli shows a lot of promise.
Young manager Nicole McPheat has the runs on the board at other quality establishments around town, the wine list has variety and a good price range (a lovely 1999 Victorian pinot gris goes for around $34, a 1998 Chateauneufdu- Pape Rouge for $120) and yound chef Darren Walker is cookinggood, simple, elegant food.
The menu is compact but well structured. The starters – including squid ink risotto, chicken liver pate and brioche, fresh as.
A couple of pasta dishes, the seafood linguine and the honey roast pumpkin ravioli and basil cream, come as main courses or entrees. If you jag a night when oystermeister Jerry Fraser is there, don’t hesitate. We tried six excellent Coffin Bay oysters, lying seductively in their own salty liquor. They were served with lime wedges, paper-thin slices of chorizo sausage and a red wine and shallot vinaigrette but, as the man said, they were better taken natural.The duck salad was a pleasant surprise. Shredded pieces of duck confit were combined with grilled apple in a thick ring of granny smith, garnished with salad leaves, three seared scallops and a drizzle of apple balsamic.
Duck is also done as a main course – grilled and served with a port reduction with a tartin of bitter witlof, sautéed savoy cabbage and julienne vegetables.Sirloin is sold in different weights, roasted and served with a goat’s feta mash, wild mushrooms andgarlic butter.
But the two standout dishes we tried were the crisp-skinned atlantic salmon, cooked to sensuous perfection by chef Walker, then placed on sautéed potatoes and a brilliant green The surface gleams darkly with red wine and light spices and is almost reminiscent of sweetish black coffee. The meat is placed on amattress of truffled polenta with crisp green runner beans and a splash of red onion, tomato and basil salsa.Service on the night we visited was attentive, efficient and friendly – impressive for a place that opened its doors less than a month ago. The service staff garb was probably too casual (jeans and amidriff-revealing tank top) but will soon become more slick to match the style of the rest of the operation.
Darren Walker has a formal training and it shines from his desserts. The crème caramel is classical and served with what at first looked like capers but ended up being wonderfully flavoured, tiny rumsoaked muscatels. And his baked lemon tart is simple and well made, cleverly combined with a lightpawpaw ice-cream and a clear, light but viscous lime syrup. Walker is clearly committed to fresh, seasonal ingredient-driven dishes. His dishes are not too trickedup or fondled.This sparkling new city restaurant has a lot of pluses. But for all its positives, Box Deli will not please everyone. It is clearly more of a younger person’s venue. Older fogeys (over-50s!?) could well feel a little intimidated or out of place. Some might find it pretentious and many will find it far too noisy...
