Mid-week wonders: dining bargains and meal deals to get you through the hump day slump
Including approachable fine dining, one-dollar chicken wings, half-price pizzas and all the mussels you can eat.
Earlier this year, we published a collection of Monday meal deals across Perth to help ease the transition from weekend to working week. (Or for those that work in the hospitality industry, end the last day of the traditional hospo weekend on an up-note.)
This time around, we’re switching our focus to the rest of the week via round-up of wallet-friendly midweek meal deals you might like to keep up your sleeve. We hope they help you with everything from planning midweek date nights and impromptu catchups with mates to saving the day – or night – on those occasions where turning on the stove is the last thing you want to do when you get home.
It’s no coincidence, I think, that many of these offers involve comfort foods and dishes: precisely the sorts of reassuring flavours we turn to when life threatens to get the best of us.
The enduring appeal of the pub meal
Is there anything more comforting than sitting down at your local watering hole and putting away a counter meal? On Tuesdays, the crew at The Quarter Acre in Applecross will shout you a beer or wine with every chicken parmy you order (on Monday and Wednesdays, the free drink offer applies to burger and steak sandwich purchases respectively). At the Claremont Hotel, Tuesdays are steak night with $25 getting you either rump or sirloin plus chips, salad, peppercorn jus and bearnaise sauce. Moving over to The Elford, the fourth day of the week is henceforth known as Wings and Jugs Thursday where patrons can score saucy chicken wings for a buck (minimum order of five wing) and $15 jugs of Swan Draught.
The supreme comfort of good pasta
Then again, maybe pasta is the safety blanket that we all reach for when we’re feeling down. As part of The Standard’s recent reboot and shift to a more Mediterranean food offering, the inner-city pub is offer two-for-one pastas on Wednesdays. On Tuesdays, spirited Mount Hawthorn’s wine bar La Madonna Nera hosts Pasta & Vino night featuring your choice of two pastas plus a glass of wine for $30.
Pizza for all (and for less)
Is it just me or did everyone else miss the memo that Wednesdays are now cut-price pizza day in Perth? While Italians (and teenagers) often pair pizza with beer, Lyndon Waples and the crew at Canteen Pizza believe pinot noir is pizzakind’s true ride-or-die. So much so that Wednesdays have been appointed Pizza & Pinot night where all bottles of pinot are sold at half-price. Oysters shucked-to-order by Jerry Fraser and funk vinyl from Charlie Bucket sweeten an already attractive deal. If discount pinot doesn’t do it for you, Wednesdays see riverfront stalwart The Raffles offer half-price pizzas. Magnetic Italo funhouse Si Paradiso has recently launched Wednesday night Pizza Club where guests can hook into Si’s puffy pizze for $15 along with snappy drink specials.
Make lunchtime great again
When Adrian Fini and co were granted permission to resurrect three of Perth’s oldest buildings as the sprawling State Buildings precinct, it came with the stipulation that they ensured the buildings were accessible to all West Australians. These lunchtime dining deals are two ways team State Buildings is making good on that promise. The two-course Flow lunch at Wildflower (from $69) is a great way to experience the pleasures of COMO The Treasury’s rooftop fine diner without locking yourself into a tasting menu. Down in the basement, Long Chim’s $44 two-course Silom lunch deal includes a choice of entrée and main course. Assemble a posse, order strategically and treat yourselves to a well-priced Thai banquet.
Seafood specials worth diving into
Tuesday evenings see Leederville’s Kailis Brothers give diners a mussel workout of a different kind. For $30 per person, enjoy two hours of bottomless mussels prepared in one of three ways: Italian-style with fresh tomato and chilli; with nduja and cream; or a Thai-inspired mix of coriander and coconut cream. Between Wednesday and Saturday, William Street newcomer Margot’s is flipping the lid on $1.50 oysters from 4pm to 6pm: briskly made martini optional yet highly recommended.