Siren Song in Fremantle: Hospitality guru is back with beer and blues

Daniel Goodsell was a serious-minded hospitality entrepreneur, linked by ownerships and co-ownerships with some of the most renowned restaurants in Perth: Balthazar, Il Lido, Duende, Billie H. He was also something of a start-up guru, utilising his skills to breathe life into restaurants Gordon Street Garage and Bread in Common.

Several years ago he slipped quietly away from the local food scene, went all hippy-dippy and found a rambling house in the hills. We went and visited him a couple of years ago, and he seemed happier than a pig in schnitzel. If memory serves, the oenophile and muso started doing solo acoustic gigs around the hills – cue plaintiff blues, Bob Dylan oldies and protest music.

Read on for the details of Lena’s, open now in Perth. Credit: Ben Davidson

Well, after your years off, he’s back. His new place is called Ode To Sirens and it’s got more backstory than the Old Testament. Check it out online. It’s all about odes and stuff. It’s in the P&O pub in Fremantle and yes, he’ll be playing the platters that matter: it has a record player with LPs and an old Sony reel-to-reel tape deck. Cool, man.

We love it that they sell their tap beers in four formats, and they’ve brought back the almost extinct Pony, a 200-millilitre mini-beer invented in Australia for hot weather when a schooner or pint would just get too warm before you had a chance to drink it. Classic. The food at Ode is “Greek-centric and super fresh,” according to Goodsell. He’s also doing takes on 1970s cocktails.

“You gotta try our pina colada,” he enthused. “We’re keeping it simple and affordable.”

Sofie’s Choice

Varnish on King has a new chef, Sofie Firman. And she’s a gun. By the way, look out for our feature story later this month about the women chefs of Perth. They’re a driven, smart bunch and there’s more of them in Perth (per capita) than any other city in Australia.

Back to Firman, who has just launched a new menu at Varnish and as they say in the PR blurb, it has “an added feminine touch.” Sofie’s our kind of girl, if “feminine” means her 18-hour smoked brisket with apple slaw and bourbon, rump tartare with bone marrow and potato crisps or her lamb ribs with Maker’s Mark barbecue glaze. Stop it!

The menu was launched this week. One doesn’t want to sound like a broken record, but should you go to Varnish to test-drive the menu, order a half-and-half Sazerac. They make the best in town.

Bacco opens in Shenton Park

This time next week, Bacco restaurant will be serving up straightforward Italian classics from the former Galileo restaurant site in Shenton Park. We’ve checked out their menu. Nothing startling about it, but it should strike a chord for lovers of trattoria-style Italian. Think gnocco fritto, Fremantle sardines with (the very Spanish?) ajo blanco, pasta with lamb ragu, olives and artichoke and a bistecca Fiorentina for the meatheads. It opens on November 28.

Bacco.

The amazing Miss Chan

The unstoppable Jacquie Chan is putting the finishing touches to her new Asian-Italian (go figure) venue, Lygon Lane, in Bayview Terrace, Claremont which should open in about two weeks.

At the same time she has just launched another new venue called Lena’s in the CBD. It opened with a media event last week and a test-drive of the menu. It’s very Jacquie, with popular pan-Asian dishes crossed with Western ingredients and techniques and racy flavours. It’s not unlike the menu at her Lucy Luu restaurant in Mount Hawthorn, but with a strong Thai influence, which apparently is a homage to Jacquie’s mother.

Here’s a snapshot: Grilled pork bites with nam jim jaew; salt and pepper squid with larb spice and lime; crispy lamb dumplings with mint sauce; pineapple fried rice with kaffir lime and Thai basil. Alexis Wong, previously of Long Chim, is head chef. It’s at 240 St Georges Terrace, near the corner of Milligan Street, right in the middle of corporate ground zero. It will be a huge success. And they’re open Mondays too.

Dream team

Speaking of Jacquie Chan, the ambitious restaurateur seems to have entered a new phase in her growth. Where previously her Miss Chow’s outlets were staffed in the kitchen and on the floor by hospo-by-numbers students and the like, she has been on a staffing spree lately and surrounding herself with a dream team of senior hospitality executives.

Joining her in recent months is former Bistro Felix owner Jeremy Cariss, who has a knack for putting great teams together and running a happy ship. He has the role of general manager, with the managers of the other Jacquie Chan restaurants reporting to him. Clement Dufeau (previously at Cherubino’s, Subiaco), the wise and informed sommelier, has joined the team as group sommelier with a brief to create wine lists that punch above their weight, especially in the Asian food sector where wine lists are often not a priority.

We understand Ms Chan will be opening three to four venues in 2024 as she continues her growth.

Jacquie Chan’s venues are a new kind of fusion: innovative, yet sensible.Credit: Rob Broadfield

Jetstar’s tourism push

Jetstar has announced a significant expansion of flights to WA and the creation of a new pilot base in Perth, and the Australian Hotels Association has been quick to praise the airline.

“WA’s hotels, bars, pubs and restaurants are the first and major beneficiaries of the announcement,” AHA WA chief executive Bradley Woods said. “The new, direct flights to Singapore, Phuket and Bangkok will cement Perth as the western gateway to Australia. The tens of thousands of additional visitors will provide an immediate boost to visitation in 2024 with new convenient connections to key South East Asian markets.”

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