Celebrations and meaty fun at Public House and Old Faithful

The past couple of weeks have been pretty manic for me in terms of balancing work, life and blogging. There seems to have been a constant stream of foodie events too - most of which have been too good to miss so it meant that I've been out a little more than I would normally like. And to my boy's credit, he's been the perfect date, happily attending even though I know he'd probably prefer to be at home studying for his upcoming exams. 

After two nights out in a week already, night number three was one that I'd promised him we'd make a quick event out of if possible. The destination - Public House - to celebrate the venue's first birthday. How time flies!

Arriving just slightly after 6pm we made our way inside and were presented with a 'passport' - something we could stamp at the four different countries inside to collect food and drink (and travel South America). What a cute idea!

I'd been to Public House once before during Eat Drink Perth, but on this occasion it looked completely different, with the tables in the restaurant cleared to make room for people flitting between the different cuisines. Scanning the room to identify the countries of Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and Argentina, we decide to kick things off with the cold dish at Peru.

Ceviche is always a winner in my eyes and this one was lovely and light - the firm fish popping with little bursts of citrus flavouring. It's paired with a white wine that I didn't actually catch the name of but has a resounding sweetness that kind of reminds me of passionfruit. I have to be careful not to drink too quickly as my empty stomach was definitely needing some lining after a busy day where I somehow skipped lunch!

 

The next stop on our 'holiday' was to Brazil for a lamb and goats cheese pastel with a pomegranate caipirinha. My pastel is fresh out of the fryer and steaming hot so I carefully bite a hole into the pastry so it can let the steam out before trying to eat it. Instead I sample my caipirinha which is a twist on Brazil's national cocktail, traditionally made with cachaca (sugar cane liquor), sugar and lime. It's a nice cocktail, perhaps needing a little more sugar to offset the alcohol taste - but that's probably just me feeling that way since I'm a weakling when it comes to drinks.

The pastel is delicious, easily one of the highlights of the night. The outside is crunchy and slightly buttery, the inside filling moorish and well seasoned. The lamb is tender and flavoursome, the goats cheese creamy with some nice punches of spring onion. It's definitely a memorable bite! I would have happily accepted a few more of these to continue munching away.

Sitting down with the other bloggers Jeremy and I spy that they're eating a slightly more generous serving plate from Argentina. With our tummies still feeling pretty rumbly we make a beeline over, happy to see that it looks like they're doing a  more traditional style barbecue. 

On the menu at Argentina is pork asado with salad and chimichurri. Immediately as we approach I get the heady aroma of the grilling meat and we're quick to grab a plate and load up! There's an onion and green apple coleslaw salad and another with fried yuka chips.

The meat is perfectly cooked - tender, falling apart and juicy. The chimichurri is where all the flavour comes from though, it's acidic, punchy and utterly moorish. The coleslaw is spicy from the plethora of red onion, but the green apple is a nice counterpart giving little pops of sweetness and brightness. I really like the yuka chips which are starchy and oh so crunchy. I would have loved them to be warmer but given the set up that might not have been realistic.

We wash down the food with a Cervesa Quilmes, which is an Argentinian beer. I really enjoy the dish and the beer, and both the boy and I agree that this has been the station of the night for us both. 

Moving on to the last stop on our South American tour, Ecuador was all about the desserts. Luring people in with a crisp chocolate tart topped with caramel was enough, but then attendees could completely personalise what's added on top. I opt for Valrhona ganache, macadamia nuts, peanuts, chocolate covered pop rocks, normal pop rocks (of course - can you resist?) and freeze dried raspberries.

It was a tiny tart but flavour wise it blew me away. Rich chocolate, gooey caramel and tart raspberries. I love the play on the palate as the different ingredients fight for attention. I really enjoy it and the sweet Muscato dessert wine they serve with it.

However once we're finished with dessert both the boy and I realise that we're still hungry! The festivities at Public House are still continuing, with a live band pumping out fun tracks and everyone toasting the night away. We would have loved to stay longer, but the lure of filling up our bellies and knowing Jeremy needed to get back to the house to study more meant we decided to cut our night short there.

Deciding where to go next was easier said than done. Finding ourselves unable to make the choice between grabbing take away or dining in somewhere super quick we ended up driving in the direction of Old Faithful and giving it a go. It's been on our wishlist since it opened so it only seemed right that we'd finally try it out. The sad thing was we both knew we wouldn't be able to do it justice since we we'd already eaten a few small dishes.

Arriving at Old Faithful on that Thursday night it was packed out! But luckily for us here were two single seats remaining at the bar, which only reinforced that we'd made the right decision in choosing our venue. For those of you who haven't been, this small bar/restaurant is owned by the same owner as Ezra Pound and has a focus on smoked and barbecue meats. It's no wonder that there were only about five other females there, but plenty of tables of men!

The ordering system is simple - place and pay for drinks at the bar, place and pay for food at the meat station. I leave the food choices up to the boy while I focus on getting a bourbon and vanilla milkshake ($14) after a recommendation from foodstagrammer, Perth Eats who raved about it last time I saw her. It didn't disappoint!

The ideal ratio of creamy vanilla flavour to the smooth bourbon, it has a nice aftertaste kick and is a fun play on your standard milkshakes.

When Jez comes back to the bar, he reports back on what he's ordered - and it all sounds great! He's chosen 200g of beef brisket ($14.60), 100g of lamb ribs ($8.75) and corn bread with maple butter ($5.00). We both wanted to order something porky but knowing we could only eat so much after the event at Public House, we kept it simple for our first visit. 

The food comes out quite quickly, served on an upscale style canteen tray (metal rather than plastic) with butcher's paper lining it. There's also a couple slices of bred with onion on the side for those who want to make a sandwich out of the meats. Once we start diving in we're also given some housemade sauces to enjoy with the meats - there's a barbecue sauce, chilli sauce and ridiculously hot chilli sauce which the boy tells me definitely packs a punch but is tasty. 

Starting with the meats I definitely enjoyed the lamb ribs the most out of the two. They were flavoursome and tender, the meat falling away from the bone with ease. There's something so inviting in the way you can't help but use your fingers so you can suck up the remaining flavour.

The beef brisket looked fantastic but was sadly drier than I had been anticipating. While there's a nice smokey flavour, the meat definitely needs sauce so I make the most of the provided barbecue sauce, mopping my meat through it and getting a pleasing zingy taste. I would have loved to see some of that famous 'bark' on the outside of the meat which is synonymous with this style of cooking and cut.

For me, the best item on the tray is the corn bread with maple butter. I'd actually heard from others that it wasn't great, but I disagree vehemently - it's a little muffin of corny goodness, complete with fresh juicy kernels inside. While it's a little crumblier than I've had elsewhere, the maple butter is what cements this a delicious dish - it's creamy, sweet and the perfect accompaniment with the bread. At $5.00 for two corn bread muffins, it's also really reasonably priced so if you visit Old Faithful give it a go!

While I would have loved to stick around and order more, I was happily sated at that point and ready to go home and relax. What a fun night of celebrations for Public House, and winding down over some meat at Old Faithful (finally).