An ocean view with a Wild Fig

For those unfamiliar with the Fig restaurants scattered throughout Perth, there are different venues all situated on the coast to breathe in lovely sea air and enjoy nature's surroundings. There's the Naked Fig in Swanbourne, the Pickled Fig in Fremantle and the Wild Fig in Scarborough (used to be in Watermans).

In Scarborough's version, the venue is always packed. There's people everywhere and usually a line to get in if it's a weekend breakfast you're chasing. The decor is fun - bright coloured walls, high up couches to lounge on with a coffee and laptop, and astro turf covered furnishings. They have a section even dedicated to displaying local art which includes pricing if you fall in love. It's bustling and energetic and loud. But the food, in my experience, has always been utterly enjoyable.

After a day of wedding dress shopping with my best friend Carly, we decided to pop in for a lunchtime meal. We're both completely ravenous after not eating all day, and she's in desperate need of a coffee.

The menu has lots of tasty sounding food items on it, and in our usual manner we decide to order a dish each that we both like and share them between us. It's the best of both worlds that way!



I spy Leigh's Crepes ($22) which is a basil and ricotta crepe with sage creme fraiche on side. It comes out with a giant salad on side, which is a norm for this place. It has a really delicate dressing over the top which is oil based and has slight sweetness and tang. Really enjoyable with the strips of cucumber, the cherry tomatoes, red onion and plethora of mixed greens. The rocket is peppery and fresh and the crunch counters the softness of the crepes.

Those crepes! Very delicious. Savoury in all the right ways, they are utterly moorish. The batter is light and airy; the filling creamy but full of flavour. The creme fraiche is really great, I love the inclusion of the sage it just lifts the whole flavour profile. A great vegetarian dish!

With my lunch I choose a freshly made strawberry milkshake. It's thick and creamy - with actual chunks of strawberries and their seeds throughout. I know I shouldn't get this because it's filling enough without food, but I'm glad I did order it. It's so sweet but tart at the same time and it's so coolly refreshing. Decadence in a glass and worth getting if you're a milkshake lover.

Carly orders a mug's serving of coffee, which comes out in a cute yellow cup and steaming hot. While I'm not a coffee drinker myself, I know she is and she looks extremely happy to have her first caffeine hit of the day.

Thankfully for Carly's menu choice she goes for the other item I was eying - the Filo ($30). We have extremely similar taste since she was contemplating the crepes too which makes perfect sense why we share our food.

The Filo is really nice. Flaky pastry which encases tender chicken, ham and peas with a creamy garlic sauce, roasted chat potatoes and again a huge side salad. It's very similar to the mushroom chicken filo I used to always order at the Watermans Wild Fig before it shut down. 

The pastry is crunchy and buttery and a really great accompaniment to the filling inside. The chicken is surprisingly moist (I do tend to expect dry chicken breast whenever I order it) and it's juicy to the point of me declaring it perfectly cooked. With that intensely garlicky cream sauce, it works in utter harmony. It's a dish of all elements you could really want and is VERY filling. I love that they don't skimp on the salad here. It's all about organic, fresh and natural ingredients and reinforces what they're trying to theme here. 

Though the reviews aren't the greatest, I do suggest you give the Wild Fig a try. The food is fresh and delicious; the menu carefully constructed to suit most tastes. And the view, well that's worth going here in itself as you gaze straight out at the beach before you. Not too shabby a way to spend a Saturday afternoon. While the service was a little lacking, with staff hard to wave down and requests for water and the bill seeming to take an unnecessary length of time, it's the food that really counts.