review
My best WA restaurants from a year of reviews: Yiamas, Wills Domain, Will St., Cherubino City Cellar and more

Proper restaurant reviewers have very scientific and prescriptive scoring criteria. The loos are apportioned a part of the total, and linen napiery will generally get you an extra point or two. I employ no such serious method. Rather, I rely on the glow I get from a place. Were the hosts charming and was there love in the room? Is the food fresh and prepared with care? Does the wine list (or in the case of some of my faves such as Le Rebelle, the not-the-wine-list) have you feeling mildly titillated? Does it have that je ne sais quois? And yeah, are the dunnies decent? Looking back on 2024, the highest score I gave was 18.5 at either end of the year, to the glorious Greek restaurant Yiamas. and to multi-award-winning winery Wills Domain down south. Also snaring an 18 was Will St. in Leederville, which had lost none of its gloss in July; Cherubino City Cellar, a place that makes you feel safe and special and kind of like you’re in an exceedingly pleasant parallel universe; Si Paradiso for its god-tier gochujang pasta and all-round good vibes; and the perennially magical Yarri in Dunsborough. Yiamas, where I dined on a sunny day with a formidable, fabulous frenemy, and Cherubino, where I took an amazing, effervescent colleague, are both hidden away in Subiaco, of all places. Don’t let them fly under your radar. Long Chim, which has just closed in Sydney, leaving ours as the last one standing, also jagged an 18, almost a decade into its spicy existence. Other standout dishes of the year included Testun’s bonkers pasta take on ramen with dreamy chashu, and the Hawaiian pizza down the road at Threecoins, and the amatriciana at Casa Nostra. Ummm, something not Italian . . . We adored Wayfinder in Dunsborough, a sexy little drop-in wine bar/cellar door. Some other notable new openings included banging Mt Hawthorn pizza joint Il Falco, Fallow in Northbridge — a dazzling vintage venue that set our hearts afire with its indulgent grazing menu — and Margot’s down the road, where you can hook into classic martinis accompanied by excellent house-made cold cuts. Then there’s Lo’ in Mt Lawley, a laid-back Southern venue, and seaside Gibney, giving her all. Oh! And Found has expanded its frothy presence, opening a pub on Rokeby Road. The menu is ambitious but, based on our first visit, very promising. The beer garden is extremely dog-friendly and you’d go there for the incredibly spotty garlic pizza dough with baba ganouj dip alone. Stay hungry, folks.

reviewMy best WA restaurants from a year of reviews: Yiamas, Wills Domain, Will St., Cherubino City Cellar and more

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My best WA restaurants from a year of reviews: Yiamas, Wills Domain, Will St., Cherubino City Cellar and more