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Amanda Keenan (Food / Restaurant reviews)

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A Dunsborough food destination worth travelling for

This South West eatery opened to much fanfare in 2018 and six years on, it remains as sexy and irresistible as ever.

Amanda Keenan

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Food CommentsPremium
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The winery restaurant that’s not at a winery

There are many wondrous things about dining at a winery but in the regions, the commute can be a real handbrake. Wayfinder, in the heart of Dunsborough, deals with this by just being right there.

Amanda Keenan

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Food reviewCommentsPremium
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The Perth restaurant that serves ‘ one of the finest’ pastas

$2 oysters on a Sunday, best-in-show pasta and consistently excellent pizza. Is there anything this venue can’t do?

Amanda Keenan

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Fabulous offeringCommentsPremium
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Nondescript entrance belies a little angel in Subi

It almost feels like a trap. Behind a building, next to a bin in the carpark, is a little blackboard. On it, someone has scrawled ‘WINE’, with an arrow. But there are only good things inside.

Amanda Keenan

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RESTAURANT REVIEWCommentsPremium
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Will St. still a portal to a world away

When Will St. opened in Leederville as borders were still closed due to COVID, it became one of those restaurants that allowed us to pretend we were somewhere exotic. It lived up to huge hype and continues to.

Amanda Keenan

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Hard act to FallowCommentsPremium
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It may be new but this Perth eaterie is already on fire

This venue is new and had it not impressed, we’d have waited a while longer to feature it here.

Amanda Keenan

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RESTAURANT REVIEW CommentsPremium
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Wildflower still the gem atop the State Buildings

A week ago, I was at Wildflower, a restaurant many could not or would not choose to afford, the beneficiary of a free lunch. Yes, there really is such a thing. How can I objectively report on it? I’ll try.

Amanda Keenan

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RESTAURANT REVIEW CommentsPremium
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This ramen is not just for a rainy day

The lack of precipitation in this infuriatingly sunny city makes a girl positively weep for a couple of wet days in a row. I attempted to goad the weather gods by going for ramen.

Amanda Keenan

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RESTAURANT REVIEW CommentsPremium
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Pisco sours and Peruvian classics a delicious combination

The pisco sour is claimed by both Chile and Peru and it’s easy to understand why the pisco sour gets Latin tempers running so hot. They’re naturally au fait with the drink at Lima Cantina.

Amanda Keenan

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Eating outCommentsPremium
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‘A slick and enchanting Japanese proposition’

There was a time when shopping centre dining was little more than a fluorescent procession of bains-marie brimming with specialties sweet and/or sour. This restaurant shows how different things are in 2024.

Amanda Keenan

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REVIEW CommentsPremium
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Stampa your feet for this stylish Italian spot

When the woman at the Myer lingerie counter asked, “Are you Amanda?” I thought I’d made a watchlist for spending too much on bras. But she asked for dining recommendations and offered hers: Stampa!

Amanda Keenan

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FOOD REVIEW CommentsPremium
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This spot claims to be Marg’s best cafe. Are they right?

It was as if this dish were dreamed up by a future version of myself to soothe this hungover version: giant savoury Japanese (okonomiyaki) pancake with slow-cooked pork shoulder, kimchi and a fried egg.

Amanda Keenan

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Great GreekCommentsPremium
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Could this Perth gem be the perfect restaurant experience?

The mullet. Be it the haircut or nondescript taupe fish, they tend to polarise. But you could argue both have their merits — and the seafood variety at Yiamas in Subiaco is just part of what makes it shine.

Amanda Keenan

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Amanda KeenanCommentsPremium
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Tips on being a fine diner

It’s easy to rage about a restaurant insisting on a deposit when you make a booking. But for that you ought not blame the restaurant but the people who consistently failed to turn up for their table. 

Amanda Keenan

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YEAR IN REVIEWCommentsPremium
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Amanda Keenan’s favourite eateries of 2023

From Italian to Chinese, Thai to Malaysian, I might not have ventured out of Perth much this year, but the quality of the city‘s culinary delights means I didn’t want for incredible cuisine.

Amanda Keenan

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RESTAURANT REVIEW CommentsPremium
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Gnocchi that will have you ‘grasping for superlatives’

The prevalence of mostly wonderful Italian in Perth has seen me wax lyrical about a long list of restaurants, but I’d never noticed Impronta. Now I’ve visited, I am still thinking about it.

Amanda Keenan

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On its gameCommentsPremium
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A masterclass in steak cooking at this buzzy bistro

The beef is charred within an inch of its life but perfectly medium rare, making this eaterie a safe bet for a business lunch and it goes all right for a date night.

Amanda Keenan

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Slick, unpretentiousCommentsPremium
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‘All I want, and all I need, all I crave is a good pub feed’

The discography of The Chats explodes with classic urgent punk that’s unassailably brilliant in its simplicity. Pub Feed is about, of course, having a pub feed. But the storied pub feed can be elusive.

Amanda Keenan

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What do you think?CommentsPremium
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Is this $32 pie really worth the eye-watering price?

Edward & Ida’s has opened in a historic building in Northbridge with a dream team of hospo guns, including chef Blaze Young. How does her take on a beef and Guinness pie with a marrowbone chimney stack up?

Amanda Keenan

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wildly indulgentCommentsPremium
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The upmarket Subi spot you know you will come back to

Subiaco Contintental’s sexy furnishings and polished concrete floors hint at an upscale experience — and it is. But there is also something egalitarian about it. Our own kind of Australian continental. 

Amanda Keenan

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Chinese delightCommentsPremium
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Are these the best dim sum dishes in Perth?

I almost turned away from the restaurant in Northbridge when I saw a large crowd milling around on James Street well after lunchtime. I’m really glad I didn’t.

Amanda Keenan

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ALLURING CommentsPremium
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Sherwoood Court not a mystical beauty but a magical taste

Sherwoood Court might not have the mystical beauty of its namesake storied forest, but it does have the magic of Modu: upscale contemporary Chinese dishes, slick lines and an impressive cocktail game

Amanda Keenan

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TERRIFIC FUNCommentsPremium
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Every dish at this dainty restaurant is the business

The announcements on social media of this eatery’s weekly specials is a bona fide refresh-your-browser event.

Amanda Keenan

Popular hauntCommentsPremiumDoes this old favourite still sizzle after reinvention?

It’s long been a favourite neighbourhood local, where the menu and surroundings are familiar. Yet, suddenly not so. Amanda Keenan tries it out after the restaurant’s reimagining — and finds it still delivers.

Amanda Keenan