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(c) 2016 Matt Jelonek |
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(c) 2016 Matt Jelonek |
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Executive Chef Jed Gerrard (c) 2016 Matt Jelonek |
Another example is the La Chaîne Dîner Amical at the latest
fine dining restaurant to arrive in Perth: Wildflower, located in Perth’s
newest boutique hotel COMO The Treasury in the Perth CBD. Held on 21 January 2016, it took place mere
weeks after the restaurant had first opened.
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(c) 2016 Matt Jelonek |
At this dinner, Executive Chef Jed Gerrard rolled out a 5
course degustation experience featuring dishes that were not available to the
public. A Balingup boy, Chef Jed grew up
a few hours’ drive south of Perth but before Wildflower, he had spent his
entire career elsewhere in Australia and the world working with culinary greats
like Tetsuya Wakuda and Teague Ezard, as well as at Michelin-starred
restaurants in France and Switzerland. He told us that he had always wanted to
return to work in his hometown but there were few opportunities for the kind of
haute cuisine he wanted to practise, so he jumped at the opportunity at
Wildflower when it presented itself.

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(c) 2016 Matt Jelonek |
Wildflower itself is also something different. One well-travelled diner was overheard
remarking that the venue made him think he was somewhere in Europe rather than
Perth. The expansive covered balcony, where
we enjoyed pre-dinner Taittinger Brut with bite-sized morsels of raw fish
garnished with caviar-llke finger lime vesicles perched upon a prawn crisp, was
also something special, overlooking the Supreme Court Gardens and the Bell
Tower at Barrack Jetty, and presenting a 180 degree view of Perth City around
it.
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(c) 2016 Matt Jelonek |
The private dining room seating 18 was spacious and well
appointed, featuring floor to ceiling windows along the South wall where we
enjoyed the magnificent sunset and the beguiling lights of Council House (which
incidentally uses energy efficient LED specifications developed and introduced
in Perth by Heritage Perth Inc., a not-for-profit organisation of which I am
proud to say I am one of the co-founders and a former Board member) and a
beautifully dreamy composite photographic mural by Melbourne artist Valerie Sparks along the North wall.
The highlight of the evening was of course the food. A five course meal featuring only fresh
Western Australian produce looked nothing like what you would have expected
from their descriptions.
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(c) 2016 Matt Jelonek |
The raw scampi from Point Samson looked like a winter
wonderland indundated with dry powdery snow of frozen horseradish milk in a
pool of wild fennel juice; an intriguing combination of flavours, textures and
temperatures.
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(c) 2016 Matt Jelonek |
The kangaroo fillet cooked over jarrah embers with native
thyme, onion and blue berries drew more exclamations of surprise. With an uncharacteristically medium rare
appearance and soft and tender texture (as anyone who has ever tried to cook
kangaroo will tell you, anything more than a slight searing on the surface will
result in a gamey and chewy experience), gaminess was non-existent.
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(c) 2016 Matt Jelonek |
The soft and richly flavoured beef short ribs (without the
bone), topped by firm and succulent Shark Bay prawns on top of fermented red
cabbage and beach-foraged leaves was another symphony of complementary flavours
and textures which gave new meaning to the concept of “Surf n Turf”.
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(c) 2016 Matt Jelonek |
Dessert was an innocuous sounding but utterly delicious rhubarb mousse accompanied by
strawberries poached with pepper berries and a sorbet of river mint (yes, mint
foraged by the riverside), provided a delicious (but not overly sweet) and
refreshing end to the meal.
While the food was sourced exclusively from Western
Australia, the accompanying wines ranged far and wide, from Bordeaux to
Tuscany, from the Hunter Valley to the Yarra Valley; selected by Maître
D'Hôtel David Best (formerly of Rockpool
and who invited La Chaîne to dine here), whose team executed a flawless
performance in delivering the courses and ensuring that wine glasses were never
left empty. My favourite was the classic
Mount Mary Quintet, one of the 21 wines found in Langton’s top tier “Excellent”
classification (in good company with the Penfolds Grange and the Henschke Hill
of Grace).

Chef Jed also answered questions on how some of the dishes
were prepared, but never fully giving up all of his secrets, as it should be! –
before a La Chaîne plaque was presented to Wildflower as a sign of our
appreciation for the special experience.
That evening was made even more special by the fact that
these dishes were “one-offs” – while Wildflower may have subsequently launched
its five course tasting menu to the public, the dishes from that evening have
not been replicated exactly as they were, reflecting the changing availability
of produce, the change in seasons and the continuing evolution of Chef Jed’s
culinary practise.
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(c) Matt Jelonek |
While the “official” part of the dinner may have ended, some
La Chaîne members had enjoyed the evening so much that they opted to continue
the evening, starting at the Wildflower bar featuring highly knowledgeable
barmen and a respectable array of whiskies, and ending in the Petition Beer
Corner at the bottom of COMO The Treasury, where limited run Australian craft
beers were enjoyed as a “cleansing ale” to end the evening.
P.S. I would like to thank professional photographer Matt Jelonek for giving me permission to reproduce his superb photographs (credited accordingly) in this article.
MENU
Wildflower La Chaîne Chef Experience
Dinner
RAW WILD FISH, FINGER LIME AND PRAWN CRISP
NV Taittinger Brut Champagne
*****
RAW POINT SAMSON SCAMPI,
frozen horseradish milk and wild fennel juice
2006 Tyrells Vat 1 Semillon, Hunter
Valley, NSW
*****
KANGAROO COOKED OVER JARRAH EMBERS,
native thyme, onion and blue berries
2013 Valdipiatta Sangiovese, Chianti,
Tuscany
*****
BEEF SHORT RIB,
fermented red cabbage, Shark Bay prawns and beach
greens
2013 Mount Mary Quintet, Yarra Valley,
VIC
*****
RHUBARB MOUSSE,
strawberries poached with pepper berries and river
mint
2010 Les Lions de Suduiraut, Bordeaux,
France
*****
PETIT FOURS,
tea & coffee