Could InContro be a candidate for my new favourite restaurant in Perth?
This beautiful South Perth restaurant offers not only superb food, but uninterrupted sublime city views across the Swan River. The views are hard to beat.
Inside the restaurant at the view of the city beyond
The setting has an air of sophistication, the waiters are well versed, some donning French accents, and the napery, glassware and cutlery are what one would expect in a fine dining restaurants. It’s all lovely.
It not just about the views though is it? It’s about the food. InContro, which means “meeting” in Italian, offers first class Mediterranean style cuisine. You can dine on the ‘piccolo’ menu – much like tasting plates or Italian tapas, the regular menu, or mix it up like we did and choose from both.
As one comes to expect when dining at a fantastic restaurant in Perth, it ain’t cheap. No sir. But for a special occasion, it is seriously worth splashing out for a food experience at InContro.
Leo, Katie, Matthew and John
Our family was celebrating a special occasion, Zorba‘s mother’s 70th birthday. She is as fit as a fiddle and enjoys nothing more than sharing a meal with her family. Dining with us was Zorba’s sister Marnie and her triplet boys, Leo, John and Matthew, who are seven years old. There is never any hesitation taking the boys out for dinner with us because they are nearly always well behaved in restaurants and thanks to their Greek and Italian heritage, they love food and eat everything!
Pizza Margherita
As most seven year olds are starving by 5pm, you can imagine how famished the boys were at 6.30pm. We ordered a couple of fresh pizzas for them straight away. It was enjoyed by Masters Seven with gusto!
Entree was a selection from the piccolo menu; zucchini flowers stuffed with salmon mousse, Rottnest scallops and king fish carpaccio. It was presented beautifully on a tiered tray. I could not fault anything, simply beautifully cooked, delicious flavours, and the perfect way to start dinner. The zucchini flowers were my favourite – crispy on the outside, smooth mousse on the inside. YUM! I could have eaten a whole plate of those!
Zucchini flowers
How good do these dishes look?! Are you hungry yet?
Rottnest Scallops
For main course, we decided to choose our own. I couldn’t go past the Turkish Sticky Black Angus Short Rib ($45). Marnie had Linley Valley Pork Belly Vanilla Pear Pomegranate ($36), Zorba and Katie both had Duck Confit Cauliflower Puree Quince Salad ($38).
Turkish Sticky Black Angus Short Rib
My beef rib was nothing short of sensational. Slightly sweet, oh-so sticky, rich with smoky undertones, and the meat was so tender, sliding away from the bone with just the gentlest nudge from my fork. I have never had a beef rib as good as this one – and that’s a big call. Whilst expensive, it was a decent sized serve which is just as well or I would not have shared any of it! The boys all agreed that it was the dish of the night.
Marnie loved her pork and really enjoyed the pomegranate salad. Katie and Zorba seemed to thoroughly enjoy their mains as well. To accompanying mains, we had Albany asparagus and shaved fennel pear with candied walnut salad.
Finalmente! Dessert time. The seven year old nephews were chomping at the bit waiting for dessert, especially once they heard that fairy floss was a feature.
We all had the Eaton Mess with Fairy Floss and ordered some desserts from the piccolo menu to share. A two-course dessert – now that’s my style of eating!
Eaton mess with floss
The wine list was fairly extensive, but on the high end of pricey. We shared a bottle of bubbles, a prosecco, to start ($70) and then went for one of the cheapest shiraz blends on the menu on advice from the waitress. I love my red wine but didn’t want to spend upwards of $90 for a decent drop. The waitress’ recommendation was perfect. The 2010 Sons of Eden shiraz blend ($65) was a beautiful smooth easy drinking red.
The only other time I have been to InContro was for a friend’s wedding late last year. For a function, it was the best food I’ve ever had. I was excited to finally be going back there again. And it didn’t disappoint.
It would be hard to imagine anyone being disappointed dining at InContro. It is first class in every sense and really worth splashing out for for a special occasion. Impressive and highly recommended.
FACT FILE
InContro
79 South Perth Esplanade, South Perth WA 6151
Tel. 08 9474 5566
Open Lunch and Dinner, Tuesday to Saturday
