Distillers festival comes to Freo, and some of the world’s best bartenders take over Perth

For those yet to get to Northbridge’s Charim – Perth’s first and only restaurant inspired by the Korean taxi driver restaurants known as gisa sikdang – I suggest you get your skates on.

Hyun Cha, Charim’s chef-owner and a former military officer, cites homesickness as the reason for putting his restaurant up for sale in anticipation for returning to Sydney where wife Gee Gwa Im and the rest of his family reside.

While market conditions will dictate when Cha gets to go home, it’s up to eaters to plan a visit to the William Street Shopping where laser-sharp renditions of Korean favourites including bulgogi, the beef stew miyeokguk and banchan side dishes await.

Miller & Baker’s new off-shoot opens this week

Since opening in 2019, Miller & Baker has ingrained itself to inner-city Northbridge thanks to its airy digs, cheery staff and outstanding baked goods made using flour milled in-house. This weekend, Miller & Baker owners Rachel and Mark Taylor bring their community-minded bakery to North Perth via the opening of a Miller & Baker outpost on Hobart Street. Moving into the space next to the suburb’s long-standing Hobart Deli, the new offshoot will function as more of a takeaway rather than dine-in destination and carry bread, pastries, flour, batch coffee and food staples. Lucky you, North Perth.

Getting to the bottom of flour power

In not unrelated news: one of the key reasons behind Miller & Baker’s success is the nutritious, delicious stone-ground flour that it mills on the premises using wheat sourced direct from Natural Intelligence Farming, a network of regenerative farmers based in the Wheatbelt but working with farmers across the state. In conjunction with September’s RegenWA conference – a deep-dive into green farming practices – Natural Intelligence Farming founders Di and Ian Haggerty are hosting a tour of their farm in Mollerin to see first-hand the benefits of their softly-softly, chemical-free approach to farming. (The Haggertys bought the property in 1993 and farmed it using conventional methods before gradually embracing regenerative growing principles.) The tour takes place on Tuesday September 16 and is an all-day trip departing Perth at 6am. Tickets are $50 and include transport and lunch.

(Dis)still life artists

In addition to being immortalised as bread, grain also plays a vital role in the world of distilling. This weekend (August 22-24) sees the Fremantle Market host a Distillers Festival bringing together some key distillers from around the state. This free festival is a chance for visitors to meet the makers, try their spirits and learn about the creative and technical processes behind distillation. Producers in attendance will include Whipper Snapper, Damaged Goods, Old Young’s Distillery and Pure Mist and the products available to try ranges from whiskies and gins to limoncello and other specialty spirits.

Perth Cocktail Weekend returns

Alternatively, you can also explore the wide world of spirits when the Perth Cocktail Weekend – part of this year’s Plateful Perth program – returns to the CBD (August 22 and 23). On any given weekend, Terrarium, Mechanics Institute and Songbird are among the best places to get a mixed drink in this fair city. This Friday and Saturday, these cocktail strongholds are hosting visiting bartenders from high-flying bars including Singapore’s Sago House (ranked number 15 in Asia’s 50 Best Bars in 2024) and Sydney’s Bar DEMO.