Perth brasserie masters mixing business with pleasure

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The six gents sitting next to us are living their best Thursday night lives.

Their jackets are off and collars are open. The conversation is spirited. Come dessert time, this middle-aged Meal Team Six embarrass one of their own with a gaudy rendition of Happy Birthday. When they swiftly launch into the old Why Was He Born So Beautiful? as an encore, the ones they embarrass are themselves. Glasses around the table hold puddles of inky red wine, the unofficial energy drink of steak eaters around the world.

Make no mistake, The Heritage is a fine place to wield a steak knife like a surgeon. (If you’re planning on cracking some of the fancier things wine director Mirco Tarducci has put on his wine list, being paid like a surgeon would also be helpful). Housed within the century-old Royal Insurance Co building, this contemporary brasserie awash with interwar grandeur looks every inch the soigne, grown-up dining room the Wolkowinski family wanted to bring to Perth when they opened Heritage in 2012.

The tables in the 40-seat room are big and set with fluted white plates and proper napkins. A soaring, neck-cranking ceiling, the seductive curves of the pewter bar in the front room, plus the fire in the semi-open kitchen all create a sense of occasion. Factor in a prominent address on the Terrace and it’s not hard to understand why this CBD fortress is a go-to for suits and execs looking for somewhere to wheel and deal.

I can’t, I’m afraid, tell you much about the steak. Maybe I’m being picky, but if the only bit of beef you can order somewhere is an $88 “BBQ scotch fillet, cavolo nero, mushroom sauce” number, minutiae such as the producer’s name, type of cow, plus the size of the cut feel important. (To be fair, the price of steak everywhere continues to climb and there’s a cheaper $65 strip loin on the express lunch and pre-theatre menu.)

What I can speak to, though, are some of Heritage’s steak-adjacent options: high in Vitamin Beef, lower in buy-in, big on flavour. Normandy-born chef Guillaume Groult reckons strip loin cap makes great steak tartare, especially when thickly cut to emphasise its chew and beefy richness. He’s right, especially when sharpened with a tangy Tabasco mayo and crunched up with fine, golden straws of fried potato: France’s glorious pommes paille that I wish popped up on more Perth menus.

Ox tongue, like the version Busselton Pavillion opened with, stars supple slices of brined, slow-cooked tongue threaded onto a skewer and rendered crisp via the searing heat of the Hibachi Tabo, a locally made charcoal grill found in kitchens around Australia. Tasty stuff and another reminder for cooks and eaters to explore lesser-loved parts of the cow and, indeed, all animals: see also lamb shanks, pork belly and fish wings.

Speaking of seafood, Heritage’s fish croquettes are the stuff after-work drinks dreams are made of. Working with the dish’s traditional base of potato and fish trim, Groult lightens things up with creme fraiche and lemon zest, then coats each ball with a mix of regular and blitzed panko to create an especially fine crumb – a neat hack I’m ripping off next time I get the deep-fryer out.

Crowning gently seared scallops with a twig of spiced, fried onion – a nod to India’s beloved bhaji fritters – is a fun, unexpected flourish but, again, the asking price of $42 for three scallops is jarring. Then again, the floor team of attentive, personable waitstaff led by restaurant manager Ted Simpson feels appropriate for somewhere charging premium prices, as does the setting.

Of the five mains: juicy pork loin fillet lolling in a pepper-spiked jus and accompanied by pureed sunchokes is a swell time and an endorsement for restraint on the plate. The “char siu” celeriac, however, feels unfinished and angular, its pickled mushrooms (too vinegary), muted dashi and gently charred headliner bulb components not gelling. Considering it’s the menu’s sole vego main, perhaps some fine-tuning is in order? (Then again, vegetarians could theoretically order the dazzling apple tartes fines as their main, wolf it down, then order a second twinkle-toed, baked-to-order dessert when the rest of the table gets to sweets.)

I’ll admit: I was lukewarm on Heritage in its early days and preferred spending my dollars at neighbouring venues within the Brookfield Place complex. More than a decade on and Heritage is now the precinct’s oldest tenant as well as Brookfield Place’s star food and drink MVP, thanks in no small part to some bold decision-making and hiring by general manager Edward Wolkowinski (now sole owner after buying out his parents a few years back).

While this isn’t the only passage of note along the restaurant’s timeline – I fondly remember the Matthew Carulei and Gordon Kahle cooking eras – Heritage circa 2025 is an operation that feels right for the now. The past will forever form part of Heritage’s identity, but it’s a keen focus on the present that bodes very well for the future.

Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.