When I was approached by Stix Bar to help spread the word by an ex-employee’s mom I was more than happy to but didn’t want to be bias as this ex-employee of ours was a superstar and is now working as an apprentice chef there. So I sent my brother and writer Jason who took his fiancé aka food blogger Little Miss Bacon. They were so impressed with Stix Bar that Little Miss Bacon who was working at Miss Kitty’s as an Apprentice Chef is making the move to Stix Bar this week! Have a read of Jason’s blog post to find out why Stix Bar is worth finding and trying.
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Stix Bar is literally a hidden gem in Burswood situated on ground floor of the Axis Apartments in The Circus residential area in Burswood. I’ve driven past The Circus on many occasions while heading down Victoria Park Drive towards Crown Casino. I never would of thought there would be a restaurant there.
We chose to go to Stix Bar on a Sunday, which was a great choice as they have an acoustic duo every Sunday from 5-8pm.
We were seated by the window and by about 6:30pm, we caught a glimpse of the sun setting over the Perth City skyline… absolutely beautiful.
The Head Chef Francois Morabito has created a Modern Australian menu with elements of French cuisine and Asian-inspired flavours. The menu was extensive and there were so many things we wanted to try, so we went for the degustation that consisted of 8 dishes from the menu. The great thing about the degustation is that you can select dishes from the menu which you would like to include or exclude from the overall experience.
We also noticed a lot of the menu items were gluten free and when speaking to the owner Kate, she mentioned that her husband is a celiac and that their menu demonstrates that gluten free variations of many dishes are possible without any sacrifice to taste.
So to start, we got a basket of bread and a tasting board that consisted of smoked tomato butter/whipped pork/red radish butter, parmesan crisps, organic olives and roasted pepitas. I tried my best not to fall into my usual trap of overindulging and getting full on the bread, so after finishing the basket, I had to thankfully decline the offer for more bread.
For the second dish, we got the Beef Tataki that was marinated in rice wine, ginger and chilli. It was the first time I got crunchy bits in a beef tataki which was a really good addition to the soft textures of the mushroom and slices of seared beef.
Following the Beef Tataki, we were served the Blue Spotted Emperor Fish Roulade that is a seasonal dish and wasn’t listed on the menu at the time. It was smooth and creamy and had a meat paste/patty like texture. Like with most white fishes, the dill flavor went really well with it.
Next up was my favorite dish of the night… the steamed scallop dumplings served on a half shell. I absolutely love dumplings and would have to say this was one of the best dumplings I’ve ever eaten. Francois managed to capture the flavours of an on-shell steamed scallop commonly on the menus of Chinese restaurants and encapsulate it into a dumpling.
Our second last savoury dish of the night was the salmon wrapped in a thin pastry crust with vegetable ratatouille and roasted asparagus. Overall nice flavours, but I kind of like sashimi salmon more than cooked salmon.
Final savoury dish of the night was the Pork Belly, the skin was crispy and the meat was tender with that perfect meat to fat ratio and melts in your mouth.
Before ending on desserts, we had a lime and basil sorbet topped with fresh strawberries as a palate cleanser. I’m not a fan of sorbet, but I have to say, this sorbet was amazing and really refreshing. Definitely the best thing to have after the richness of the Pork Belly.
For dessert, we had the Bombe Alaska with blood peach/lychee sorbet and a pina colada sauce… simply divine. It tasted like a coconut ice cream cake coated in a crunchy meringue shell.
My fiancé Little Miss Bacon is allergic to alcohol, so she got a version with an alternative sauce to the pina colada.
To finish off the meal we ended with a cheese platter. We polished off everything except for the blue cheese, maybe one day I’ll get into this pungent delicacy.
Stix Bar has great views, ambience and food. I highly recommend giving it a try if you’re looking for an intimate dining experience with friends or family.
