The Standard - Northbridge

What's better than catching up with friends and dining out to finish off hump day? Nothing! So, a couple of friends and I ventured down to The Standard in Northbridge. I was intrigued by this place after walking past it to eat at Northbridge Chinese Restaurant. For as long as I can remember the building that is now The Standard was a nondescript deli, now even though the facade has changed very little, it is certainly attention grabbing.

The menu was tapas style with a range of cuisines available. Though we did not plan it, it seemed we were attracted to the Asian inspired dishes.

Fava Chips ($9)

As the three of us perused through the menu, we all instantly agreed to try the fava chips, plus the table next to us were munching on some and they looked so appetising. As you can see, it was well presented. The chips came with a aioli and mushroom ketchup. The mushroom ketchup was an interesting bright green colour and was mostly sour, we weren't able to tell there was mushroom in it. The chips itself was was reminiscent of polenta chips, but denser and had less flavour. We were told by the lovely waitress that the fava chips has a lower glycaemic index compared to normal potato chips and are a much healthier option. It certainly tasted healthier and I wouldn't mind swapping potato for fava chips more often in the future!

Mushroom Doughnuts ($16)

I was very fascinated by the mushroom doughnuts on the menu and immediately chose that dish. They were cute round doughnuts with minced mushroom fillings and with tiny dollops of lemon and chive curd. This was a really interesting sweet savoury dish. The doughnut was sweet and the mushroom was savoury but also a hint of sour. I would've preferred the mushrooms chopped rather than minced and unfortunately this was not my favourite dish as the flavours were not blending well together. The lemon and chive curd was the best part of the dish and unfortunately there wasn't enough of it on the plate. For me this dish was a bit confusing in terms of flavours.

Yellow Fish Curry ($24)

My favourite savoury dish of the night was the yellow fish curry. The colour was a beautiful vibrant yellow and the curry sauce was packed with flavours. Whilst eating the dish we discovered there was very little fish in the curry, but what we did get was very soft fillets that were melt-in-your mouth. I really liked the pineapples in the dish adding a refreshing hit to the flavours. The dish was also served with deep fried gooey rice balls, which weren't so much balls as they were clumps. The charred bits were full of flavour, but the texture, unexpected, it was between overcooked rice and glutinous rice balls (mochi balls).

Crisp Eggplant Salad ($18)

The dish my, recently turned vegetarian, friend ordered was the crispy eggplant salad. I was very excited by this dish as I love eggplant and was imagining it to be like the deep fried eggplant served at Chinese restaurants (incidentally Northbridge Chinese Restaurant, right next door to The Standard, makes delicious deep fried eggplants!). The salad consisted of pea tendrils, chilli and what I believe to be alfalfa sprouts. The salad was nice and light and the chilli was scarce so it was not spicy at all. The eggplant itself was interesting. They have used a batter which formed a bubbles outside of the eggplant. The batter that was not attached to the eggplant left a chewy and sticky texture on our teeth. The parts with eggplant was delicious, the eggplant was well cooked and very tender and had that signature eggplant flavour. Overall, it was an interesting dish that could be improved in terms of texture.

Vanilla Panna Cotta ($14)

Passion Parfait ($14)

We were full by the end of our meal, but could not resist their desserts. So we tried two out of their three dishes. We believed we made the correct choices. The vanilla panna cotta was  the show stealer. It was served in a big plastic cup with strawberry liquor and the crumble separated. To eat it we were advised to pour the liquor onto the panna cotta, they then poured out lemonade from a whip cream dispenser. Then we had to slurp the lemonade until it was all gone, pour the crumble onto the panna cotta then eat. It was all very elaborate. The panna cotta was delicious. It was topped with freeze dried raspberries and fresh strawberries. The panna cotta was much denser than normal panna cotta, with a very creamy texture. The crumble added a nice crunch to the dessert.

The passion parfait was the last dessert to come out. It was a passionfruit flavoured parfait with cahaca jelly, freeze dried lychee and sesame seeds suspended in shattered sugar glass. This was another winning dessert. It was best to have a bit of all the elements at once, and the flavours just worked amazingly together. The highlight of this dish for me was the lychee, I have never tasted freeze dried lychees before, but from now on, its freeze dried lychees only for me! A surprise factor in this dish was the pop rock candy they incorporated into the sugar glass, which made the dessert even more fun to eat!

The three of us agreed that all the savoury dishes we had that night had hits and misses, with all of them being really unique and having the potential to be something really amazing. We loved both the desserts we chose and would definitely come back just to have them again! Apart from the food, we enjoyed the service and the atmosphere. During the warmer months I could imagine the garden seating, which was nicely decorated with fairy lights, would be perfect for catch ups or romantic dates. I would rate The Standard 6.5/10 only because we didn't fall in love with their savoury dishes.

Restaurant Information:

The Standard

28 Roe Street

Northbridge

Ph: 9228 1331

Website: http://www.thestandardperth.com.au/
Instagram: @thestandardperth
Facebook: The Standard Perth 

Disclaimer: Prices and restaurant information was true and correct on 17th June 2015. Prices included 10% GST.