Last Thursday night Joel, Lucy, Courtney and I had the pleasure of going to the Mussel Bar in Fremantle. The weather was fantastic and the atmosphere was great. We were met by our waitress Amanda who was excellent all night. She was from NZ and her accent was a nice change to listen to.
We were lead to our table overlooking the glorious Fremantle fishing boat harbour.
I thought we would start the night off with a taste of home. I grew up not far from Margaret River, so a nice wine from that region seemed very fitting. We chose the Rosily Semillon Sauvignon Blanc which we shall describe as a fine wine with a seamless flow of fruit.
Seared Scallops, which were perfectly cooked on a bed of crispy, honey pork belly threads topped off with a zesty jam. This was a table favourite.
Asparagus, cooked to crisp perfection with a side of smooth Persian fetta.
Tasting Plate, which consisted of salt and pepper squid (crispy with a zesty jam), pork belly, thinly sliced duck, chorizo with chilli and tomato jam and tiger prawns.
We also had the Mussel Bar house bread with Jingili olive oil which was fresh and warm.
We ordered more wine to get the evenings proceedings underway and decided on a New Zealand wine from the Awatere Valley. The Vavasour Sauvignon Blanc was my favourite of the night being dry and long with an ethereal texture and a hint of lemongrass. I LOVED this wine.
For Main Course I had the Garlic Prawns and Morten Bay Bug’s Tails, sesame peanut butter, crisp asparagus red pepper salad. This was the envy of the night! The mixture of texture between the peanuts and the bugs’ tails was fantastic, and the Asparagus added a great freshness to the dish.
Courtney had the Chicken Breast basil scented orzo pasta, hot cacciatore and red pepper & tomato ragout. She enjoyed this dish with the chicken being succulent and the red pepper sauce sweetening the basil pasta.
Joel enjoyed his Char Grilled Amelia Park Lamb which was cooked perfectly medium rare in a Tunisian spice with the moussaka (Eggplant style lasagne) complementing excellently. For people who don’t like seafood this is a great option.
Lucy ordered the Fish of the Day which was pink snapper on a wild mushroom risotto cake with seared asparagus & a pepper sauce. She loved it.
It was time to order another bottle of wine and we tried to get another bottle of the Vavasour we drank them out of it…(Very Rock’n’ Roll!!) so our NZ waitress Amanda convinced us to give NZ another chance and decided on the 07 ATA RANGI Martinborough Sauvignon Blanc. It was lovely with layers of ripe citrus and hints of fresh herbs. It was heavier than the Vavasour but still quite nice.
At this stage we were noticing the little things that the Mussel Bar had to offer:
We had concluded that the tables were a GREAT size, with lots of room for extras with no bumping of elbows. The views were still great with boats occasionally floating past. And the service was amazing. We never reached the bottom of our wine glass before it was refilled (I have to admit that is always great) but we had decided the music just wasn’t loud enough for our taste.
Do we dessert or do we NOT dessert? Of course we do!! We decided to let our chefs decide which desserts they would like to serve us.
They brought out three dishes for us to delight our taste buds. Orange Blossom Pannacotta which had a strange texture. A toasted cheesy with vanilla ice-cream on the top (the name of this one escapes me) and the table favourite Warm Sesame Brioche Pudding, it is the first dessert on the menu for good reason...It is SENSATIONAL!
We finished off the wonderful night with a present from the chef (A charcoaled Mussel Bar house bread with Eskimo Joe carved into it) and a tequila slammer then headed out to watch a friends band.
Overall Mussel Bar had excellent food, service and vibe. I can’t wait to go there again.
