Rockpool Bar and Grill – http://www.rockpool.com.au/rockpool-bar-and-grill-perth/
Cuisine: Modern Australian
Address: Great Eastern Highway, Perth, Western Australia

Rockpool Bar and Grill newly opened up in Burswood this year(?), it’s in the Hotel side of Burswood near the hotel service desk. The impressive doors lead you down a very narrow candle lit hall, nice to look at but definitely not practical as the glass encasing the candles had obvious signs of being knocked over due to the lack of space (there’s only room for one person or two very very small people to walk side-by-side) and the hall can get quite stuffy with all those candles lit!

Despite hearing terrible things about their service, BF was keen to try their famous Wagyu Beef… me on the other hand, being more of a seafoodie and vegetarian, looked through the menu and didn’t find anything that stood out.

Rockpool Kitchen

Since we were staying at the Intercontinental Hotel at Burswood, BF and I went a day before Valentines day during lunch hour to make a dinner reservation. It seemed to be quite busy at the service desk with patrons hanging around and staff looking busy, so we approached staff at the bar. We were told that reservations were unlikely to be available as they were fully booked, though we could book for about 9pm.

We were then directed to the service desk to make a reservation and were then told that they couldn’t make any reservations at all, but we were welcomed to try our luck at 9pm and dine at the Bar side where they don’t take reservations.

Come 9pm we walked into Rockpool prepared to dine at the Bar only to be seated at the restaurant side. Our section had plenty of empty tables but we were seated next to another couple. I find the tables are quite narrow and does not give enough privacy, I could literally touch the patron sitting next to me. We could also over hear the clear dissatisfaction of the patrons next to us, they were not happy with their Rockpool experience and made sure the floor manager knew about it.

Rockpool Entree

Our Entrees:
Mussels Steamed with Chilli, Peppers and Vermouth $21
Charcoal Roast King Prawns, Split and Marinated $30
Freshly Shucked Oysters with Mignonette Sauce $3.50 each

The seafood was super fresh, the Mussels were a bit spicy and tasted so delicious I was soaking up the bread  with the broth it sat in. The Oysters were so good that even I had to admit it (but only with the sauce). The King Prawns were surprisingly small (only a few prawns), despite it tasting decent I wasn’t that impressed with it.

Our Mains:
Crab Prawn Pasta (Rockpool has since changed their menu and I can’t recall exactly)
David Blackmore’s Dry Aged Full Blood Wagyu Sirloin $110

I really can’t remember much about my Pasta other than it being a bit spicy and tomato-y. The BF seemed to enjoy his piece of meat but he did  say that although it was a scrummy piece of meat, “.. it’s not as good as NoBu”.

We ordered Tea instead of dessert since we were both quite full and BF was eager to try the Chinese Tea’s that they had.

Rockpool Mains

Despite the number of staff lingering around the place, when it came to payment, we had trouble hailing down one of them. We thought our waiter pretty good, she was very friendly, changed our cutlery as the meal progressed, helped us with our menu choices, cleared and wiped the table swiftly.

Our conclusion is if you want to have a good experience at Rockpool, avoid the peak periods. And although people believe Rockpool to be a fine dining experience (with fine dining prices), they actually don’t have any star rating, and under all the tapestry and trimmings it IS only a bar and grill.