Neighbourhood bar and diner is better than sliced bread

Perth Now

13 hours ago

Scrawled in chalk above our heads: 'The best thing since sliced bread'. Sliced is crossed out, replaced with 'barbecued'.
Truer words were never spoken, nor scrawled on a restaurant wall.
The barbecued bread with whipped butter at Mt Hawthorn bar and wood-fired eatery Sonny's is the best thing since someone in the Middle East decided they had some grains to grind 14,000 years ago.
The charred carbs arrived straight from head chef Sofika Boulton's kitchen, smelling like campfire and served with butter so light it threatened to float away like a dandelion.
Opened late 2022 in a former Commonwealth Bank branch by experienced Perth bar and restaurant manager Jessica Blyth, who named the joint after her rescue greyhound, this Mt Hawthorn favourite feels like a hipster's retro lounge room.
Ferns, monsteras and other pot plants compete for space among bric-a-brac. Yves Klein art prints and provocative Grace Jones posters adorn walls.
Sonny's menu switches up every few weeks, sometimes small tweaks, other times it's entirely fresh dishes. Boulton uses ingredients from her own or local gardens. Blyth gives the chef complete creative freedom in the cramped kitchen.
After the bread to end all bread, we had the raw beef ($24). This turned out to be Italian-style steak tartare, or carne cruda. Sonny's in Mt Hawthorn. Credit: Supplied
Boulton dry ages a whole sirloin in the diner's cool room for a week to reduce moisture and enhance flavour, before the meat is hand-diced, then dressed with a yuzu and Meyer lemon vinaigrette.
The cruda is then served with a warm butter emulsion and covered in shaved pecorino and toasted pepper.
Citrus prevents the chunky-cut steak and egg yolk from being too rich. This dish is the best tartare in town, and I can't believe it's not tartare!
The grilled market fish was a coral trout, caught in Exmouth, and served with roast chicken butter and hand-harvested Goolwa pipis from South Australia ($40).
The gorgeously firm fillet of fish was enhanced by the sweet, nutty saltwater clams, while diners should save some barbecued bread to mop up every, single, last drop of the savoury beurre blanc.
All three sides sounded delectable but, on Blyth's recommendation, we nabbed the slow-smoked aubergine with macadamia butter — yes, Boulton uses a lot of butter. She knows what side her bread is … something something … on.
Anyway, macadamia butter made from grilled eggplant purees plus blitzed raw macadamia nuts, seasoned with sherry vinegar, was piped onto the slow-smoked vegetable, which was surprisingly chewy. A must-have side dish for $18.
The one misfire of Boulton's rustic yet spectacular cookery was the charcoaled kipfler potato with smoked butter (more butter!) and Geraldton wax ($18). Sliced lengthways, the spud was too hard, too dull, too bland. Too bad, because the rest of our meal had us in raptures. Did I mention the bread and butter? Sonny's in Mt Hawthorn. Credit: Supplied
For dessert we had the Basque cheesecake, which had a burnt top sprinkled with salt — basically, salted caramel. Under the lid, the cake had perfect consistency, creamy but firm.
The best $16 you'll spend all year. You'd struggle to find a better iteration from Bilbao to Pamplona.
We paired the cheesecake with a delicious Pedro Ximenez from Chouette in the Swan Valley, a solera blend going back to when Pedro Almodovar released High Heels.
Readers may recall I reviewed Sonny's about two years ago. Why have I returned so soon?
Two reasons. Firstly, Boulton is rightly regarded as one of Perth's best and brightest culinary talents. Last time I ate here, she was working at Bar Rogue, which has also been reviewed. (Head to the Food Hub section of thewest.com.au to sift through 600-plus restaurant reviews.)
Clearly, her love of fresh produce, fermentation and wood-fired cooking is sympatico with what Blyth hopes to achieve in her impressive first foray as a restaurant owner and operator.
Secondly, it's a great room, great service and now truly great food.
While it might be named after a pooch, Sonny's has not gone to the dogs. Sonny's in Mt Hawthorn. Credit: Supplied
126 Hobart St, Mount Hawthorn
Wednesday-Thursday, 4pm-late. Friday-Sunday, midday-late.
sonnysbar.com.au
Yes
Super cool neighbourhood bar and restaurant. Two years after opening, Sonny's hums along with excellent wood-fired dishes and a vibrant drinks list. If you can't decide what you want from the concise and ever-changing menu, go for the $70 per person chef's selection.