Seven Freo Restaurants Plate Up WA

Plating Up WA is a month-long culinary celebration held through June 2025 across Western Australia.

Organised by Buy West Eat Best, this initiative showcases the state’s exceptional local produce by featuring WA-inspired dishes at participating restaurants and venues.

Fremantle Shipping News attended the launch on Monday 19 May at the stunning Mas Vino Wine Bar in Perth’s Pan Pacific Hotel.

Uma’s Executive Chef Xerxes Bodhanwala created a mouth-watering selection of canapés showcasing some of WA’s most delicious ingredients. Guests also enjoyed panel discussions about WA’s food and beverage sector while networking and meeting other attendees.

From 1-31 June this year, 45 venues across WA are turning up the heat with specially crafted dishes that hero the best of our local produce – all part of the deliciously popular Plating Up WA campaign.

Seven Fremantle restaurants have joined the program. So diners are in for a real treat.

From coastal eateries in Fremantle to wineries in the Swan Valley, bustling cafes in the Mid West, and restaurants nestled in the Southern Forests and South West, venues will be plating up everything from breakfasts and long lunches to grazing boards and dinners.

It was great to chat with Sina Sucuka from Fremantle Octopus Co, O’Connor. Phil Hall, from Hall’s Family Dairy, Wokalup told me all about his herd of 170 happy cows. Stephanie Caron represented Funk Drinks, who on the day provided orange, and cloudy apple juices, and Kepa Kwab – an alcohol free soda.

Plating Up WA is now in its seventh year, and since its launch in 2018, the campaign has showcased more than 300 venues. Plating Up WA supports WA’s food, beverage, hospitality and tourism during the winter months.

In 2024, Plating Up WA reached 18,000 unique website visitors and clocked over 3 million social media impressions.

So, whether you’re a seasoned foodie or just someone who loves a good meal made with local love, this is your chance to explore new venues, meet talented chefs, and support WA’s incredible growers and producers.

Close to 300 venues across the state have taken part in this much-loved annual campaign. Breakfast, lunch, dinner or grazing, chefs creatively plate up in their support of WA’s local producers.

This year’s dishes showcase a bounty of fresh local ingredients —wild-caught fish, sweet WA prawns and yabbies, succulent beef, pork and lamb, artisan cheeses, seasonal fruits, vibrant veggies, and more. Whether you’re craving a comforting winter classic or a bold, seasonal twist, there’s a dish for every taste and every budget.

Participating venues receive an ingredient register (shopping list) of Buy West Eat Best program members to consider in their dish creation.

The campaign runs for the whole month of June, one of the quietest months of the year. Book your table via the Plating Up WA website today. Bookings open from midday Monday19 May 2025 at platingupwa.com

These are the Freo restaurants in the program and there are some absolutely stunning dishes on the menu:

Bib and Tucker
• Dish: Hot smoked Fremantle Octopus tart, confit fennel, saltbush puff pastry, fennel soubise, Block 275 Canola

Jetty Bar & Eats
• Dish: Charred Amelia Park Lamb Kofta, La Deliziascamorza cheese, tomato & capsicum salsa, smoked labneh made with Mundella yoghurt, chives

May Street Larder
• Dish: Honey-glazed Boddington lamb, tzatziki, rocket, dukkha, zuni pickles, pomegranate, house naan bread

Nonna’s Pizzeria & Cucina
• Dish: Sourdough ice-cream layered with beetroot custard, Great Southern Groves extra virgin olive oil

Tonic +Ginger
• Dish: Donnybrook beef tartare, pear, gochujang, crispy garlic, pappadum

Two Dogs Laughing
• Dish: Banksia smoked mandarin mojo, Linley Valley Pork, mandarin and feta salsa, La Tortilla taco, mandarin hot sauce

Young George
• Dish: Rotto scallops, smoked apple, buttermilk, Block 275 canola oil and seeds

Buy West Eat Best promotes the ‘buy local’ message and contributing to the growth of Western Australia’s food and beverage industry. When you see the distinctive Buy West Eat Best bite mark logo you can be assured that you are buying food and beverage that has been grown, farmed, fished, processed, prepared and served right here in WA. Take a bit of time when grocery shopping to by and support local producers. insert logo.

WA’s food and beverage industry is valued at $8 billion, with more than 1500 food and beverage manufacturing businesses employing around 20,000 people across the State, with an annual turnover of $16 billion.

Jump online, browse venue listings, explore mouth-watering menus, and book a table to taste the season.

Enjoy!

* Words and photographs by Jean Hudson @jeansodyssey.

Jean is our regular Shipping and Sailing Correspondent and also a regular feature writer and photographer here on the Shipping News. You may also like to follow up her informative Places I Love stories, as well as other feature stories and Freo Today photographs, right here.

~ If you’d like to COMMENT on this or any of our stories, don’t hesitate to email our Editor.

~ WHILE YOU’RE HERE –