Best Food in Perth: Where to Eat in Australia’s Sunniest City
Perth has quietly become one of the best food cities in Australia, and most of the country still hasn’t figured it out. Separated from the rest of the nation by thousands of kilometres of desert, Perth has developed a food culture that feels genuinely its own — shaped by proximity to some of the world’s finest seafood, a Mediterranean climate that produces outstanding produce, and a population that loves to eat well outdoors.
The city’s dining scene stretches from ultra-casual beachside fish and chips to fine-dining restaurants that can match anything in Sydney or Melbourne. The wine comes from Margaret River, the Swan Valley and several other world-class regions within easy driving distance. And the coffee — Perth takes its coffee very seriously indeed. You will not struggle to find a great flat white here.
This guide covers the best places to eat and drink in Perth, from the precincts worth exploring on foot to the dishes you absolutely must try while you’re here.
📋 TL;DR — the quick version
- ✅ Best precinct: Northbridge for sheer variety and energy at night; Leederville and Mount Lawley for a more relaxed neighbourhood feel.
- 🦞 Must-eat dish: Western Australian marron (freshwater crayfish) and Fremantle octopus — both are local specialities you won’t find as good anywhere else in Australia.
- ☕ Coffee culture: Perth is one of the best cities in Australia for specialty coffee. Seek out Telegram Coffee, Hylin and Five Senses.
- 🍷 Wine: Order anything from Margaret River. The cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay are world-class.
- 🏖️ Casual eating: Fish and chips from a proper Fremantle fish and chip shop, eaten on the waterfront, is one of life’s great simple pleasures.
- 🌅 Sunset dining: Several restaurants along the coast face due west — a sunset dinner over the Indian Ocean is the perfect Perth experience.
🦞 What to eat in Perth: the key dishes
Before diving into specific restaurants, it’s worth understanding what makes Perth’s food scene distinct. The city sits on the doorstep of some exceptional produce, and the best restaurants here take full advantage of that proximity.
🦀 Western Australian seafood
WA seafood is genuinely among the finest in the world. Western rock lobster is prized globally, but you can buy it here for a fraction of what it costs in Sydney or Tokyo. Fremantle octopus is another local standout — sweet, tender and completely different from the rubbery version you might have eaten elsewhere. Blue manna crabs are a WA institution, best steamed and pulled apart with your hands at a table covered in newspaper. And marron — the freshwater crayfish native to WA’s southwest — is delicate, sweet and unlike anything else you’ll eat.
🍞 Perth’s breakfast culture
Perth does breakfast and brunch exceptionally well. The combination of that sunlit climate, a culture of outdoor living and a genuinely strong cafe scene means that a weekend brunch here is an institution, not just a meal. Expect quality ingredients, interesting menus and queues at the most popular spots.
🏘️ The best food precincts in Perth
🌃 Northbridge
Northbridge is Perth’s entertainment and dining hub, just north of the CBD across the railway line. The streets here are dense with restaurants, bars, small bars and cafes covering an extraordinary range of cuisines. This is where you’ll find some of Perth’s best Asian food — Vietnamese pho shops, Japanese izakayas, Korean BBQ restaurants and Chinese yum cha are all here in abundance. William Street is the main strip. It gets lively from Thursday night onwards, and the weekend atmosphere is excellent.
🏠 Mount Lawley and Leederville
These inner-north suburbs have a more local, neighbourhood feel than Northbridge and are where Perth residents go for a genuinely excellent meal without the tourist crowds. Beaufort Street in Mount Lawley is lined with cafes, wine bars and restaurants at every price point. Leederville’s Oxford Street has a similar energy with excellent coffee shops, wine bars and some of the best casual dining in the city.
If you’re planning further afield, our guides to 3 Days in Perth Itinerary, Best Luxury Experiences Perth and Perth in One Day are well worth a look.
🏖️ Fremantle
Fremantle — 30 minutes south of Perth by train — has one of the best food cultures of any city its size in Australia. The South Terrace strip (known locally as “the Cappuccino Strip”) has been the city’s outdoor cafe heart for decades, and it remains excellent. The Fremantle Markets are worth a Saturday morning visit for fresh produce, WA honey, local cheeses and street food. For seafood, the Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour is where you go — the fish and chip shops here buy directly from the boats and the quality shows.
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🌊 Cottesloe and the coastal strip
The beachside suburbs north of Fremantle — Cottesloe, Swanbourne, Scarborough — have excellent cafes and restaurants positioned to take maximum advantage of the Indian Ocean views. Cottesloe in particular has several very good beachfront restaurants where you can eat fresh seafood while watching the sun set directly over the water. It is, frankly, a magnificent way to spend an evening.
☕ The best coffee in Perth
Perth coffee culture is serious and the quality is high. The city’s café scene rivals Melbourne for sheer dedication to the craft, with a strong preference for lighter roasts, precise brewing and interesting single origins. A few names worth seeking out:
- ☕ Telegram Coffee (Northbridge): One of Perth’s most celebrated specialty roasters, with a beautiful fitout and consistently excellent coffee. Get the filter if you want to taste what they’re doing at their best.
- ☕ Hylin (various locations): Outstanding brunch food paired with genuinely excellent coffee. Always busy for good reason.
- ☕ Five Senses Coffee (various): A WA institution that was pioneering specialty coffee in Perth before most of the country had heard of it. Still excellent.
- ☕ Tiisch (Mount Hawthorn): A small, neighbourhood cafe doing beautiful things with both coffee and food. Worth a detour.
🍷 Wine in Perth and Western Australia
You cannot eat and drink well in Perth without engaging with Western Australian wine, which is produced in some of the most exciting wine regions in the country. The Margaret River region — about three hours south of Perth — produces cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay of genuine world-class quality. The Swan Valley, just 30 minutes from the city, is Western Australia’s oldest wine region with a more relaxed, heritage feel. And the Great Southern region — around Denmark, Mount Barker and Albany — produces outstanding cool-climate varieties including riesling, shiraz and pinot noir.
In Perth’s restaurants, you’ll find most wine lists lean heavily on WA producers, which is almost always the right call. Look for names like Cullen, Vasse Felix, Leeuwin Estate and Voyager Estate from Margaret River; Sittella and Sandalford from the Swan Valley; and Castelli and Plantagenet from the Great Southern.
🐟 Best seafood in Perth
The seafood in Perth is the city’s single greatest culinary asset. Here’s where to find the best of it:
For more inspiration, check out Best Day Trips from Perth and Best Food in Brisbane.
- 🦞 Lobster Shack (Cervantes): A day trip north of Perth to Cervantes brings you to the Lobster Shack, where you can tour the live lobster holding tanks and eat extraordinarily fresh WA rock lobster. It’s one of the best seafood experiences in the country.
- 🐙 Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour fish and chip shops: The Kailis Bros Fish Market Café is an institution. Choose your fresh fish at the counter and have it cooked to order. Eat it outside watching the boats come and go.
- 🦀 Steve’s (Nedlands): Steve’s has been serving mud crabs and blue manna crabs to Perth since 1984. It’s casual, loud and wonderful — exactly what a crab restaurant should be.
- 🐠 Balthazar Restaurant (CBD): For an upscale seafood dinner, Balthazar offers outstanding local fish paired with an exceptional wine list in a beautiful dining room.
👉 Book a Perth restaurant experience on GetYourGuide →
🌏 Perth’s best restaurants by cuisine
Perth’s multicultural population has produced a genuinely diverse restaurant scene. The city has long had strong Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Greek and Southeast Asian food cultures, and newer waves of migration have added Korean, Vietnamese and Middle Eastern cuisines to the mix.
- 🍜 Best Vietnamese: Little Fish Vietnamese Kitchen in Northbridge for outstanding pho and banh mi.
- 🍱 Best Japanese: Kohi Coffee and Omakase Bar for remarkable value omakase; Nobu Perth for a special-occasion splurge.
- 🥙 Best Middle Eastern: Al-Siddique in Northbridge for seriously good falafel, shawarma and sweets at very low prices.
- 🍕 Best Italian: Lalla Rookh on King Street in the CBD for an outstanding enoteca experience with excellent natural wines.
- 🥩 Best fine dining: Wildflower on the rooftop of the Como The Treasury hotel for tasting menus that showcase WA ingredients with genuine creativity.
🛒 Markets and fresh produce
Perth’s markets are a great way to connect with local producers and pick up outstanding fresh food. The Fremantle Markets (Friday to Sunday) are the most famous — a heritage-listed market building with stalls selling fresh produce, local food products, street food and crafts. The Subiaco Farmers Market on Saturday mornings is smaller but excellent for high-quality local food producers. And the Perth City Farm Market in East Perth runs on Sunday mornings with a strong emphasis on organic and sustainably produced food.
💡 Tips for eating in Perth
- 🚂 Use the train to Fremantle: Parking in Fremantle is a genuine headache. The Fremantle line from Perth CBD takes about 30 minutes and drops you right in the middle of everything.
- 📅 Book ahead for popular spots: Perth’s best restaurants fill up on weekends, particularly Friday and Saturday nights. Book ahead at any place you’re excited about.
- 🌅 Eat dinner earlier than you might at home: Perth is notably earlier in its dining culture than Sydney or Melbourne. Many restaurants start filling up from 6pm, and 7pm is peak time.
- 🌊 Go to Cottesloe for sunset: Whatever else you eat in Perth, make sure one evening involves a sundowner at a beachside bar in Cottesloe while the sun goes down over the Indian Ocean. It’s one of those experiences that will stay with you.
Perth rewards curious eaters who are willing to look beyond the obvious. The city’s best food experiences often happen in unexpected places — a nondescript building in Northbridge hiding an extraordinary bowl of pho, a tiny cafe in an inner suburb doing the best flat white you’ve had all trip, a boat harbour fish and chip shop where the fish was caught yesterday. The quality is here. You just have to know where to look — and now you do.
Exploring Australia’s food and wine scene, read our guides to things to do in Perth, best restaurants in Perth, the best time to visit Perth, and best wineries Margaret river.
