Best Restaurants in Perth 2026

How Perth Eats

Perth dines early and ends early. Most kitchens stop taking orders by 21:30 on weekdays and 22:00 on weekends, which is closer to Stockholm than to Sydney. Lunch is the city's hidden strength — corporate spending from the iron ore and gas sectors makes Tuesday and Wednesday a more interesting service than Friday at Petition Kitchen, Long Chim and Rockpool Bar & Grill, where the mining and engineering bench books out two-hour tables and a sommelier walks the room.

Reservations sit on SevenRooms (Wildflower, Petition Kitchen, Long Chim), Now Book It (Gibney, Must Winebar, Santini), and OpenTable (the Crown rooms — Nobu, Rockpool, Bistro Guillaume). Booking windows release roughly six weeks out for the State Buildings tier and four to eight weeks for the Crown precinct. Tipping is not the contract: the bill arrives with service, and weekend surcharges of 10 to 15 per cent are visible on every menu — a 10 per cent gratuity on a fine-dining bill is generous, not expected.

The dress code is uniformly relaxed for a city this wealthy. A jacket is welcome at Wildflower, Rockpool and Fraser's at dinner but never required; smart shirts and good denim pass at Gibney, Petition Kitchen and Must Winebar. Cottesloe restaurants set their own clock: Sunday long lunch starts at 12:30 and runs until staff begin the room turn at 17:00, and the queue for an outside table at Gibney builds from 11:45 on hot days. The August–November wildflower season and the AFL finals weekend in late September are the two windows when restaurants hold less inventory than usual; if you are planning a trip then, book before the calendar releases.

Margaret River is the standing weekend escape — most serious Perth diners eat at Vasse Felix, Cullen and Wills Domain at least once a quarter, and a meal there is part of how the local food culture trains its palate. Within the city, the regional pride is Noongar-led: marron from the southwest, gigantic Albany rock oysters, smoked saltbush lamb, finger lime, wattleseed and lemon myrtle have shifted in fifteen years from novelty to base ingredients on the top menus.

Best Neighbourhoods for Dinner

State Buildings, CBD. The corner of St Georges Terrace and Barrack Street holds Wildflower (rooftop), Petition Kitchen (ground floor), Long Chim (basement) and Post (wine bar) in one heritage block. The densest 30 metres of serious dining west of Adelaide. Best for first dates, deal closing, and visitors with a single Perth evening.

Cottesloe. Twenty minutes by Uber from the CBD; the Indian Ocean view changes the meal. Gibney runs the daytime conversation and Il Lido handles the Italian end. Sunday lunch is the move. Skip on a southerly: the wind kicks sand into the dining room.

Subiaco. A walkable hub of mid-priced rooms anchored by Bistro Guillaume Subiaco and Juniper & Bay. Quieter than Northbridge, more residential than the CBD; the right neighbourhood for a relaxed birthday with parents in town.

Highgate & Mount Lawley. Beaufort Street is where Perth eats on a weeknight. Must Winebar (since 2002, the city's longest-running serious wine list), Sayers and Maurice are walkable from each other. Smaller rooms, sharper local cooking, no Crown crowds.

Northbridge. Perth's late dining zone — the only neighbourhood where a 22:00 reservation is normal. Strong Vietnamese and Cantonese (Old Lane Street Eats, Tak Chee House), and the only sensible move for solo travellers landing on an evening flight.

Burswood (Crown precinct). Nobu Perth, Rockpool Bar & Grill and Bistro Guillaume sit inside the Crown Towers / Crown Metropol complex across the Swan River. Best for clients flown in on the company; the casino-adjacent context doesn't read romantic.

The Top 10

Ranked by editorial weight — food, room, occasion fit, value. Linked entries open the full review.

Wildflower

Modern Australian · State Buildings, CBD · AUD 165–245 per person

Jed Gerrard's six-Noongar-seasons tasting menu on the rooftop of COMO The Treasury — the only Perth room that competes with Melbourne's top tier. Book six weeks out for a first date in a city that flatters the candidate.

The menu rotates against the six Noongar seasons rather than European spring-summer-autumn-winter, and the kitchen sources marron from the Margaret River dams, saltbush lamb from the Wheatbelt, and finger lime from the South West. The room is small (52 seats), the service is intelligent rather than fussy, and the wine list leans hard on Western Australian growers — Vasse Felix, Cullen, Leeuwin Estate. Score grid 9 / 9 / 7.

Long Chim

Thai · State Buildings (basement), CBD · AUD 80–140 per person

David Thompson's Bangkok-stall menu in a heritage vault — the most uncompromising Thai south of Jakarta. Order the gaeng som curry and book the bar for solo nights.

Thompson, who built Nahm in London and Bangkok, opened Long Chim under the State Buildings in 2015 and trained a kitchen that holds the line on chilli, fish sauce and palm sugar without dialling down for the Australian palate. The chu chee curry, the gaeng massaman with neck and shin, and the green papaya som tam are the test dishes. Score 9 / 7.5 / 8.

Petition Kitchen

Modern Australian bistro · State Buildings, CBD · AUD 75–120 per person

Open kitchen, charcoal grill, a 130-bin Western Australian wine list, and a room that hums until midnight. The single best weeknight booking in the city.

The corner-block sibling of Wildflower; same building, ground floor, much more relaxed. The wood-fired Margaret River wagyu rump and the Esperance scallops with brown butter are the staples. The lunch bench is where the iron ore and gas executives close their deals between 12:30 and 14:30. Score 8.5 / 8 / 8.

Nobu Perth

Japanese · Crown Perth, Burswood · AUD 180–280 per person

The miso black cod has not changed since 1994; the Perth room runs the playbook properly. Book it when the client picks the city, not the room.

Nobu Matsuhisa's Crown Perth outpost opened in 2010 and remains the most reliable high-end Japanese in Western Australia. Sashimi tasting, yellowtail jalapeño, miso black cod and rock-shrimp tempura are the four dishes most of the room orders. The setting — casino hotel, low ceilings, no view — is the weakness. Score 8 / 7 / 6.5.

Rockpool Bar & Grill

Steakhouse · Crown Perth, Burswood · AUD 150–260 per person

Neil Perry's grass-fed Cape Grim and full-blood wagyu programme — the closing-the-deal steakhouse in Perth. Reserve a corner two-top for client dinners.

Rockpool's Crown outpost opened in 2009 and the steakhouse has held the WA corporate market since. The 36-month dry-aged Cape Grim ribeye, the David Blackmore wagyu rump cap, and the lobster roll are the orders. Wine list is one of the deepest in the country — over 800 bins, with vertical depth on Penfolds, Henschke and Wynns. Score 8.5 / 8 / 6.5.

Gibney

Modern Australian beachside · Marine Parade, Cottesloe · AUD 90–160 per person

The Indian Ocean is the second course at Gibney — Sunday lunch is the move, and Saturday dinner is the second move.

The Cottesloe corner-block dining room has held the city's beachside Sunday since 2018. Steve Dunn cooks a menu that runs hard on local seafood — sashimi-grade kingfish from Geraldton, Albany rock oysters, swordfish over coals. The dessert and cheese trolley still operates the old way and is worth the booking on its own. Score 8 / 9 / 7.

Garum

Italian (Roman) · State Buildings, CBD · AUD 90–150 per person

Guy Grossi cooks Roman food in a Western Australian heritage room — the carbonara is non-negotiable, the suckling pig is the secret order.

Grossi opened Garum in 2016, the second restaurant under the State Buildings precinct after Long Chim. The cacio e pepe is heavy on the Pecorino DOP, the saltimbocca alla romana is plated as it should be, and the porchetta on Sunday is the table to book. Score 8 / 7.5 / 7.5.

Fraser's

Modern Australian with view · Kings Park, West Perth · AUD 110–180 per person

The Kings Park rooftop view of the Swan River and the CBD — Perth's most postcard restaurant. Book the south side for the view, the north side for the conversation.

Fraser's has held the Kings Park lease since 1993 and the view does most of the talking. The kitchen is competent rather than dazzling — barramundi, marron, char-grilled Margaret River sirloin — and the room is the destination. The right booking for a parents-in-town dinner or a 50th birthday. Score 7.5 / 9 / 7.

Santini

Italian, pasta-led · State Buildings, CBD · AUD 75–120 per person

A pasta room that runs four shapes hand-cut and two extruded daily — book the bar for a late solo dinner.

Santini Bar & Grill opened in 2018 in the COMO The Treasury arcade and earns its weeknight bookings on the pasta line. The pappardelle al ragù, the tagliolini with WA black truffle in season, and the spaghettone with sea urchin are the orders. The wine list is short and tight — eighty bins, Italian-led. Score 8 / 7 / 8.

Must Winebar

French bistro / wine bar · Beaufort Street, Highgate · AUD 80–130 per person

The longest-running serious wine list in Western Australia — fourteen hundred bins, half by the glass. The right room for a low-stakes second date.

Russell Blaikie opened Must on Beaufort Street in 2002, and twenty-three years later the wine list is still the deepest non-cellar bin in the city. The food is solid French bistro — duck confit, steak tartare, escargots — and the bar runs a daily Coravin programme that opens otherwise-unreachable bottles by the glass. Score 7.5 / 7.5 / 8.

By Occasion

First Date

A first-date restaurant in Perth needs a room that doesn't shout and a menu that runs at conversation pace. Avoid the Crown precinct — the lighting flattens and the corridors give a casino-adjacent read. Stay in the CBD heritage block or move to a Cottesloe sunset.

Wildflower — six-course tasting, rooftop, low light. Book a window two-top.
Petition Kitchen — open kitchen, banquette, easy a-la-carte exit.
Gibney — beachside terrace, Saturday at 18:30 for the sunset over the Indian Ocean.

Close a Deal

Lunch over dinner in this city — the iron ore and gas calendars run 06:00 to 18:00 and a tasting menu after 19:30 reads as social rather than business. The room must allow a quiet conversation across the table and the wine list must allow a serious bottle without ceremony.

Rockpool Bar & Grill — the Perth deal-closing room. Cape Grim ribeye and a 1996 Penfolds Bin 707.
Petition Kitchen — book the banquette at 12:45 for a two-hour weekday lunch.
Garum — for European clients who want Italian rather than steak.

Birthday

The right birthday room in Perth depends on the decade. Thirties and forties favour Long Chim's chilli and Petition Kitchen's wine list; fifties and beyond move to Fraser's or Wildflower for the view and pacing.

Wildflower — six-course tasting menu, the room hits the brief for a milestone birthday.
Fraser's — Kings Park view, larger tables, generous service.
Long Chim — sharing format with a group of six to ten works.

Impress Clients

Clients flown in from Sydney or Singapore need the Western Australia argument made clearly. That means Noongar ingredients, Margaret River wine and a sense of place. Two rooms make the argument better than the rest.

Wildflower — the only Perth room that visiting clients photograph for the right reasons.
Nobu Perth — for Asia-based clients who want a familiar reference point.
Rockpool Bar & Grill — the steakhouse argument, the deepest wine list in the city.

Proposal

A Perth proposal works in three rooms — one rooftop, one Indian Ocean cliff, one tasting counter. Avoid Crown for this. The State Buildings rooftop is the lower-risk pick.

Wildflower — pre-arrange with the maître d' (Tom Schneider runs the floor) the week before.
Fraser's — book the south terrace at sunset.
C Restaurant — the revolving room on the 33rd floor of St Martins Tower; full city view, slow rotation.

Solo Dining

Perth's solo dining culture is stronger than its reputation suggests — counter seats at Long Chim, the bar at Must, the corner two-top at Santini all reward an unaccompanied diner.

Long Chim — counter seats, full menu, no friction.
Must Winebar — the Coravin programme is the case for solo.
Santini — bar seating, full pasta menu.

Team Dinner

Eight to fourteen people, Friday evening, no single dietary requirement vetoes the room. Sharing-format menus win these bookings outright.

Long Chim — banquet menu at AUD 110 per head, runs cleanly for ten.
Garum — the long table at the back, Roman family-style.
Petition Kitchen — private dining room for fourteen.

Perth Dining FAQ

What is the best restaurant in Perth in 2026?

Wildflower, on the rooftop of COMO The Treasury, is the editorial pick. Jed Gerrard's six-seasons menu — built on Noongar food calendar principles, with marron, smoked saltbush lamb and finger-lime desserts — is the only Perth tasting menu that genuinely competes with Melbourne and Sydney's top tier. Runners-up: Long Chim, Petition Kitchen, Nobu Perth, Rockpool Bar & Grill.

How far ahead should I book a top Perth restaurant?

Wildflower and Long Chim release tables roughly six weeks ahead and Friday and Saturday slots are gone within a day, especially during AFL finals and the August–September wildflower season when tourism doubles. Petition Kitchen, Gibney and Fraser's hold a meaningful share of tables for same-week bookings. Sunday lunch at Gibney needs three weeks in summer.

What is the tipping convention in Perth?

Tipping is not built into the Perth dining contract. Penalty rates already lift staff wages on weekends and public holidays, and the bill arrives with the service factored in. A 10 per cent tip on outstanding service at a fine-dining room is generous and appreciated; rounding up the bill at a neighbourhood place is standard. Surcharges of 10 to 15 per cent apply on Sundays and 15 per cent or more on public holidays — check the menu before you order.

Which Perth neighbourhood is best for dinner?

For a single dinner, the State Buildings precinct on the corner of St Georges Terrace and Barrack Street is the densest concentration of credible rooms in Western Australia — Wildflower, Petition Kitchen, Long Chim and Post all sit within a 90-second walk. For a beachside long lunch, Cottesloe (Gibney, Il Lido) at sunset. For a slower neighbourhood evening, head to Highgate or Mount Lawley.

How much does dinner cost in Perth?

Tasting menus at Wildflower run AUD 165–195 for six courses without wine, with wine pairings adding AUD 110–145. Nobu Perth and Rockpool Bar & Grill at Crown sit at AUD 180–280 per head ordering a la carte. Long Chim and Petition Kitchen come in at AUD 90–140. Neighbourhood rooms such as Must Winebar or Balthazar cluster around AUD 75–110 per head.

Where do Perth locals actually eat?

Locals avoid the Crown precinct on weekends and book Wildflower, Petition Kitchen and Long Chim for occasions, not Tuesdays. The weekday rotation runs through Highgate (Must Winebar, Sayers), Leederville's Italian rooms, Northbridge for late dining and Subiaco for lunch. Sunday is for long lunches at Gibney or Fraser's. Margaret River is the standing weekend escape — most serious Perth diners eat at Vasse Felix, Cullen and Wills Domain at least once a quarter.

Nearby Cities

Editorial Note

Reviewed by Fredrik Filipsson, editor — visited Q2 2026. All scores are integers on a 1–10 scale (food / ambience / value) and represent editorial judgement after dining anonymously and paying the full bill. RFK does not accept comped meals or sponsored placements in city rankings; affiliate links to OpenTable, SevenRooms and Now Book It earn the site a small commission at no cost to the reader. See the methodology page for the full scoring rubric.

Best Restaurants in Perth — By Occasion