Ask Lucas Fernandes to describe his favourite Western Australian meal, and he doesn’t overcomplicate it: Shark Bay scallops, brown-butter emulsion, finger lime and a glass of coastal Chardonnay. For Fernandes, Executive Chef at Perth’s State Buildings and COMO The Treasury, the dish showcases the state’s cuisine in miniature, exemplifying restraint, clarity and confidence in the ingredient. For Emma Farrelly, the State Buildings’ Director of Wine and Hospitality, the choice of Chardonnay is no accident. “For me, the flavour of Western Australia is salinity,” she says. “So many of our great wine regions are in close proximity to the ocean, so we see this beautiful, salty ocean influence across many of the wines.”
Western Australia’s culinary identity is inseparable from distance, coastline, climate and isolation, shaped by produce that can be exceptional, but arrives on its own terms and in its own time. At both COMO The Treasury and other restaurants occupying the same historic State Buildings, those conditions determine what appears on the plate, what is poured into the glass and how a visitor encounters the city. Across Wildflower, Post, Long Chim, Petition, and the precinct’s bars, the proposition is clear: Perth is no longer just an outpost of Australia’s food and wine conversation.
Perth’s strong connection to exceptional local produce, world-class wine regions and multicultural influences has created a dining culture that is both globally informed and distinctly Western Australian
“This is a defining chapter for Australia,” Fernandes says. In his 16 years in Perth, he has watched serious restaurants and wine bars spread beyond Perth’s centre into the suburbs. Farrelly sees more than a run of fashionable openings. “What is happening in Perth today is more than a trend,” she says. “Perth’s strong connection to exceptional local produce, world-class wine regions and multicultural influences has created a dining culture that is both globally informed and distinctly Western Australian.”
The State Buildings give that culture a focused stage, but the kitchens do not speak with one voice. Fernandes sets the broader philosophy, while the individual head chefs translate it through their own techniques, backgrounds and supplier relationships.
Wildflower is the most explicit in its relationship to place. Its menus follow the six Noongar seasons, a more precise framework than the imported four-season calendar. “The way we honour the Noongar principles is by getting the team to learn what each of the seasons means,” Fernandes says. “The menu is a reflection of what the land is giving us to cook.” Head Chef Stephen Thompson brings European training to that idea. The Irish-born chef worked in kitchens including Fera at Claridge’s and Hélène Darroze at The Connaught before moving to Western Australia, where grower relationships and an excitingly unfamiliar pantry now shape his cooking.
Post, which Fernandes calls "the heart of the buildings, and also the heart of the city," filters Italian hospitality through Western Australian produce. Long Chim brings Thai street-food tradition into conversation with what can be grown locally. At Petition, Head Chef Jessica Roe draws on her childhood spent on a farm south of Perth, where freshly caught shellfish and steak were cooked over an open fire as the sun went down. She has since represented Australia at the Culinary World Cup and was named Young Chef of the Year at the 2026 The West Australian Good Food Guide Awards. Her approach has been to refine one of the city's busiest kitchens rather than remake it. "All our restaurants and bars have their own story and connection to Western Australia," Fernandes says. What unites them is a principle, not a house style: "Stay true to your ingredients. You don't need much when you only use local and fresh produce."
That discipline costs convenience. Wildflower once delayed an artichoke dish for six weeks because the crop was not ready. At Long Chim, winter can force a full menu rethink because “most Thai vegetables don’t like the cold weather,” Fernandes explains. But the same geography also creates abundance, from marron, "a freshwater shellfish so delicate and sweet you don't have to add much for it to taste good," to Manjimup truffle. "Nobody expects one of the best black truffles in the world to come from Western Australia, but the southwest produces truffles that are now exported all over the world," Fernandes says.
Farrelly's cellar moves with the same seasonality. "It is so important the wines we're pouring are well matched to the dishes of the season," she explains. During Djilba, the Noongar season that includes August, she leans toward richer wines. "I believe wine acts as a seasoning to food," she says, citing a current Wildflower tuna dish paired with the 2018 Sittella Grand Vintage Rosé, whose acidity cuts through the salt and fat and adds a savoury, umami counterpoint.
Both Farrelly and Fernandes know that for many visitors, a stay at COMO The Treasury may be their first meaningful encounter with Western Australian food and wine. "I ensure our wine lists feature outstanding representation from Western Australia's diverse wine regions, with a generous selection available by the glass," Farrelly says. Her decade of list-building directs guests beyond Margaret River Chardonnay towards Frankland River Shiraz and Swan Valley Chenin Blanc – evidence of a broader wine culture still being discovered. Back vintages are spread across the precinct: older Australian wines at Wildflower, mature Barolo and Barbaresco at Post.
Hotel restaurants, Farrelly says, should never be "an afterthought or simply an extension of the hotel itself"; they should stand alone "as destination dining experiences." At COMO The Treasury and the State Buildings, the restaurants do more than feed guests – they offer a gateway to Western Australia’s coast, vineyards, native ingredients and producers, and to a state increasingly assured of its culinary identity.
From 1st to 31st August, the Plateful Perth festival takes over the city, spotlighting the region’s finest food and drink. The International Pinot Noir Tasting also takes place on 29th August, with the State Buildings offering an all-day immersion into Pinot Noir. For more information, or to discover Wildflower, Post and the State Buildings' wider restaurants and bars, click here.
