Welcome to Nine Fine Foods

Our table of three had the omakase tasting menu.. saves having to choose. The entree sashimi was wonderful, salmon, tuna, scallop, prawn and a white fish, could have been king fish with avocado and some restrained salad greens. All was wonderfully fresh and tasty. Then came the duck and scallop combo, with two sauces, sweet chili and I think sesame something. Both duck and scallops were cooked perfectly and the combination was delicious. The main dish required a choice between salmon and steak. Two salmons and one steak was ordered, and both were disappointing. Overcooked meat and fish, second rate vegetables and non existing contrast or delicacy of flavour we have seen from here in the past. Desert was some ice cream.

Wow... I must admit I am fussy and can be very hard to please but ... again WOW. We had the $55 five course set menu and this was divine... the quality of food was evident, portion sizes perfect... I walked away feeling nicely full and having had tried a range of dishes. Did I mention the quality?? Sorry but not often am I surprised like this. I really enjoyed the mix of modern western cuisine with traditional Japanese.

The service could have been a bit friendlier but apart from that everything was standard.

Very nice and not too noisy. Apparently undergoing renovation but this was not felt at all during our meal.

Definately would recommend this for the food! I will definitely be going back

I discovered this restaurant after hearing it mentioned on a food blog. Looking for somewhere new to eat my partner and I ventured here at very short notice. I rang to book a reservation at 6:20 on Saturday evening only to be told it was completely full. After a few minutes, however, some re-shuffeling meant we could spend the night here....and not to the point that we felt we were sitting on top of other patrons.

The ambience is clean and simple, with lovely relaxed background music. There were signs advertising for staff and only two people working on the floor but we never noticed this, constantly being looked after the entire night. The selling point for this restaurant is by far the food. I am a huge sea-food fan and was in complete heaven. And the presentation was A grade. My partner and I shared a tasting plate ($35) which was neither too much nor too little.

The only possibly downfall to be had for the entire night was the plastic tablecloths!

Fine Food at Nine

Finally got to come to this place last night after dropping big hints to the b'friend.

We walked into a warm luscious red room and were greeted by a waiter that gave us a choice of a few seats. We chose near the window.

Once seated we were given water (choice of tap or mineral) and menus and wine was poured and placed in an ice bucket. As we perused the menu our waiter came back and told us about the specials of the day, going through all the details.

We decided on the cold tasting plate to share for entree, which consisted of various sashimi salmon and tuna salads, beef tataki, eel, prawn salad and scallops. Each morsel was simply divine and we loved picking over it and detecting the flavours and trying to decide which was our favourite, like excited children we would try a new morsel and say oooh quick try this one its my favourite. It was exciting to eat and pleasing to the palate.

For mains I decided to continue the seafood theme and chose the Salmon and Scallops. It was beautifully presented with 3 portions of sweet potato mash with a piece of rare salmon and 2 prawn crumbed things with a scallop and caviar. Each mouthful was like a rainbow in my mouth :)

The b'friend chose the Duck Violet which was one of the specials consisting of a duck breast on rhubarb and something mash with a red wine sauce, was very exotic tasting spicy but sweet but tart all in one. Very nice but also very rich. I definitely won in the choosing stakes.

After all of this there was no way we could fit in dessert, even to share.

A piano player came and played for about half of our meal and was just spectacular, you cannot beat the sound of a live piano resonating off the wooden floor boards. Our waiter (I wish I got his name) was professional and efficient and oh so likeable.

Would be honoured to eat here again.

I had been here before, not long after it opened about 3-4 years ago, for a private function. We booked the restaurant out, and were treated to a night of Japanese finger food and what in Spanish would have been tapas... and it was fabulous.

I'm surprised it has taken me this long to return there as a paying customer - but return I did, with my partner and another couple (one of whom was celebrating his 70th birthday, and the choice of Japanese was his. The choice of restaurant was mine).

A BIG advantage for us was that the restaurant is BYO - so a six-pack of Asahi beer accompanied some Pewsey Vale Riesling and Gewurztraminer. These fitted the bill perfectly, as it turned out.

The restaurant offers a range of hot or cold tasting plates (for 2) for entree, and my guests duly dived head first into one. They were initially a little dissatisfied with the size of the plate (a small quantity for $33 but a range of morsels).....

..... until they got to main course, and fully sated themselves with what was offered. The initial tasting plate may have appeared lean, but was the perfect foil for what was to follow. Not surprisingly in a Japanese restaurant, seafood was the order of the day for the majority of my party, and I am advised that it was "bloody good".

For myself (who doesn't eat seafood) the options were limited, but especially as I love duck, I came out of it well, too. Duck Violet (not 'violent') was an intriguing dish and it surprised me with the combination of ingredients and subsequent dominant flavours (no, violet didn't dominate). Like most well-prepared Japanese food, the attention to detail and delicate combination of flavours is paramount, and we were definitely impressed on this occasion.

"Do yourself a favour"

It's amazing that so far nobody has written a review on our very favourite restaurant. If you love all that is Japanese and a lot more then this little gem must not be missed. Perhaps its location on the Northbridge/Highgate border has kept it hidden for us lucky ones, but from the customer's point of view it is quiet and there is ample parking.

Owner/Chef Muneki's creativity, presentation and excellent preparation must make him Perth's equivalent of Sydney's Tetsuya at a fraction of the price. Best described as Japanese Fusion, it's a bit like Christmas, eagerly anticipating what's on the specials board.

Last night we started with lightly poached oysters wrapped in sashimi salmon with a deliciously different sauce and a stack of sashimi interlaced with green leaves and with all the right accompaniments. Mains were a gastronomic delight with a stunning dish of Toothfish and scallops magnificently presented with most unusual accompaniments and a generous ?Tuna steak with Soft shelled Crab.

Nine is not licensed but for us this is a plus as we can trot out our best from the cellar to accompany the wonderful food without excessive cost.

A cool but low key guitarist plays periodically and the total bill of $89 ended the evening perfectly.

Tony Baker
On our umteenth visit last night.