The Loose Box, Mundaring, WA

[Julian Teoh]

My partner and I spent an amazing weekend at The Loose Box...well actually, it was a Thursday night, not a weekend, as you can't get a dinner / accommodation booking there on the weekend until March. At least that was the case last December.

I am not going to say too much as I have been retained to write a couple of articles about it, but the menu was as follows:

Amuse-bouche: frittata

Appetisers: Prawn and coconut broth with kaffir lime leaf

Socca (nicoise chick-pea crepe) with eggplant confit

Entrees: Roasted WA prawns with saffron emulsion

Veal kidney "chasseur" en croustade

Compliments of the Chef: "Sausage" of chicken mousseline stuffed with deboned

pig trotter topped with shavings of

Manjimup black truffles and Dijon mustard sauce.

Mains: Amelia Park rack of lamb with truffle infused mash, star anise and

cardamom

Daube of beef cheek in shiraz sauce, mashed potato

Green leaf salad with reggiano and balsamic

Desserts: Cheese Plate

Raspberry "Clafoutis" layered with custard and meringue

Coffee (of your choice) and petits fours

The meal was excellent. Alain Fabregues (MOF 1991) is perhaps one of the finest technicians of French cuisine I have come across, not just in Australia but overseas as well, and he is possessed of remarkable intelligence and charisma.

Fabregues was also the "name chef" in the Genting bid to build an Integrated Resort on Singapore's Sentosa Island. It will be interesting to see how he juggles The Loose Box with his duties there, which will include a restaurant and a truffle boutique selling fresh Manjimup black truffles.

The price at dinner is $120 a head plus drinks and service. If you are staying the night, the package for accommodation, dinner and breakfast for two is $440.00. "Accommodation" is a luxury cottage in the self-contained grounds behind the restaurant, a very intimate and comfortable environment. Breakfast consists of a carved rockmelon stuffed with strawberries, house-made strawberry jam and butter, spinach quiche, brioche, glazed fruit loaf, croissant, a gi-normous bowl of muesli (plus milk) and a flask of juice.

The only weakness is that I find the by-the-glass wine selection a bit limited. For couples, and presuming you aren't ordering two bottles of wine for two, you may have to pick an all-rounder like an aged sparkling rose or a lighter red to suit all of the courses.

Otherwise, full marks to the crew for a thoroughly professional pampering. Contrary to reports you might hear, I didn't find the food here to be outdated. Sure, there are visual flourishes that you may not have seen for a while, for example, the stylised meringue dove on top of your dessert or the little heart designs artfully teased into the gravy of your daube, but I find these little tricks a perfect prelude to the pleasure of eating.

The Loose Box has been around for a while, and frankly, I hope it hangs around for a lot longer.

Edited January 31, 2007 by Julian Teoh (log)

[Taubear]

Sounds like an excellent reason to plan a trip to Western Australia and the price including the accomadation seems very reasonable. Thankyou for sharing your experience with us Julian.

[Shinboners]

Sounds like an excellent reason to plan a trip to Western Australia and the price including the accomadation seems very reasonable. Thankyou for sharing your experience with us Julian.

*Yes, I know it's the same as what Taubear posted, but it sums up perfectly what I wanted to say.

[misgabi]

We ate there on a trip to Perth in 2002 and have been trying to get back for a longer stay ever since.

My husband still sighs over the bread rolls and the beef - a pinnacle that no other restaurant has ever reached.

Gorgeous - and worth the flight to Perth from the east !!!