Next Door

Unique, different, and right Next Door

Right in the heart of Fremantle, on the cafe strip the locals know so well, there's something a little bit fresher and a little bit different from the rest - and that place is Next Door.

We visited Next Door on a chilly Monday night, and joined the groups of friends, families and couples already enjoying the warm atmosphere and friendly service. Next Door is actually next door to Gino's on South Terrace, and has a number of tables that spill out onto the sidewalk to cater for those who like their sunshine or people watching, and a whole lot more comfortably-spaced tables inside for those who like the warmer air or being close to the bar.

The café is fully licensed, and has an extensive wine list and fully-equipped bar. Part-owner Nick has great ideas for the interior of the restaurant, and plans to deck it out with funky couches and décor for both those who want to chill out and have a glass of wine, or those who want the full three-course meals.

For people like me who check their watches at eight thirty at night and panic because everything is starting to close, Next Door is the place to go. With the kitchen open until ten on weekdays and eleven on weekends, I can check my watch at nine on a Tuesday night and still have more than enough time to drive from my house in the Northern Suburbs.

The menu is filled with interesting dishes created by head chef Suze Regter, but there's also a specials board that changes daily. Some of the specialties of the house are the tasting plates, which can vary every day. The tasting plate that we tried included beef cappacio with rocket and olive oil, potato rosti with house-cured salmon, chicken and hazelnut mousse, tomato marinated prawns, fennel and crème freche salad, and a number of other tasty treats. I couldn't stay away from the beef cappacio, which was absolutely divine.

The tasting plate was very much the dish that you would order with a glass of wine, and graze over for the afternoon while chatting with friends or going over the latest work projects. We had a few arguments about what wine would be most suitable; Suze suggested champagne, while the usual red-or-white argument reigned in the corner - but I decided that you could just pick your favourite wine, and it would taste great with the varied selection on the tasting plate. After all, when does your favourite wine ever go perfectly with a meal you pick from a menu? When you order a Next Door Tasting Plate, that's when.

After I had hastened to make sure there wasn't a scrap of beef cappacio left on the dish, we moved on to the Vitello Tonnato. This was possibly one of the most unusual dishes I'd ever seen - thinly-sliced sheets of veal, drizzled with tuna mayonnaise and capers, topped with fresh rocket. I was a little apprehensive - tuna mayo with veal? But after gathering up a twirl of everything on my fork and tasting it, I was gone. The flavours mix together richly to create a cool, soft and fresh taste. It's a completely different take on veal, and the contrast of the tuna mayo with the burst of extra flavour from the capers add up to a great dish.

We almost went as far as licking the plate clean, then moved on to the Fish of the Day. Today's fish was king snapper served with skinny fries and capsicum coulis, which we tried with a glass of Cardinia Ranges White. I'm not always a fan of fish, as sometimes you don't get much of a portion and what you do get is a bit too fishy, but the king snapper from Next Door was a sizeable chunk of soft, hot white flesh that proved popular with my Goldilocks-esque 'not too bland but not too fishy' tastes. Instead it had a lovely taste that blended with the capsicum coulis, which consisted of little chunks of capsicum, eggplant, zucchini, tomato, onion, garlic, olive oil and herbs. I chomped happily on the skinny fries, which were golden and crispy, and used the capsicum coulis as a dipping sauce - try this, it's great!

Next up was the Field Mushroom, which turned out to be much, much more than just a field mushroom. It was a mountain of sautéed spinach, a big juicy field mushroom, and a soft brie-like cheese called taleggio, topped with Spanish prosciutto. The cheese melted into the mushroom, making a juicy treat, and a glass of the Howard Park Riesling. The whole dish was really substantial, and you can request it minus prosciutto to make a great vegetarian dish, which is also gluten-free.

We were almost full to bursting but couldn't resist a dessert or two. The Pot-Roasted Quince is a dish with an unusual title that packs a whole heap of flavour. As the title suggests, the quince is pot-roasted with sugar and cinnamon in the oven for a few hours, where the flesh becomes rich and soft. Served with a scoop of vanilla icecream and some strips of icing-sugar-coated strudel, it's possibly the richest dessert I've ever tried - and absolutely delicious.

By now I was definitely full to bursting, but then heard rumour that Next Door does the best sticky date pudding around. Of course I couldn't let an allegation like that pass, so I had to judge for myself.

They're right, it is the best sticky date pudding around. It can rest its case.

Despite the whole full-to-bursting thing, I wasn't uncomfortably so, which I was rather grateful for. Though they serve rich, filling dishes, Next Door doesn't make the kind of food that sits like a brick in your stomach.

Instead it makes creative, different food that doesn't follow the conventional way of most cafes and restaurants around. The tasting plate was a definite winner with me - Next Door puts a different twist on everything they serve, and actually manages to do it really well, still turning out food that you can't get enough of. So if you want the kind of fare that you'll never get tired of, try something different and go Next Door.

By Katy Scott