In the heart of buzzing Beaufort Street, Highgate is Must Winebar. Opened in 2001 by Russell Blaikie, Must is an iconic neighbourhood favourite popular for both its food, excellent service and a celebrated wine list. Recently, I visited Must Winebar for the first time with my family on a Sunday night. We were seated on the first level, overlooking the ground floor with live music playing at the bar, slowly sipping on our champagnes and being in the moment.

After placing our orders, we received a complimentary basket of crusty and fluffy bread. We started off with the Must Charcuterie plate which comprises of the Jambon Persillé, Paté en Croute, Rillettes with Cornichons, and Black Olive Tapenade. The Must Charcuterie plate is a great entree with lovely textures and flavours to start.   

Must Charcuterie Plate

For the mains, I had one of Must Winebar’s signature dish, the Angel Hair pasta. The freshly made Angel Hair pasta is tossed with blue manna crab, tomato, chilli, basil, cream and 34 degrees South Organic Olive Oil. Perfectly cooked to al dente, it’s a dish bursting full of flavours. Now I know why the Angel Hair pasta dish is highly raved upon by many at Must and has been on the menu for a very long time.

Angel Hair pasta

Mum had the duck leg confit with pumpkin puree, baby carrots, crispy black pig bacon and jus. It’s deliciously crisp on the skin and tender on the bone with an additional crunch from the crispy black pig bacon.

Duck leg confit

Dad had the beef fillet with red wine jus from the Plats Du Jour section of the menu. I sneaked a taste of dad’s dish and thought that the beef fillet was cooked perfectly to medium. It’s tender and juicy, complementing well with the red wine jus.

Beef fillet with red wine jus

After a very fulfilling mains, we still had some room for desserts. We had the

• White chocolate mousse, citrus fruits, almond crumbs and blood orange granita
• Coffee cream, chocolate soil, milk sorbet and hazelnuts
• Dark Chocolate Tart, poached cumquats and blood orange sorbet

We enjoyed each of the desserts, all unique in their very own flavour. If you are a big fan of chocolate, you will love the dark chocolate tart. It’s smooth, rich in chocolate and slightly chewy, similar to textures of Royce Chocolates. The Coffee Cream is another delightful dessert with little crunchy surprises from the hazelnuts with a combination of good texture from the chocolate soil. If you want a light and refreshing dessert, the white chocolate mousse is definitely for you. It’s smooth and light in texture with fresh flavours with a punch of acidity from the blood orange granita.

White chocolate mousse

Coffee cream

Dark Chocolate Tart

On a separate occasion, I was invited for a Zomato meet up event with a few other Perth foodies at Must Winebar. This time, to experience the “Taste of Must” menu with an asparagus theme. Held on the first Tuesday of every month, “A Taste of Must” is a four course tasting menu which changes seasonally depending on local produce and ingredients, with an option to pair each course with specific wines. Having been to Must Winebar before, I was very excited to see what Russell Blaikie and his team comes up with using asparagus as the main ingredient.

We started off with the Blue manna crab custard, asparagus tips and prosciutto and white asparagus crostada, with our matching drink, the ‘Season of Love’ Asparagus infused Gin Sour. The blue manna crab custard was silky smooth in texture and the crostada was delicious with hints of crisp textures. I thought that the asparagus infused gin sour was interesting and it was very refreshing.

Blue manna crab custard, asparagus tips and prosciutto and white asparagus crostada

Next up, we had the asparagus and shallot tart tartin, mushroom foam and white wine gastrique with a Right Reverend V ‘Industria’ Chardonnay from Margaret River. The tart was presented very well with soft textures of shallots complementing well with a variety of flavours from the asparagus and subtle mushroom foam.

 Asparagus and shallot tart tartin, mushroom foam and white wine gastrique

For the mains, we had the Middle Eastern spiced lamb rump asparagus two ways: ‘risotto’ and raw salad shanklish and walnut tahini. This was the dish of the night. The lamb rump was marinated well, succulent and juicy complementing well with the nutty, moorish flavours from the walnut tahini.

Middle Eastern spiced lamb rump asparagus two ways

Last but not least, we had the chocolate ‘aero’, salted caramel ice-cream and samphire (sea asparagus) for dessert. The salted caramel ice cream was delectable and deliciously smooth with the melt in your mouth chocolate ‘aero’.

I really enjoyed the ‘Taste of Must’ menu and am looking forward to attending other ‘A Taste of Must’ themed four course tasting menus. There’s Egg (10 November), Cherry (1 December) and Cheese (5 January). Which one will you go to?

Based on my two visits to Must Winebar, I highly recommend Must Winebar for quality, good food with a great selection of wines. The service itself was excellent too, together with a lovely ambience and atmosphere. I would like to thank Grace and the Zomato team for the invitation, Russell Blaikie and the Must Winebar team for cooking, presenting and showing us your passion with each dish and the lovely company of bloggers on that night.

The views expressed are entirely the writer’s own. 

Why are Take me to foodie heaven’s posts so positive? Because I love to share and spread the word about good food. If the experience overall is bad, I will not blog about it because criticism is not my middle name.