Don’t you love a good local neighbourhood gem?

Located in the heart of Floreat is Prego. Prego has been around for nearly 10 years and is one true neighbourhood gem. With so many new restaurants popping up around Perth, we must continue to support the local heroes and businesses. It has been a while since my last visit at Prego and the last time we were here, we celebrated Mother’s Day and Dad’s birthday. Recently, we were invited in for dinner at Prego on a Thursday evening.

Before we stepped into Prego, we were welcomed by open arms with a warm and friendly service by the lovely Anna. It is not often where you go to a restaurant where you feel so comfortable and welcomed the moment you step in.

To start off, we received a complimentary Mediterranean Falafel with tahini and mediterranean salad which was full of fresh flavours. What a great way to start!

Next up, we had the trio of seasonal bruschetta. The seasonal bruschetta comprised of anchovies with capsicum, sundried tomato with olives and salmon mousse. Our favourite out of the three had to be the salmon mousse. It was so creamy and melt in your mouth delicious.

The second course was scallops and field mushroom baked in a wood-fire oven. The scallops were cooked to perfection and it was sweet and delicate. The earthy flavours of the field mushrooms were lovely together with the scallops.

If there was a star on the night, this was the dish. For the third course, we had the house-made porcini mushroom tortellini with truffle butter sauce. There was so much delicious earthy flavours in this dish from the porcini mushroom and truffle. You can’t go wrong with house-made tortellini either. The truffle butter sauce was simply creamy, buttery and luscious. So amazing.

Elwyn had the Lamb Shoulder for our mains/fourth course. The lamb shoulder was slow cooked in the wood-fire oven and was served with couscous salad and pistachio. It was so tender that the meat fell off the bone seamlessly. A truly flavoursome dish.

I had Prego’s signature dish which was the wood fired twice baked crispy duck on a bed of polenta, porcini mushroom sauce, green beans and cherry tomato jam. The duck was truly scrumptious and it had a lovely crisp texture to it. It was so tender and juicy which mixes well with the porcini mushroom sauce and sweet polenta.

For dessert, we were recommended the Kunefe. The Kunefe is Prego’s house specialty-layered shredded filo and haloumi cheese dosed with spiced sugar syrup and roasted pistachio. Apparently, there is no other place in Perth which offers this Middle Eastern influenced dessert. On our first bite, we were taken to foodie heaven. The haloumi was melt in your mouth soft and there was a slight crisp from the shredded filo. Adding the spiced sugar syrup gave the Kunefe its sweetness.

We also shared a Dessert Trio which consisted of the vanilla pannacotta, homemade baklava and dark chocolate tart. Each of the dessert were perfectly executed on the mark.

Looking around us, we could see that the restaurant was quite busy for a Thursday night and we could also see the strong rapport between the staff and regular customers. Even Chef Joseph, the man behind the kitchen comes out at the end of the night and builds the connection with the customers at each table. Chef Joseph came from an Italian and Israeli background which was why the food at Prego has Italian, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern influences and flavours.

With such lovely, attentive and flawless service, we can see why the regulars keep coming back to Prego. The food at Prego is cooked with lots of love and passion. For a weekday dining treat, the five course degustation menu is offered from Tuesday to Friday where lunch is priced at $49.90 per person and dinner at $55.90 per person. We are looking forward to be back again!

The views expressed are entirely the writer’s own. We would like to thank the team at Prego for having us and for the enjoyable dining experience at your restaurant.