The Bridge House doesn’t just have good bones, it’s got good juju. Specifically, good hospitality juju. The Harvest Road cottage was built in 1925. It’s imbued with nearly a century of history.
The house was originally owned by artist Murray Gill, who converted his home into a gallery and cafe. Then Clint Nolan and Miles Hull bought the property and operated it as the long-running restaurant, Harvest. “Anyone of a certain age who lives near here has memories of great nights at Harvest and the famous lamb shoulder, which we’ve put back on the menu,” owner George Grundy tells Broadsheet. For the last nine years it was home to Habitue, another mainstay of the Fremantle dining scene.
“It’s my hope that The Bridge House will establish a new chapter in this story,” says Grundy.
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SUBSCRIBE NOWThe restaurant, which opened last week, also takes a page from Grundy’s personal history. His first job, as an 18-year-old, was at “a little country pub near Windsor back in England, named The Bridge House. Thirty-five years on, I’ve got a Bridge House of my own.”
His own Bridge House retains rustic features from the original cottage and a nostalgic feel. Al fresco dining is available in the front garden, as well as on the expanded back deck, which features cascading vines and mood-setting twinkling lights. A 10-seat private dining room is poised to welcome large groups and intimate celebrations.
Chef Trent Dawson (Nikola Estate, Cha Cha Char) has been tapped to lead the kitchen team.
“Trent and I tried to put together the type of menu that you read and think, ‘I want everything’,” says Grundy. “The cuisine is modern Australian, leaning toward European flavours and traditions. Our credo is great ingredients treated with respect and plated beautifully, while remembering that we’re trying to create a neighbourhood restaurant, so not a tweezer in sight.”
With a wink to Europe, snacks include savoury beignet, focaccia with compound butter, and Ortiz anchovies. Mains include fennel and basil risotto; roast market fish with charred Abrolhos squid and a seafood broth; aged Wagyu steak with potatoes dauphine; and, of course, the famous 24-hour slow-cooked lamb shoulder with malted mint jelly and black garlic sauce (which comes in a serve that’s “easily enough for two”).
Grundy believes the lamb will become The Bridge House’s signature dish, but he says the kingfish crudo, anchovy and pickled capsicum salad received a lot of love during the first few days of service, as did the dark chocolate, burnt caramel and coffee dessert which Grundy reckons “is perhaps the most delicious thing on the whole menu.”
The Bridge House
1 Harvest Road, North Fremantle
6234 0990
Hours:
Wed & Thu 5pm–9pm
Fri & Sat midday–3pm, 5.30pm–9pm
Sun midday–8pm
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