First Look: Lo’ Brings Southern-Inspired Down-Home Dishes to Highgate

Six months after he brought taqueria Tommy Tacos to Highgate, chef Tomas Bidios is going back to the basics of US Southern fare with Lo’.

Taking over the lofty Beaufort Street venue that previously housed Homme Wine Bar (and, briefly, Barolo, Ace Pizza and No Menu Finest Italian 448, among others), Lo’ has good bones. It’s been a popular space for budding restaurateurs, and for good reason – the ornate ceilings, exposed brick walls, green leather booths and timber panels instantly make you feel at home. It’s the kind of dining room where you’ll order a dessert and a nightcap just to have an excuse to linger a little longer.

The desserts are worth adding to your order regardless. Sticking to the Southern theme, there’s hummingbird pecan pie served with peanut butter ice-cream and salted caramel, or a bourbon-spiked apple and cherry cobbler.

Beyond the sweets, the prime attraction is the dinner menu. Long before Tommy Tacos was born, self-proclaimed “chronic foodie” Bidios spent four weeks eating through America’s Deep South, sparking a curiosity with Southern food that would be the impetus behind creating the menu at Lo’.

“A lot of the ethos of Southern food, like the classic meat and three vegetables, is really simple cooking. It’s not over the top or complicated, and I really identify with that,” Bidios tells Broadsheet. “I tend to stick with a lot of familiarity that people can look at and be like, ‘I know what all of this is, I’m not completely blindsided, I don’t need some sort of translator to tell me what all the different ingredients are.’”

The low-fuss proteins – served, as Bidios puts it, with “no foams, no gels, no bullshit” – are smoked in a sizeable woodfired oven. There are pull-apart beef short ribs with hot honey, Jerusalem artichokes and pecans; a 400-gram Berkshire pork chop brined in a blend of tea and apple juice for six hours (“low and slow, everything is cooked and prepared with time and love and care”); and woodfired cauliflower steak with smoked baked beans and pea puree. All the mains come in well below the $50 mark.

“With food at the moment, affordability is really quite crucial. The price of everything is getting more and more and more, so I’m especially conscious of keeping the price point down,” the chef explains.

Using WA produce throughout the menu, small plates include woodfired oysters with casino butter, bacon and breadcrumbs; fried green tomatoes and creole remoulade; and fried chicken with miso maple butter featuring Lo’s signature smoke and fire.

For the early risers, hangover-busting breakfast dishes are available on weekends. Think fried baloney and egg sandwiches; fried chicken and waffles; prawn and pimento cheese grits; and a DIY Bloody Mary.

The extensive drinks list is packed with cocktails (including the fizzy, boozed-up riff on a Lipton peach iced tea), a curated selection of bourbons, and West Australian wines.
Lo’
448 Beaufort Street, Highgate
No phone

Hours:
Wed to Fri 4pm–late
Sat & Sun 8am–late

www.lohighgate.com/
@lo__highgate