A Moment For: General Store Melville’s One-Day-Only Potato Cake Special

Yesterday there was turmoil in the Broadsheet Slack channels. 

It all started after I saw this post from General Store Melville which included the line: “Getting fomo over the East Coast viral potato cakes?”

Alarm bells sounded. Could it really be that there are no potato cakes in Perth? This is where the chaos really kicked off.

Our east coast staff couldn’t believe it – and quickly hurried to find examples of WA fish’n’chippers with potato cakes (or potato scallops) on the menu. And – although we did find a few – our Perth-born-and-bred newsletter editor Holly stepped in and confirmed that “it’s not a thing” and that she’d never heard of them before she moved to Melbourne.

Doing our journalistic due diligence, we also tracked down a post on the Potato Cake, Fritter & Scallop Lovers Facebook group. There, commenter Kellie wrote: “If there is such [a] thing [as] a good potato cake in Perth I would love to find this place. [I’ve] been in WA 20 years and yet to find a proper potato cake.” And fellow spud lover Glen chimed in: “WA is a potato cake wasteland. [I’ve] been searching for over 40 years.”

Our conclusion? Although you can find the occasional potato cake in WA, they’re a very rare gem. Or at least they were, until today.

Enter Mark Foster of General Store Melville, the man stepping up to fill WA’s potato cake gap.

“I recently visited Northern Soul Fish’n’Chip Shop in Victoria on a food trip and completely fell in love with their potato cakes,” says Foster. “They’re iconic over east, but being from WA, we’re pretty passionate about our local produce – and honestly, we reckon our ingredients here are better. So, it felt right to bring that classic over, put our own West Australian spin on it, and see if we could match (or beat) what I had over there.”

Here are all the details about General Store Melville’s potato cake special.

What: Potato cakes

How: “We use local WA Royal Blue potatoes, sliced nice and thin and then gently steamed first so they’re soft through the middle. From there they go into a single-fin beer batter made with Gage Roads beer. (The Gage Roads crew are regulars and love our rolls, so that part felt like a no-brainer.) The batter’s got a couple of secret touches we keep to ourselves, then it’s straight into the fryer. We use Oil 2 U WA canola oil, which honestly makes a huge difference to the crunch and flavour,” says Foster. It’s very labour-intensive for the team but it’s all worth it. “From start to finish it’s a pretty hands-on process, but that’s what makes them special. It’s very much a WA affair.”

Cost: Each potato cake is $4 – but they’re pretty hefty.

Where: Melville General Store, Myaree Village, 6/446 Marmion Street, Myaree.

When: It’s running as a one-day-only special this Friday (January 23) and is available from 9.30am. But we’re hoping it’ll become a mainstay. “If the response is big – and we think it will be – we’re definitely open to bringing it back again.” So, get down there.

@generalstore_melville