The morning of my recent birthday celebrations I ate avocado and Vegemite on toast with a fried egg, off a Kmart plate with a knife and fork that’s seen better days.

Come lunchtime, I’m served a $38 hash brown on an iridescent pearl shell surrounded by an aesthetic smear of creme fraiche, topped with Oscietra caviar.

There is only one place in Perth I can be, sampling Perth’s fanciest hash brown and perusing a menu where the Caesar salad is $52.

Gibney opened in May 2024 to much fanfare and the noise hasn’t quietened since with the Cottesloe beauty taking out a constant slew of restaurant awards.

So this was always going to be the kind of review where we notice absolutely everything, because at these prices you’re paying to notice. And while we keep a keen eye for any faults, they never arrive.

The service is exceptional, no hyperbole in declaring it the best I’ve experienced in WA. The moustached man working the bar cart never fails to have us laughing every time he wheels over, water refills without us even noticing, and napkins are magically refolded when we return from the bathroom.

Which brings me back to the hash brown, a wild price for something devoured in three bites. It kills me to report that alas, I’ll be thinking about it near daily for the foreseeable future. The salt and crunch is complemented by creme fraiche and pops of caviar. I successfully savoured it, knowing I’m unlikely to ever have it again.

Dining with a group of my closest friends means we’re able to order numerous dishes across the menu to share, or fight over.

There isn’t a bad dish among them. The standouts are the two pastas — a flavour-bomb conchiglie with pork and fennel ragu ($45) and campanelle with oyster mushrooms and kombu garlic butter ($43) — and the perfectly seared Harvey New York strip ($68) topped with a fresh chimichurri.

Then came two expected numbers.

The first was the charred leeks ($27) — impossibly soft and delicious while somehow still holding their structural integrity — served with French beurre noisette and hazelnuts. The second, the roasted Jerusalem artichokes ($26) paired with artichoke puree and pickled artichoke which made converts of those at the table who had never tried them.

The people-watching is nearly worth the booking alone. There are a few first dates, tables of locals settling in for the afternoon, a group of burly tattooed men who offered, with real gusto, to take a photo of our entire group, then check we were happy with it.

When the bill arrived, there is a moment where my heart skips a beat.

But reflecting on the hash brown, the service and the overall experience it feels justifiable for a special occasion. It’s probably not somewhere you’ll pop into for a Tuesday night dinner — unless you reside in the Golden Triangle — but on this day it felt worth it, all while knowing my Kmart plates will be waiting for me when I get home.

The verdict: 19/20

Despite waiting for the faults at Perth’s most expensive restaurant, they never came.

Gibney

40 Marine Parade, Cottesloe

OPEN Mon-Thurs, noon-10pm, Fri-Sun, 11.30am-10pm

BOOKINGS Yes

CONTACT gibneycottesloe.com

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