Twenty Seats (Highgate)
An exclusive booking only restaurant serving up a changing 10 course tasting menu taking inspiration from over the world.
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Before reading ❗️
Who is this suited for?
Guests after a tasting menu with set in a casual atmosphere paired with great service and great food.
What type of food is available?
10 course tasting menus, catering also for vegetarians.
How much will it cost?
10 courses will set you back for $120 per person.
Can I see the menu?
Twenty Seats' menu (tasting and vegetarian tasting) can be found here.
Where is it?
Near TAFE Mount Lawley / East Perth train station.
What're their socials?
The details 📝
Twenty Seats is a degustation style restaurant, serving up a 10 course tasting menu. The restaurant its doors in March 2022, after Todd Stuart finished up his 10 year long stint owning and heading the kitchen at Petit Mort, a well regarded French degustation restaurant, a couple suburbs over in Shenton Park. Three chefs run the kitchen at Twenty Seats, head chef and owner Todd, Nam from Vietnam and Viviane from Italy.
The venue provides a cosy and comfortable atmosphere. Bookings are required, with reservations opening the first day of each month, for the following month. If dining in a group of 5-6, a private dining room is also available for no additional cost.
As the name suggests, Twenty Seats welcomes around 20 guests each evening. There is only a single seating, so you won't have to worry about seating time limits. You can expect the ten courses to take anywhere upwards from around 2.5 - 3 hours (we spent just over 2.5 hours).
The front of house is lead by Remy Legodec, the manager and Adrien Leclerc (who provided us lovely service), his assistant. A range of wines and beers from the Oceania region and France are available. Sparkling water is available on tap for no cost.
Course 1 - finger food
To start, our palates were opened up petite pieces of finger food. Our favourite was the lobster and caviar on a triple cooked potato chip, which reminded us of Le Rebelle's famous crab toast.
"Honey, I shrunk the croque monsieur!". An adorable croque monsieur, which is a hot ham and cheese sandwich.
Course 2 - tomato consomme, stracciatelle & tomato sorbet
Course two was an umami blast from the stracciatella and tomato, served two ways. The dish also brought together two different temperatures on the palate with the warm consommé and chilled sorbet.
Course 3 - white asparagus, quail egg & butter milk
The next course featured an interesting buttermilk foam. The delicate quail egg gently sat on-top of a scalloped potato. Shavings of fresh truffle gave the dish some nice fragrance and there was a nice char to the lettuce.
Course 4 - cured scallop, coconut broth, coriander & chilli
The flavours of course four reminded us of a tiradito in terms of flavour. The coriander and chilli made for a very Peruvian and Nobu-esque dish, while the coconut broth reminded us of Thai flavours. The puffed wild rice cut through the homogenous texture of the scallops.
Course 5 - ocean trout, seaweed, umeboshi & miso
Course five was a beautifully presented ocean trout. The ocean trout melted in our mouth and was wrapped in soft nori. Texture was balanced out by the puffy and savoury "nerds rope" (2000s kids will get this).
Course 6 - wagyu beef filet, foie gras, brioche & onions
You can't ever go wrong with a well cooked steak. Our wagyu beef filet was perfectly cooked and seasoned. Foie gras gave off a smooth savoury-ness which worked well with the sweet brioche. The miso cream reduction added a little bit more umami and moisture.
Course 7 - Wagin duck breast, lentils, root vegetables & porcini
It was around seven courses in when we started forgetting to take notes of the food (you'd be overestimating our memories if we weren't taking notes down!). Once again, the duck breast was perfectly cooked and had a great sear.
The plate used also reminds me of Grand Seiko's Evolution 9 watches and maybe even their famous Snowflake.
Course 8 - Raclette
You can never go wrong with cheese and pickles right? The raclette was a delight to finish off on.
Course 9 - burnt honey custard, mandarin, brownie & hokey pokey
Nine courses later, and yet not a course we didn't enjoy. Dessert was no exception! We loved the mandarin-encased brownie - it looked like a plump egg yolk and tasted like a jaffa chocolate.
Course 10 - petit fours
The last course was a serving of petit fours - small bite sized confectionaries. From memory it was a cube shaped toffee confectionary, a macaron, choux, and a raspberry jelly.
We very much enjoyed our experience at Twenty Seats. Yes, it is on the pricier side but we thought the price was well justified, in terms of service and food. Between the two of us and the friends we dined with, we had no faults with the dishes at all. For us, Twenty Seats ranks in the top 10 meals we've had in all of 2022 so far.
If we were to nitpick at all, it would be on the printed menus. Being an establishment serving up $120pp, we'd love to see Twenty Seats print their menu on high quality paper, as there are some restaurants offering tasting menus that do so!
Before visiting 🚙
Anything else I should know before visiting?
- Depending on your appetite, you might still be a little hungry after if you're a big eater (I know I was.)
- Be sure to set your alarm for bookings as Twenty Seats books out quickly. Bookings are open on the first of each month for the following month.
What's the address?
Where do I park?
There is plenty of free street parking on Lincoln and Court street.
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