West End Deli - Leederville

I woke up this morning, and thought about breakfast. We had no bread, no coffee, I didn't want cornflakes. I snuggled up to S, and told him so. The kitchen was also a mess, and I had no intention of cleaning it, since I do most of the cooking (the rule is whoever doesn't cook has to do the dishes). So I suggested breakfast out, somewhere new that we've never been to before. We'd tried to go to West End Deli a couple of weeks ago but it looked like they were doing some kind of refurb, so we went somewhere else. This time though it was fine, busy but we were able to get a table straight away. I loved the vibe of the place, gritty chic is probably the best way I can describe it. Grey walls painted haphazardly, old frames hung around the place, and chandeliers made of old chairs, held together by the electrical cords of the lights hanging from the ceiling. Really cool. 

Our drink orders were taken straight away - S wanted a mug of coffee, but they don't do them. However our friendly waitress offered a large takeaway cup instead, which was fine. They came out after about 10 minutes, and mine looked great. It tasted good too, a hint of bitterness, not too milky, it was nice. I ordered a take away coffee once we'd finished as well, and I rarely do that!

We'd had time to have a look around, I liked the look of the tables and the general decor of the place. They have silver buckets for cutlery etc, which I've seen around and we have some now too (got them from Ikea, cheap as chips!), as they're great for entertaining! They gave us a saucer of salt as well, which looked perfect for eggs!

We had a while to peruse the menu, and I wasn't sure what to get as there were a few things that looked great! I ended up choosing poached eggs on toast, with black bean cassoulet and a mushroom and herb terrine on the side. I tossed up whether to get the bacon as well, but at $8 each I figured it would be too much for one person to eat! S got the steak and mushroom pie with spicy relish and salad.


It took about 10-15 minutes for it all to come out, and it looked really yummy. I couldn't wait to tuck into my little spread, and upon seeing it all was glad I didn't get the bacon!

I ate my eggs and toast first, leaving a slab of toast for the other sides. The eggs were cooked really differently, one was ever so slightly overdone and the other was underdone, which was a bit strange. I really hate it when the white is gloopy and slimy and I had some of that with one of my eggs which wasn't great. However the toast was thick and tasty, and the salt made the eggs delicious!

The mushroom and herb terrine had a blue cheese butter on top which, though I don't like blue cheese, was actually quite nice. The mushroom flavour was very rich and though it was a small serving, you don't need alot of it! It comes served hot, and tasted quite fab on the thick buttered toast, which I then used to mop up the rest of the egg on the plate. 

The standout for me though was the black bean cassoulet. That came with a big dollop of sour cream on top, and when stirred through gave the dish a light creaminess that went really well with the other flavours. I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was in the beans that made it taste so good, but it was delicious. The spices weren't overpowering, and the beans were soft but had retained their bite. I dunked my toast in it and once that was gone, just spooned it onto my plate. I would order this again in a heart beat!

The pie that S had was great. The pastry was light and flaky, and you could taste the butter! The filling was so tasty and the beef fell apart on your fork. The spicy salsa on the side wasn't spicy according to S, but he loved it anyway because it tasted so good. The salad was just mixed leaves with a simple dressing, but they had used peppery leaves and a sweet dressing to counter the richness of the pie which was fab. S said that he felt really full after the pie because of how buttery it was, and that after a while it was a bit heavy - but he had no complaints about the flavour!


Our meal, with 3 coffees came to $53, not the cheapest brunch but it was great quality, so I had no probs paying that price. The staff were all very friendly and approachable, we received great service the whole time we were there, and that's quite rare in Perth really, as there are plenty of places who have to work on their customer service.


I almost left without seeing the baked goods table! They had fabulous looking baguettes for sale, as well as rolls, cakes,  brownies and tarts. They all looked fab, and if I hadn't been so full it would have been even more difficult to walk away without getting something!

I will absolutely be back to West End Deli - fab service, good coffee, delicious food in funky surrounds. Sayers used to be our go to place, but I think now its going to be a coin toss as to which place we go to, as this was just as good, without the wait for a table!