G4 & 5, 893 Canning Highway, Mount Pleasant
Tel: (08) 6111 4627
www.stonewaterristorante.au
Elevating the Indian classics
As you make your way through the doors at Stonewater Indian Restaurant, first impressions are style, elegance, spaciousness and refinement – this is not your typical neighbourhood Indian restaurant. Pristine, crisp white linen napkins adorn the tables and friendly, professional wait staff show you to your seat where very comfortable leather seats await. You glance around and note the extensive bar with seating and a mezzanine level offering a different dining experience leaving you anticipating something special.
At Stonewater, chef and restauranteur, Elance Fernando offers something different to his other restaurants: Copper Chimney in South Fremantle, Parivaar in Thornlie and Lume in Northam. Drawing on his vast experience working in 5-star restaurants in Mumbai, Sydney and Crown Perth, Fernando strives to stay true to authentic regional Indian flavours. The dining experience is elevated using selective modern cooking techniques to maximise flavour, while presenting dishes that are also a feast for the eyes.
Unlike many other Indian restaurants in Perth, you will not find an exhaustive menu at Stonewater. Instead, it is a well-considered selection of dishes from all the food regions in India, where the various cuisines are heavily influenced by the country’s diverse religious and cultural practices, history, climate, conquerors and trading partners. Elance explains that he places gentle emphasis on dishes he grew up with from coastal Southern India and endeavours to use high quality local ingredients. As with the food menu, the wine list offers a good selection with a noticeable preference towards Western Australia’s diverse wine growing regions.
The first dish we tried was Lasooni Prawns. The prawns were fresh with a turmeric and garlic driven creamy spice marinade with good caramelisation from the tandoor oven. The dish was served with a duo of mint and beetroot purées, with lightly pickled and sweetened cucumber. Matched to the dish was a 2022 Talisman Arida Rosé from the Ferguson Valley. This lightly textured wine offered a hint of strawberry notes with light citrus acid complimenting the seafood.
Next, we tried the Chicken Tikka Skewers. The plating was outstanding, perfectly highlighting the chef’s aim to present dishes that feed the eyes as well as the palate. Presented on a black plate framed by pea sprouts, the centrepiece single brass skewer was loaded with generous portions of smoky, spicy and tender chicken breast straight from the tandoor oven. The dish was presented with eye-popping splashes of colour from its accompanying purées. It was paired with a 2023 Rocky Gully Riesling from Frankland River whose superb balance offered a slightly floral nose, white peach and lemon nuances, with some delicate spice to enhance the chicken’s smoky flavours.
Our third dish, Grilled Masala Lamb Chops was flavoured with the chef’s own cumin-driven masala spice mix. The tender French lamb cutlets were cooked to perfection with good caramelisation and served with a mint purée, green peas, tomato confit and pickled cucumber. A 2022 Willow Bridge Estate Grenache, Shiraz and Mataro from the Geographe Region in Western Australia was a great match for the spiced, lightly charred earthiness of the lamb. This classic Southern Rhone Provence style blend is medium bodied with aromatic dark berries, spearmint, spice and white pepper.
The next dish was Mohin Mass Chicken from Rajasthan in North Western India; tender drumsticks with flesh falling off the bone, served in a Persian-influenced creamy cashew and almond based gravy flavoured with butter, turmeric, ginger, garlic and dried fenugreek leaf. Elance described it as a version of butter chicken without the tomato paste. The dish was paired with a 2022 Talisman Chardonnay Gabrielle blend from the Ferguson Valley in WA. The rich, creamy mouthfeel to the wine, its good length and balance, and light citrus acid finish with a hint of smoky oak, provided another great pairing.
Chef Elance treated us to something that is about to be introduced to the menu, a traditional Lamb Bone Paya Soup served with a hopper, otherwise known as an appam, a lacy curved pancake with a spongy centre where eating with your hands is enthusiastically encouraged. A delicious hearty soup full of flavour. Simply pour the soup into the hopper and rip apart with your hands and scoop up the soup straight into your mouth. No cutlery required. Look out for the addition of a Paya Soup banquet featuring six different flavoured soups served as brunch on weekends.
We then moved onto dessert, chef’s own Gulab Jamun Cheesecake. A classic creamy indulgent cheesecake on a biscuit base combined with the traditional Indian dessert, gulab jamun. Milky, spongy dough balls flavoured with ground cardamom and pistachios soaked in rose water syrup are portioned and baked into the cheesecake. The cheesecake is served with mango purée, sun-dried blackberries, strawberry cream and more gulab jamun on pistachio crumbs. This dish was matched with multi-award winning 2015 Trentham Estate Reserve Noble Taminga Botrytis from the Mildura/Murray Darling wine region in Victoria. Like the dessert, this indulgent dessert wine had a textured palate, featuring sweet rich honey with a light citrus acid finish. This choice rounded out a stunning exercise in pairing Indian dishes with wine.
Our stomachs sated, we finished our dining journey with a cup of smooth, but strong Indian filtered coffee with a 30% chicory content this is not for the faint-hearted.
When you ask successful chefs about their influences or inspirations, most will quote senior chefs they have been mentored by, parents or grandparents, but Elance is a deeply spiritual man who cites the Lord Jesus Christ as his inspiration. He believes he was bestowed with a gift to cook and to bring joy to others through cooking.
On weekends, Stonewater offers a special brunch menu between 9am and midday, followed by an Indian High Tea from midday to 4pm. They also cater for private events, business groups, engagements and birthdays having catered for up to 2,000 people.
By Chris O’Halloran
