UMA Restaurant
Pan Pacific Perth
207 Adelaide Terrace, Perth
Ph: (08) 9224 7773
www.umaperth.com.au
A Japanese Twist
From previous visits, I knew UMA as a Peruvian Restaurant, but this time I was surprised at the extent of Japanese influences on their menu. Apparently after World War II, quite a few Japanese people moved to Peru, bringing their cuisine to add to the Peruvian. The menu includes plenty of seafood and ceviche is their specialty. In case you didn’t know, ceviche is raw seafood cured by marinating in lime or lemon juice.
We started our meal with the Ceviche de Trucha (gluten-free), which Executive Chef Xerxes Bodhanwala assured us was his favourite dish. The clean, fresh flavour of tender pink slices of cured trout on a spicy avocado-based antiquiso salsa with heirloom cherry tomatoes, crispy garlic slices and native herbs was well accompanied by the floral and fruity notes of a glass of 2022 Rutini Trumpeter Rose de Malbec (Mendoza Argentina).
Our second starter was the Brocheta de Pulpo (also gluten-free). This was two large skewers of grilled, marinated Fremantle XL Octopus, served with a miso fennel puree and nikkei pickle. The miso gave the fennel puree a savoury, salty taste and the sharp flavour of the pickles cut through the spicy charcoal grilled octopus. Octopus keeps cooking from its residual heat, so it’s best eaten as soon as it arrives at the table while still tender. This dish was perfectly matched with Argentina’s signature white wine, 2021 Alamos Torrontes (Salta, Argentina). Fragrant and crisp, the citrus notes are great with seafood.
For our main course we had the Cau Cau de Mariscos, a colourful and visually appealing dish consisting of Udon rice noodles and Nikkei curry sauce with chunks of octopus, scallops, mussels and palm heart puree. This was accompanied by a side dish of Ensalada de Otono. These two dishes went together really well. The smooth, mild La Delizia ricotta and tart autumn fruits of the Ensalada combined to offset the spicy seafood curry. A glass of 2021 Abellio Albarino (Spain) with its fruity acidity was a good choice to pair with the flavoursome curry.
Our dessert was the Tarta de Queso – a baked cheesecake made from Halls Family Dairy cheese served with dulce de leche, quinoa crumb and autumn fruits. This was accompanied by a superb dessert wine – 2011 Xabregas X2 Riesling (Mt Barker). The sweet aged Riesling was delicious and set off the cheesecake to perfection. The cheesecake was rich but not too sweet, the caramel sauce was very sweet, the crumb added some crunch and the fruit cut through the richness of the cheesecake and the dulce de leche.
We chatted to Chef Xerxes Bodhanwala who told us that he came to Australia from India in 2007, living in Sydney until 2018, when he moved to Perth and started working with the dedicated team at UMA. He said they like to use local, sustainable and seasonal Western Australian produce wherever possible, and revamp the menu seasonally, taking the diner on a journey showcasing the diversity of Peruvian cuisine, with influences from the Incas, Spain, Italy, Africa, Japan and China. Pan Pacific Perth is proud to be the first hotel to be accredited by Buy West Eat Best.
“The Queso – Halls Suzette from UMA Restaurant is the perfect way to finish a great meal – a slab of Pont L’evesque style, single origin artisan cheese, with spiced pecans, crostini and honeycomb. This beautiful cheese is made even better by adding the sweetness of honeycomb.”
By Georgina Goss
