My friend and I have tried a few times to go to this place before, and every time it’s been closed. Actually this happens to us a lot – often places are closed, moved or under renovation when we try to visit. You can imagine that this is very upsetting for foodies.

Anyway when we visited the other day, it was open for business, huzzah! We hadn’t booked in advance but our waitress was accommodating and gave us a table instead of plonking us at the bar.

The atmosphere here is that of restrained trendiness. The restaurant itself is cozy and the lighting dim – mostly provided by the candles scattered around on tables and crates. I thought the music was a little loud; I found it hard to hear my dinner companion at times. The wait staff were professional and observant on the night – my water glass never got to below half before being refilled – and all exuded art school cool. Our waitress was great. When it came to ordering, she offered helpful suggestions to help us put a menu together without trying to upsell. The wine list sounded extensive, plus they have sangria…which I totally have to sample next time (unfortunately I was on call :(…

We started off with the lemon and chilli anchovy crostini and sweetcorn and manchego frittas with red pepper jam. I’m not usually a fan of anchovies, and these didn’t really do it for me, but at least they were fresh, rather than the horrid things from the bottle. The sweetcorn and manchego frittas really hit the spot – crisp on the outside, creamy, sweet and savoury on the inside, and served with sweet caramelised capsicum. We then moved on to the fish carpaccio ($14) which we also really liked - sliver-thin sashimi served with horseradish, lime and rock salt. For the next ‘round’ we had the roasted mushrooms, buffalo mozzarella, and a side salad of courgettes, roquette with manchego.

The mushrooms were seasoned with thyme and were tasty but standard. The mozzarella and tomato with balsamic ($15) was packed with flavour. The salad was crisp but otherwise nothing special. We finished off with coffee (pretty decent and surprisingly strong) and the churros with pedro ximinez chocolate ($14). The churros were piping hot and the sauce was fantastic…boozy and oh-so chocolately. We soon found ourselves scraping the bottom of the pot.

Overall, it was a great night out, but pretty pricey for two people (more so if you order booze). For a special occasion I’d recommend it though. The only place in Perth I could compare this to would be Pony Club in Mount Lawley. However I definitely prefer Duende over Pony in most aspects.

Duende Restaurant, 662 Newcastle St, Leederville 6007 WA