Liberté — Restaurant in Western Australia

What a disappointment. The staff were so rude, upon getting there I was asked if I had a reservation, which I gave the details, she promptly picked up the menu and walked off and dropped it on a table, presuming we were meant to follow, so we did and sat down. Then no service whatsoever till we called another waitstaff, who also was quite sarcastic until we explained that nobody said anything to us and left us at our table for 45 minutes, given that they want you out of there in 2 hours doesn't leave you much time. We would have been waiting longer had we not called over this other staff member. Anyway, I ordered upon recommendation from someone, the "Liberte Famous Brussel sprouts", fried shrivelled brussels sprouts drowned in siracha, and lime and fish sauce, then smothered in parmesan cheese. The quantity of lime made it so intensely sour and tangy, the dish was inedible. Then I had upon recommendation the "Garlic Chilli Crab Noodle, AKA Crack noodles, the Liberte addicts drug of choice" (who writes this stuff? really?). this dish was an absolute disgrace, it was like a child had made it and came up with the ingredients, it had greasy overcooked noodles that were all stuck together, couldn't find the crab, no taste of chilli or garlic, but the kicker was that it was so sour and salty, it tasted like Asian vinegar was used, in a very heavy handed way, mouth puckering sourness!! This too had parmesan cheese smothered all over it. What's with the parmesan on everything? it just did NOT go with the dishes. Again, we had to leave the dish as it was horrible. So much salt from the siracha, fish sauce, parmesan etc, not to mention and probably a good glug of soy, just to make it saltier, and the sourness was absolutely ridiculous, do they not taste the food they prepare? My wife ordered a Vietnamese yellow curry, which came out with vegetables bordering on raw and no sauce? so no sauce to put with the dry steamed rice. The couple next to us, also ordered the yellow curry and also complained of it having no sauce. They also said they thought the staff were very rude and arrogant. Is this food meant to be "Asian Fusion"? going off the the quantity and mix of sauces, saltiness and sourness, I think it is probably "Asian Confusion". The "chef" should try and not be too clever, unless they are very good. They should stick with what flavors work, and should listen to what their patrons are trying...

Located on Stirling Terrace, right near the York Street roundabout and housed in the historic (1909) London Hotel. We went on a Friday night and easily found a parking bay right in front of the hotel.

Upon entry it certainly wasn't what I expected, not that I knew what to expect - the decor is certainly eclectic, shabby bohemian, it evoked a sense of an old Saigon establishment housed in a French colonial building, where bits and pieces are in slow decline but it's still clinging to a sense of dated elegance. When we booked my wife made sure to book a table - would have found it awkward to seat on a low leather lounge for dinner. Looking back, it was the perfect setting, even if the paint was peeling from the ceiling and there were cobwebs on the cornices.

The menu proudly declares that the food is designed to share (sharing is caring). We ended up ordering the chicken salad ($26), charcuterie fried rice ($26) and crispy lemongrass brined pork belly ($36). We were thinking of the garlic chilli crab noodles ($26) but the waitress felt that the three dishes were probably enough for the two of us. We did end up ordering the salt and pepper fried tofu ($24) as I did end up having a little bit of room after our three dishes.

Surprisingly the fried rice was a standout, with house made Nem Chua, eggs, chives, pickled mustard greens, kaffir lime, lemongrass and fried garlic. We ate every mouthful it was that good. Every bite of the chicken salad took you to Vietnam, the crunch of the cabbage and peanuts, the pickled green chilli, the mint... it was so delicious. The pork belly, though perfectly cooked, was quite up to the same flavour profiles as the other dishes. In hindsight I probably should have ordered something other than the tofu - once again it was very tasty, but I felt that the peanut sate jarred with the silky tofu.

If we had more time in Albany this is somewhere that we would definitely come back to so that we could sample some of the other dishes on the menu, particularly the beef carpaccio.

Liberté is a unique gem of a restaurant and a credit to the chef/cooks/waitstaff who put together and deliver such great dishes, a true...

The TL;DR version of my review of Liberté: seemingly confused, pretentious attempt at "elevated" South East Asian street food, sold at astronomically high prices served in a space with mismatched furniture (see previous mention of pretentiousness), by servers unable to answer questions about the food and wine on their menu.

My rating would be 0/5, but alas Google ratings must begin at 1/5.

I really wanted to like this place. We were on holiday, and based on the recent reviews, thought it would be a bit of a treat: a fun place to dine and enjoy some good, modern food.

Garlic Chilli Crab Noodle ($32) "aka crack noodles, the liberté addicts drug of choice" - This was over-seasoned to the point of being inedible, think salty and overly sour (the mouth-puckering kind of sour), garlic and chili were not flavours detected in this dish. Texturally, the egg noodles that were the primary ingredient in this dish seemed over-cooked and had a greasy, somewhat gummy mouth-feel. Oh and crab, what crab? We were hungry, but still left more than half of what was the petite-sized serving on the plate. Yeah it was that much of a waste of $32.

Vietnamese Duck Noodle Soup ($40) "mi viet time - sous vide duck breast, pork wonton, fresh egg noodle, pickled shitake, herbs, bean sprouts, lemongrass and chilli infused duck fat" - Confused is the word that comes to mind when describing this dish. This was a bowl of egg noodles in oily broth, topped with two very average boiled pork wontons, a sliced, small, mostly over-cooked duck breast, a few slices of pickled shitake mushroom, raw untailed bean sprouts, a sprig of dill, a few mint leaves, and sliced red chilli. It wasn't horrible, but it most certainly wasn't worth anywhere close to $40. The upside, compared to the other noodle dish, this one was edible, albeit the broth being oily.

Oh and a couple of glasses of drinkable wine at $15 a glass helped wash down this meal of disappointment.

To summarise: Don't believe the hype, spend your money and time elsewhere: we arrived hungry and still thought the food was subpar, and so left hungry. And the service leaves a lot...