The Pub Diaries

Tiger Tiger is another Little C Gem. On a Friday afternoon the mix of custom wouldn’t be seen back home in the likes of Hoxton or Bethnal Green. It would be wall to wall skinny jeans but this crowd is the hip, those heading for a hip-op and everything inbetween. When I’d tell people that I was spending a month in Australia the question would be where first? I’d say Perth and WA. Then the’d ask where after that? General confusion would ensue when I said nowhere else. Perth is supposedly the most isolated city in the world and it’s not hard to imagine a cultural and creative vacumn as a result. Tiger Tiger goes some way to disprove this idea. More than just a coffeeshop or bar Tiger Tiger hosts music sets, Cigar Tasting, Tiger Tales and has an artist in residence.

Located in a Laneway location off Murray Street in the CBD it was a great place to catch up, watch the comings and goings in the Laneway, listen to an acoustic set and enjoy a few longnecks of Coopers Pale Ale.

Tiger Tiger, 329 Murray Street, Perth,WA 6000

The Pub Diaries Q&A strand to date has been focused on Australia and the States with Matt from the Sail & Anchor in Fremantle, James from The Crafty Pint in Melbourne and Stevie C in NYC. I thought I’d bring it home this week with Yan Pilkington of Pivovar and the Taps (which if he was ever going to form a band would surely be a great name). For the uninitiated you can read more about the Euston Tap here; Sheffield Tap here and the soon to come York Tap here.

What’s most likely to be heard in the bar?

The general sounds you pick up on are customers talking to each other about beers they are trying and suggestions of what should be sampled next.

Favourite place to enjoy a beer?

The Sheffield Tap, when i am local. The problem with having such a good pub nearby is that you take it for granted. However i do like to travel further afield to sample pubs i’ve heard about. This puts what you take for granted into prospective.

If I weren’t selling beer I’d be?

Easy I would be buying and producing beer.

What’s your definition of a perfect pub?

Good beer, and being surrounded by people you would happily share a drink with.

What’s your idea of Beer / Pub hell?

I hate going into pub that ticks all the boxes from outside, and then does nothing but disappoint from the inside, usually beer past its best and
bland choice.

What was the last thing you got excited about?

I get excited about every new beer I try, not that am a beer ticker. I always enjoy returning to a favourite brew.

Whats happening?

Perhaps one more tap! (which turns out to be the York Tap… though hopefully more will come)

If Meister is my guide to the WA pub scene then Little Clare is my guide to the smaller gems of Perth. If there’s an out of the way   establishment which could slip effortlessly into Bethnal Green then its most likely on her radar. That’s how Lou and I find ourselves in 399, for lunch with LC. After huge pubs offering TABs, dining rooms, hotel rooms and Bottle Shops there’s no better place to catch up than the the cool surrounds of 399. The soundtrack is Ella (and friends); perfect for a weekday afternoon when the mercury is pushing 38c and I am literally melting.

Taking a booth our waitress come barmaid takes us through the board of Small Eats. It’s a difficult choice but we settle on: pretty much everything and she sets about whipping them up in the small kitchen area. Is there no limit to this girls job description? I’m told that the menu changes day to day so freshness is a given and it certainly doesn’t disappoint the Small Eats are perfectly sized and presented, a real antedote to the Goliath portions that I’ve had in most pubs in Oz.

Everything with 399 hit the mark. The service, the food, the design, even down to the Billy Connolly recording in the toilet. Simply put I‘m smitten with 399 and our fleeting visit is all too short.

399 William Street, Northbridge, Perth, WA 6000