This Subiaco restaurant champions and challenges conventional steakhouse wisdom

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Simon Devlin believes cigars are one of life’s real pleasures. He believes in the Perth Wildcats. And he believes in the steakhouse, not just as a place to dine but as a cultural institution. A King’s Landing of aspirational, chairman-of-the-board masculinity where diplomacy is lubricated by shiraz and weapons-grade flattery.

In late 2024, Devlin became the owner of the old Witch’s Cauldron site in Subiaco. Most recently trading as Dilly Dally, the Federation-style building has since relaunched as The Embassy – a slick, confident restaurant that feels like a natural extension of Devlin’s eponymous gift shop on Hay Street.

Although the Devlin’s name is front and centre (the restaurant’s full title is The
Embassy by Devlin’s), he’s quick to point out that the project is largely the
handiwork of general manager, Teresa Klenk. Born in Munich, her hospitality
credentials include high-end dining rooms in Vienna, running Bavarian-style beer halls in London and, most recently, engineering the space’s quiet makeover with a warm palette of reds, browns and gold. Collectively, it adds up to a timeless 1970s Cluedo kind of aesthetic, although that might just be the (Colonel) mustard-coloured banquettes talking. Those banquettes were designed by Klenk, ditto the life-like plastic plants dotted around the brightly lit space. But while the olive trees might be convincing deepfakes, the menu’s plant-based options are the real deal.

Dainty fried zucchini flowers, the baby green fruit still attached, are served on a smear of roasted capsicum that tastes like the ratatouille of our Provencal dreams. Panning from one edge of the Mediterranean Sea to the other, frilly trumpets of house-made campanelle pasta and sweet cherry tomatoes are lathered in a toe-tapping, summery passata. Seafood is also a key part of the offering: think lobster, oysters, the ubiquitous raw kingfish, plus an impeccably roasted toothfish with a fine, glassy crust and buttery interior in a spiky beurre blanc.

Unless I’ve been eating at the wrong places all this time, these are not dishes or
flavours typically championed by places channelling the spirit of the Manhattan
steakhouse. Instead, they call to mind the neighbourhood Italian “red sauce” joints one borough over in The Bronx. Instead, they call to mind the neighbourhood Italian “red sauce” joints one borough over in The Bronx that head chef Charlie Vargas cut his teeth at before coming to Perth to cook at Fraser’s, Balthazar and other key dining rooms. For anyone concerned that The Embassy was just another steakhouse-by-numbers prospect, this is a good thing.

There is also, as the name suggests, a lot of steak in the house. There’s beef in the cocktails. (Bar manager Sean Walker infuses bourbon with Wagyu fat to give it a mouth-coating lushness.) There’s whipped beef fat in the butter served with heels of Goods Bakery country loaf sourdough. You’ll find the meat cured as bresaola – roasted in half-pipes of bone marrow – and left raw via a head-turning tartare of finely diced rump cap bound with a zippy fermented house chilli sauce.

So how’s the steak? Pretty good. The menu doesn’t go into the same forensic or
genealogical detail as, say, Nextdoor, but there’s enough to cover most diners’
bases. Our piece of grass-fed Angus New York Strip was carefully cooked over an electric grill to medium, its gently marbled flesh rendered a handsome hue of wall-to-wall pink.

It’s a fine line, however, between good char and acrid char. Streaks of bitterness
suggest our beef might have spent too long in a hot spot or that some fat flare-ups got away from the kitchen. The tepid temperature that it (eventually) arrived at our table at made me think it had been rested too long to properly render the too-cold, oddly sweet black garlic compound butter we bolted on our order. Thankfully, there were complementary mustards and house-made horseradish to fall back on.

In these casual, share plate dining times, prospects such as The Embassy can feel a bit like a curio from a by-gone, mythical era where long lunches ruled. But while the restaurant and its attached bar The Foreign Office are both ideal backdrops for business lunching and Mad Men-themed role playing, this is a place that defies pigeonholing. If you’re hankering for meat, you’ll do well here, as will vegetarians that won’t just have to order side dishes.

While it would be wrong to call The Embassy “accessible” – dining like this costs,
especially now – it is undoubtedly an operation that gets hospitality and the
importance of making diners feel welcome. After all, what is an embassy if not
somewhere to feel at home?

Subiaco’s rebirth continues to gain momentum.

Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.