Tucked away in a residential neighborhood in far south Perth, The Hub Grill doesn't make a very good first impression. With only a handful of tables in the small space and a tiny kitchen behind the cash register, we were a little worried it wouldn't live up to its rave reviews on UrbanSpoon. Several families were laughing around large plates of of pasta and as we sat down and opened our wine, we warmed to the place.
"Here's to the two best guerrilla campers I've ever had the pleasure of camping with," Dad said, holding up his Emu Export bottle to our wine glasses. Emu Export is a local Western Australia brew and the cheapest available beer in the area, which makes Dad very proud.
"I can't believe we woke up in a cemetary this morning," I said.
"A hundred year old cemetary, no less. And that sunrise was gorgeous," Lizzy said.
An Asian man in a chef's hat came over to take our order and talked us into ordering some sort of appetizer, but we weren't sure exactly what it was. When a steaming bowl of muscles piled in bright red broth appeared on our table, we devoured it quickly and ordered some bread to dip in the rich, spicy sauce.
"I think the highlight for me was Lucky Bay," I said. "I never thought I'd get to pet a wild kangaroo, or see a joey nurse. And all the little bays in that park were so picturesque. It reminded me of the Abel Tasman."
"Yeah, but I'm glad we went up north and got to see something different," Lizzy said. "The solitude we got at Peak Charles was really special. There was nobody around for miles."
"Dude, those salt lakes are crazy," I said. "They seriously looked like water from the top of Peak Charles, and then we walked out on them and it was dry as a bone. All the shards of salt looked like broken glass."
"Mhm. I liked hanging out with those locals at the motel bar in Kondinnin," said Dad. "Cool that they don't get a lot of Americans up that way, too."
A waitress, the only other employee in the restaurant, arrived with our food. A generous portion of garlic grilled prawns and thick fettuccine in a creamy, mushroom-flecked sauce was set before me. As we realized the remarkable flavor and quality of the food we were eating, conversation came to a halt.
I spent a month in Italy in 2008 and I've eaten at Italian restaurants - both cheap and fancy - all over the world. I can safely say that the best Italian meal I've ever consumed was made by a Burmese man in a tiny restaurant in southern Perth.
We were all wowed by our meal, and when the chef owner Law came out to our table, we said as much. We were the last people in the restaurant and he chatted with us for a while. A sweet, good-humored little man, he teased Dad about his crappy beer taste and eventually gave us some complimentary tiramisu, which was also excellent. Even tiramisu-junkie Lizzy Lydon was impressed.
Our week in Western Australia was amazing. We saw beautiful sunsets, sunrises and starry nights. We swam in the ocean and climbed mountains, played with kangaroos and met interesting and friendly Aussies. But a week later, the one thing we're still talking about is our dinner at The Hub Grill.
Our faithful co-captain, The Untitled Weasel. Lizzy found her on the ground by our car on the first day of the road trip.
Lucky Bay
'Roo feet
The three 'roos that we saw most often around our site. One had a very small joey in her pouch that you could see wiggling around sometimes, but he never poked his head out.
Curious little friend
THATS MY HAND ON A KANGAROO
Lucky Bay
Roselyn, a lovely, inspiring woman I met at the Lucky Bay campsite. You can read about our encounter in another post titled with her name.
Dad being manly at Hellfire Bay, Cape Le Grand National Park
At the (almost) top of Peak Charles
Salt water lake systems in the background
Guerilla camping in a 100-year-old Pioneer Cemetary outside of Kondinnin
Sunrise in Kondinnin from our campsite at the cemetary
Dinner at the dinky little Hub Grill
