Print Hall’s modern Asian bar and restaurant returns with a strong Filipino flavour and a deep drinks focus

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I really, really hope that waiter John Wynne is rostered on when you’re dining at Apple Daily, and that he’s working your section.

An instantly likeable, affable fellow, he’s the kind of front-of-house presence that upgrades dinner into a memory. His tableside manner is professional, but not stiff. He answers questions about dishes and drinks in a way that’s humane and helpful rather than feeling like you’re being sold to. Best of all, he has the smarts to read guests and situations and knows how much (or how little) of himself to inject into each stage of a meal.

It’s the sort of restaurant Spidey Sense that only comes after – and I hope John doesn’t mind me writing this – spending decades fine-tuning your craft and waiting on tables, studying humans and wearing out sensible non-slip black shoes at a rapid rate. (And as highfalutin as it might sound, seamless service, like playing the piano or hand-building ceramics, is unquestionably a craft that one can dedicate an entire working lifetime to.)

In an era and perhaps even industry infatuated with the new and fandangled, it’s worth acknowledging the merits of age and experience.

There’s also plenty of age, experience and history to the story of Print Hall: the four-level CBD precinct that Apple Daily resides in.

The former HQ of The West Australian, the derelict building rose again in 2012 and made waves with its audacious vision, some high-profile recruitment (Perth dining heavyweight David Coomer had signed on as the precinct’s culinary directory) plus a spicy no-mullets policy. After falling victim to Covid, Print Hall was purchased by NightOwl Entertainment – a hospitality group perhaps better known for its nightclubs and bars – and reopened last year.

While some of NightOwl’s pubby DNA has filtered into the Print Hall experience – Bob’s Bar on the rooftop offers a late-night Red Bull and vodka special; a live band in the Print Hall lobby performs high-energy covers of party-starters such as Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ and the Frankie Valli classic Can’t Take My Eyes off You – its new owners have done a good job preserving the feel of the space while also adding a new Italian restaurant (Stampa!) and rebooting former bakery Small Print as a wine bar.

In September, the long-shuttered Apple Daily got its turn to rejoin the ranks of the living.

Named after Hong Kong’s dearly departed daily tabloid, Apple Daily’s fun and punchy Asian food offering was a nice counterpoint to the flashier offerings at ground level. While the original magic-carpet-sized menu was notable for its pan-Asian focus, the food at Apple Daily 2.0 is leaning right into the flavours of the Philippines: the home of chef Sunny de Ocampo. The opening head chef of Apple Daily, de Ocampo is back as the restaurant’s consultant chef – head chef James Wong oversees the dailies at Apple Daily – and digging deep into the foodways of his island home.

When, for instance, was the last time you clocked kikiam on a menu in Perth? A fried pork and bean curd sausage introduced to the Philippines by southern Chinese migrants (you might know it as ngoh hiang or loh bak?) it makes a nice contrast to well-seared scallops ($35), served on the shell in a Filipino surf and turf.

Or how about palapa, a perky Filipino condiment made by grinding together ginger, chilli and coconut? In de Ocampo’s mind, palapa is the ideal mortar to bind juicy prawns to diamonds of pineapple, a la the pina palapa prawn ($38): a dish that calls to mind the classic Thai appetiser, ma hor. It’s an essential order.

A fat tranche of tender octopus and dainty ringlets of squid cooked in the creature’s ink on a bed of chicken porridge ($34) exemplifies de Ocampo’s more-is-more thinking. For those that crave the zip of lime juice and the chlorophyll freshness of herbs in their Asian cooking, it’s worth noting that salt and heft – bagoong, the archipelago’s fermented prawn and fish paste, makes regular appearances – do a lot of the heavy lifting here. A not-unappealing oceanic funk drives the chilli crab chive noodles ($42) where tiny jewels of tobiko (flying fish roe) lend crunch and pop to the wet – too wet? – tangle of noodles.

It’s also worth mentioning that, considering the prices, some of the cooking could be sharper. Maybe the two beef ribs that make up the kare kare ($53) could have been a little slower-braised; perhaps the chopped pork belly and cheek in the sisig ($38) could have been not-so-dried-out and the accompanying corn chips were actually the corn tortillas promised on the menu. Better to get your RDI of swine via the lechon ($52), two fat pucks of porchetta-esque pork stuffed with fragrant lemongrass and spice. While not strictly traditional, it’s a sound rendition of a classic – Filipinas and Filipinos take their lechon (roast pork) seriously – as is the leche flan ($26), a crème caramel with a nicely bitter caramel and pieces of charry pineapple perfumed with mint.

Compared to, say, Perth’s Thai, Vietnamese or Japanese food options, Filipino food is still a little thin on the ground here. Filipino fine diners, it barely warrants mentioning, are even rarer still. It’s encouraging to see a chef and hospitality group daring to something a little different, not least at the pointy end of the market. Apple Daily has the potential to be a CBD dining prospect of note – the wood panelled dining room feels grown-up; the drinks list is equally adult, albeit also potentially hazardous to your credit card’s health – here’s hoping that, with time and fine-tuning, the team can get there.