There’s a reason so many Perth foodies wish their local shops resembled Bicton Central

A round of applause, please, for Bicton Central: a small shopping centre on Canning Highway that proves independent food businesses, with enough support, can flourish in a market ruled by franchises and The Duopoly.

For starters there’s Hunter Bread, Shannon Malone and Hunter Carlberg’s neighbourhood bakery using flour power to nourish and sustain locals. Come lunchtime, the focus shifts to Pluck Salads where banh mi rolls and acai bowls are offered alongside the shop’s Asian-influenced namesake. After dark, it’s all eyes on Rym Tarng: a suburban Thai dining room and takeaway opened by two Long Chim alum that brings finely tuned Siamese cooking to the 6157.

Now factor in a Bicton outpost of respected West Australian grocery Fresh Provisions, plus the mighty family-run Princi Butchers (get the mortadella!) and it’s easy to understand why so many eaters wish that their local shops looked more like Bicton Central.

Expect more of those wistful looks come winter when the shopping centre welcomes two – and perhaps more – new tenants to the Canning Highway food party.

The first of these newcomers is Venn Bicton, a Bicton offshoot of Ash Kenworthy and Matt Kenworthy’s popular cafe in East Victoria Park. Originally part of the late coffee pioneer Craig Muzeroll’s Antz Inya Pantz empire, the shop was taken over by the Kenworthys in 2019 and rebranded as Venn in 2021.

While the new shop featured a slicker look than the homey, eco-conscious aesthetic of Antz, the Kenworthys retained the bulk bean retail offering of Antz (Venn is one of the few, if not only, cafes that sells coffee beans that it roasts themselves in bulk; customers are invited to bring their own containers to further reduce waste and packaging). They also kept the bagel focus but expanded the offering to include more toppings and house-made schmears. Both the bulk coffee and bagels will underpin the Bicton offering.

“We’re really excited to be coming to Bicton Central,” says Matt, who swapped a career in mortgage broking to operate his cafe.

“The landlord has had a big focus on getting in high-quality makers that take a lot of pride in their products, whether it’s the bread at Hunter or the cooking at Rym Tarng. There’s a real focus on making this a destination.”

Compared to the Vic Park Venn, the new addition to the family will be smaller and have space for about 40 guests both inside and out. (Most of the seats will be outdoors.) The beans in the cafe’s Steamhammer machine will rotate constantly in the name of freshness and interest while Venn Bicton will trade seven days.

For Fins Seafood, newcomer number two in this story, moving to Bicton Central is about going bigger rather than smaller. At present, the emerging seafood supplier has a pop-up shop in the centre selling fresh and packaged seafood. Come winter, the plan is to move to a bigger, multipurpose space near the centre’s Petra Road entrance that will comprise a retail space, dine-in and takeaway kitchen and small bar.

Yes, fried fish will be part of the offering: just don’t call the Fins crew’s newest project a fish and chipper.

“We don’t know what to call it, so we’re calling it Fins Bicton,” says Asher Flynn, manager of Fins.

“To call it a fish and chipper wouldn’t do justice to it. We’re broaching a few different genres in this space.”

Instead, the plan is to offer “fish, salad and a few chips”: a more nutritionally minded offering that sees well-handled fish served alongside one of six rotating salads that will be served each day, plus a small serving of fried potato deliciousness.

Cooked squid, shucked oysters and other seafood offerings will round off the kitchen’s offering with food available to takeaway or to eat inside the 50-seat space.

Not that Fins Bicton is all about virtuous eating and drinking. The space’s small bar license means that dine-in guests can enjoy a drink with dinner as well as while they’re waiting for their takeover order.

Venn Bicton is due to open on Saturday May 4. Fins Bicton is due to open in winter.