Food offering is anything but Standard at this hip Northbridge bar

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When Chase Weber left the Parker Group, we imagined there would be a hole in the organisation’s culinary prowess.

If you’ve been a long-time reader you would know Weber has consistently received rave reviews from us.

He was one of Perth’s most talented chefs before he made a lifestyle choice to leave the group (Royal Hotel, Fleur Restaurant, The Standard bar, Dandelion) and take the lifestyle option down south.

This week we returned to The Standard bar for the first time in a few years as much to see how it was going post-Weber and, if things were good, to chow down on their signature mod-Asian cuisine with its powerful, butch flavours and incendiary combinations of texture and tastes.

Many years ago, Weber’s prosaically named chicken grill was, for us, one of the finest dishes in Perth, but it was a slim win because so much of the menu was of equal prowess. It was properly brined for juiciness and tenderness and hard grilled to give it a crust and then served with rice noodles and a saucy crust of chilli and peanuts.

It was a little bit Vietnamese, a little bit Thai and a lot addictive. We went back time after time to eat this wonder.

It’s still on the menu, and it’s shifted a gear to Korean. Its flavours are as incandescent as always. Good chilli heat, but not overpowering and sweet potato noodles were glassy and tensile with a lovely chew.

But it is the spice mix and the Korean flavours which bring it home as a well-made, well-balanced dish. The chicken too is tender and juicy, despite its hard grilling over the flames. It’s a must-eat dish.

Garlic potato gems. Perhaps you’re not a Tater Tots kind of person, but when the kitchen house makes these morsels of deep-fried potato, it is truly next level. Yes, they’re greasy, in the best possible way, crunchy and mushy at the same time and well salted. Big flavour and highly satisfying with a beer or anything, really.

If memory serves the local prawns in black pepper butter was a Chase Weber recipe, and it remains as one of the most umami-laden plates at The Standard. They’re still good.

The prawns were well cooked, not dry or mealy from overcooking, but it’s the sauce that has you clamouring for a spoon to slurp it up. Exceptional dish. It’s attractive too. Hashtag heroes who populate Instagram or Tik Tok with food images will be very happy.

Dan Dan noodles, along with Mapo Tofu, are Sichuan’s star dishes with their bombastic chilli sauces and pork mince. Every day.

The Standard makes a vegan version. The only thing vegans kill is conversation, but despite the lack of pork in The Standard’s version it was as tasty a Dan Dan noodle as we’ve eaten anywhere. The bold, numbing Szechuan pepper flavours, the lashings of sesame oil and sesame paste, the peanuts and loads of chopped spring onion were all accounted for. It was delightful. We asked for extra Szechuan pepper on the side.

Crispy chicken bites were McNuggets to the power of 10. In fact, they were nothing like Maccas’ dry, flavourless chicken bits, minced and rolled in crumbs. They were juicy, wildly chicken-y with a good crumb and a sauce of smoked adobo chillies, the ones in the tin that blow your head off if used indiscriminately but which provide great flavour.

After an absence of years, it’s good to see The Standard is as pleasing as it ever was. It is primarily a bar, but its dishes transcend most bar food you’ll find around town (you know what I’m saying: burrata, salt and pepper squid, and the standard retinue of ho-hum dishes found around Perth’s bars).

Chef Rodelio Panganiban has picked up where Weber left off, and he’s done it seamlessly. There’s the same attention to detail. He makes his own golden mantou buns, there are no shortcuts with sauces or marinades. They’re all made in-house and the produce appears to be excellently sourced.

The rear courtyard is resplendent with trees and shrubs falling out of tubs and gardens. It’s a tropical retreat.

The deck on the roof is another space which comes into its own in the evenings when you get views of the cityscape’s buildings and lights. On a hot day, you might wish to retreat to the inside tables, where the air-conditioning helps repel Perth’s grinding heat.

Finally, the cocktail program is as good as ever and my pal, Matt Swinney, a wine producer of some note, was complimentary about the wine list. And he’s a hard marker.

It’s small, but it cuts across price points, varieties and desires for those who might like their wine orange or natural. We had a fine chardonnay on the day.

Best of all, you can visit and just sit at the bar with a snack and enjoy good wines and beers or settle in, go the whole hog and plunder the attractive menu.

We did.