Print Hall Bar, Perth CBD
It’s Oyster Frenzy at Print Hall Bar on Tuesday nights, with Perth’s King of Oysters Jerry Fraser shucking Australia’s finest oysters: AU$18 half dozen, $30 dozen and $50 two dozen. Regular readers and my friends know what I think of oysters, but they also know how much I adore Jerry.
Get there early if you want a seat at Jerry’s oyster bar. Seafood is on Print Hall Bar’s menu every day: you can indulge in a feast of chilled seafood with platters assembled to order, served with housemade cocktail sauces and dressings, lemon, lime and craggy sourdough bread by Small Print Baker and Roastery.
Jac and I met up with her friend Karen after work for a seafood dinner that started with a cold pint or two.
There are three seafood platters to choose from: The Jerry, with blue manna crab, tiger prawns, mussels and Jerry’s oysters (AU$50), The South Western, with Blue Ridge marron, Cambinata yabbies and Albany oysters (AU$75) and The Print Hall, the whole shebang which we shared between the three of us. It was an abundant arrangement presented on crushed ice, put together by Jerry Fraser himself, with Western rock lobster, Blue Ridge marron, blue manna crab, tiger prawns, Cambinata yabbies and of course, Jerry’s oysters – that night, Sydney Pacific oysters. The seafood’s cooked simply, the crustaceans in all their bug-like glory with beady eyes, many legs, tender fleshy parts and hard poky bits. The house made sauces and dressings included horseradish, cocktail sauce and mignonette. I guess bibs don’t really match with the dress code of the place, but they would’ve come in handy as we twisted heads, cracked claws and plucked and sucked meat from tails. Get dirty or go home hungry.
The ‘Print Hall’ (AU$150). 
Time for a yabbie sex identification lesson. 
A really good cup of coffee to end the meal. By the way, if you don’t like seafood, there are other choices on the menu. The lunch menu’s bigger than the dinner menu – see Print Hall Bar menus.
I’m no drinker but there’s something that keeps bringing me back to Print Hall and this golden bar. Bad service is something we complain about a lot in Perth, but here in the Print Hall Bar and upstairs at The Apple Daily, I’ve experienced nothing but excellent service. And it’s always great to have a yarn with Jerry. I’m yet to make it into the Print Hall Dining Room for a meal… I’m just having too good a time in the main bar.
The baker, the shucker and the photographer (in her usual position).Print Hall Bar
125 St Georges Terrace
Perth WA 6000
Telephone: (08) 6282 0000
Monday to Friday: 11.30am to 12 midnight
Saturday: 4pm to 12 midnight
Closed on Sunday and public holidays
Dress code: upmarket casual or business attire. Gentlemen are required to wear a collared shirt or collared jacket. No thongs (flip-flops) or shorts.
- See my previous post: When an oyster hater met the King of Oysters
- Jerry Fraser’s website (WARNING: Watch out for auto-playing sounds)