It goes like this: we’ve always got an eye on the next big thing, be it chef, restaurant or the 1000^th place to be riffing on the PR line, “we cook seasonally, over fire”.

I could raise the defence that what’s new is a readers want, but it’s also, a fair cop. Readers want to know where best to spend their money, new or old, and in a climate where the hospitality industry is facing strong headwinds, it’s perhaps incumbent on a critic to now and again light the way to those that have been weathering storms for years.

Lalla Rookh has been around since around 2012 and while it’s not institution material, it is a venue that has served as a bridge, often leading the way; in Perth at least. It’s seen many of its original competitors close or sink into sad mediocrity, as stronger operators open and flourish.

The neon pig burns bright in the CBD and for me, is an anchor point; a place I know that I can eat big, eat small, eat alone, or bring company, grab a beer in the front bar, or as I much prefer these days score a stool in the Wine Store. There, sommelier Jeremy Prus hasn’t just excelled in the business of selling wine – one of the first enoteca style operations in Perth – but also in training an engaged, wine-focused staff. Career winos if you will. It’s the place where I finally joined the dots on natural wine, and a funky glass of Jauma, With every visit I know, whoever is behind the bar, I’ll make a discovery, albeit one at their expert hand.

While it’s unfair to hark back to an opening chef when the incumbent has been in place since 2016, it bears saying that Joel Valvasori-Pereza (now chef-owner at Lulu La Delizia) was pushing trust menus at Lalla Rookh before the bandwagon was straining under the weight, and gave us a view of food through his northern Italian lens.

When Alexandra Haynes took the reins, there were whispers, albeit she was previously head chef at il Lido, of whether it would be as good. I wonder with hindsight whether this was more about old-fashioned misogyny than the cut of her pasta. I don’t want to get into the gender politics of food but I think probably.

 Under Haynes’ tenure at Lalla Rookh she’s charted her own course, and damn is it tasty. The trust menu is everywhere these days, but trust, as I was told as a kid,  has to be earned. Haynes certainly does that with the il Capo, a six-course flavour thrill ride.

 I’ve made it no secret on Instagram, in fact to anyone who’ll listen, that Haynes’ ox tongue skewers are my small plate of 2018. A marinade of marjoram, garlic, lemon rind and juice brings the flavour. Lots of flavour; file it under banging. They’re sous vide, then skewered and hit with more lemon juice on the grill. I’ve had them with the il Capo, and come back again and again.

The news is that Haynes now has ox tongue 2.0 on the menu, with an addition of smoke and now served on a walnut, parsley and verjuice salsa; but the lemon forward treatment is still a go. Stay tuned to Instagram, I’m sure I’ll be banging on about them soon.

 Then there’s a salmon rillette, with bright pops of roe, cucumber and a pleasing flaxseed wafer. I say pleasing because these wafers are often the definition of meh.

 The gift of the il Capo is the off-menu specials like Kingfish ceviche or spaghetti and fatty guanciale and mussels; the pasta game at Lalla Rookh is strong, and as ever house made.

 If you’re lucky there may be canolli or zabaglione semifreddo to finally ease you into your waddle to the street. It’s an ever-evolving menu and venue.

 The sentiment to support the established should be something we think of more. Everyone’s into sustainability these days, so how about a sustainable hospitality industry? Where we support the owner-operators, who are working in their businesses every day, clocking up more hours in a week than most do in two or three, and excelling.

The likes of Lalla Rookh yes, but also places like Must under Russell Blaikie, a chef who has a roll call of Perth’s best chefs in his alumni. They’ve changed tack in the last 6 months or so and it is, as you’d expect from Blaikie, top notch. There’s veggie whisperer Kiren Mainwaring at Co-op Dining; Kenny McHardy at Manuka Woodfire Kitchen in Freo who does fire from an old pizza oven, not some shiny piece of kit; Melissa Palinkas at Young George who makes the unwanted delicious and more names than can be mentioned.

 It’s the old adage, of use it or lose it.