New Winter Menu Unveiled at East Fremantle's Carnaby's Café
A beloved café in East Fremantle has refreshed its menu for the winter season, placing a strong emphasis on locally sourced Western Australian seafood. Carnaby's Café, Bar & Restaurant, situated in the heart of East Fremantle Community Park, is a popular gathering spot and the home ground of the East Fremantle Football Club. The venue opened two years ago as part of the park's $32 million redevelopment and launched its new seasonal menu last week.
Head Chef Simon George on Menu Changes
Head chef Simon George explained that while fan favourites remain, several exciting additions have been introduced. “It’s not completely new, it’s just tweaking some dishes and keeping up with the seasons. The biggest changes was on our shared-style stuff. We’ve added a load of new dishes into it,” he said. Menu highlights include homemade cheese arancini balls, Exmouth prawn toast, and George’s personal favourite: dry rub lamb ribs with confit potatoes.
Focus on Locally Sourced WA Seafood
The menu, which undergoes a revamp every four months to align with seasonal changes, now leans into modern Australian cuisine with a special focus on exclusive WA seafood. George noted that the new seafood accountability rules influenced some adjustments. “The new seafood accountability rules are coming in as well, so we’ve tweaked some of our dishes. We’ve now got some local gold band snapper that we’re using for our fish and chips, and all our seafood is now West Australian sourced,” he said. The café removed processed squid rings from the menu due to the inability to source them locally. “We had squid rings on the menu, but it was a processed, buy-in crumb squid ring, and you can’t find a locally-sourced one so we’ve dropped that off our menu. We’ll just try to prepare things ourselves instead and use local products, which is great,” George added.
New Seafood Labelling Laws from July
Starting in July, WA restaurants, cafes, pubs, food trucks, takeaways, and other hospitality businesses serving seafood will be required to inform diners whether the seafood is Australian, imported, or a mix of both. This update to Australian Consumer Law aims to support the local seafood industry.
Timed for Footy Season
The new dishes have been launched in time for the second half of the WAFL and WAFLW seasons, allowing footy fans to enjoy quality food while cheering on their teams. “Thousands of people come into the precinct for game day. We don’t want to scrimp on our quality, so we reduce our menu a little bit,” George said. The restaurant offers burgers and steak sandwiches for takeaway and hosts pop-up food stalls around the oval. Carnaby’s also partners with The Good Grocer to serve items such as Rotto beef pies and brings in external food trucks to meet demand.
Community Hub Beyond Football
With over 30 years of restaurant experience, George has been headlining Carnaby’s since it opened two years ago. He noted that WAFL games have helped build recognition. “As time goes on, the WAFL games definitely helped get our name out there. People know that we’re here, and we’re not just a football club - we’re a community space,” he said. “We were put here to engage the community. It’s really diverse, the customers that we have.” Carnaby’s hosts several local groups throughout the week, including a ukulele club, Probus groups, and the football club’s president’s lunch on home game days.
