Kiren and Kelli Mainwaring, the brilliant husband and wife team behind Dear Friends Restaurant in Caversham, have opened a new degustation restaurant in East Perth called Co-Op Dining.

But that’s not even the best news.

Are you ready for it? Co-Op Dining has signed on as one of the participating restaurants in our 2012 Dinner!

Like Dear Friends, Co-Op serves 100% gathered or foraged local produce that is prepared in-house for their ever-changing degustation menus. But while Dear Friends’ hyperlocal focus may have tied Kiren’s creative wings to the Swan Valley, at Co-Op his creativity is less loose to fly throughout the state.

“We wanted to create a premier place to promote what we’ve got in WA because, really, we should be proud of it,” Kiren said. “Our produce is used all over the world. Over east at Attica, at French Laundry in California and Per Se in New York.”

There’s pork from Bullsbrook, vegetables from Muchea, marron from Margaret River and wild fennel, garlic and wattle seeds that Kelli and Kiren forage for themselves in the Swan Valley.

“We try to keep the menu as simple and minimal as possible so it’s full of goodness but still presented in fine-dining form,” said Kiren.
And the philosophy seems to have extended to the décor as well, which is elegant and stylish.

Ten lucky Dine for Lifers will be dining at Co-Op on 28 November, and Kelli and Kiren couldn’t be more thrilled about it.

“We are excited to get on board with Dine for Life!  It’s great for us to have the opportunity to be able to contribute to such a good cause.  As small business owners we aren’t in the position to donate directly so to be able to offer our food and service is a privilege,” Kelli told us

It’s a privilege for us, too, to count Co-Op Dining as one of this year’s twenty restaurants!