Our Take on Nieuw Ruin
Norfolk pines tower over the limestone cottage at 12 Norfolk Street, and on a Friday afternoon the garden tables underneath them fill before the inside rooms do. Nieuw Ruin took over the heritage listed building near Fremantle's South Terrace and turned it into the port city's most serious wine room.
The team behind Foxtrot Unicorn in the CBD runs it, and The Urban List covered the opening as a statement for Fremantle drinking. The list runs past 300 bottles, from new Australian producers to big ticket Burgundy.
Gourmet Traveller reviewed the kitchen's forgotten classics approach, hyper local produce worked into dishes that read older than the room. Star Wine List and Young Gun of Wine both index the cellar.
Reading the Room
The cottage keeps its small rooms, whitewashed walls and timber floors, with the bar pressed into the front. The garden is the prize: gravel underfoot, long tables, and those pines holding the last light late into the evening.
Restaurant Guru reviewers photograph the octopus and the duck liver pate nearly as often as the building itself.
The Menu, Edited
Who Shows Up, and When
Freo wine people and East Fremantle couples arrive early, CBD escapees fill the weekends. Tuesday through Thursday runs from 4pm and stays conversational; Friday and Saturday open at noon and build to a full garden by sunset.
Mondays the room rests. Lost in Fremantle calls it the suburb's easy going wine flagship, which is the right read.
The Word on the Street
- Gourmet Traveller reviewed the forgotten classics menu as one of Fremantle's most interesting kitchens.
- Young Gun of Wine and Star Wine List both index the cellar, rare company for a cottage bar.
- Restaurant Guru reviewers hold it at 4.4 stars across 390 reviews, with the garden the most photographed seat in Fremantle.
- The Urban List covered the opening from the Foxtrot Unicorn team as heritage done right.
Go, or Skip
- Wine drinkers who want depth without a city dining room
- Long garden lunches that drift into dinner
- Avoid if you came for beer and big screens; this is a cellar with a kitchen
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