Imaginative dishes make South Freo’s Madalena’s an essential address for lovers of seafood

Welcome to Fremantle: the port city of Western Australia and a town synonymous with fishing and seafood.

Consider the Mendolia family and the Fremantle sardines that they catch: two factors that helped put Freo on the seafood map. Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour, despite not being as active as it once was, still attracts tourists and locals. Keen anglers, meanwhile, still wet lines at the South Beach groyne, near the bridges and at other locations in the 6160 postcode.

Among the newer additions to this seafood story is Madalena’s, a breezy, two-storey bar and restaurant that opened in late 2018. In some ways, Madalena’s presents like a classic South Freo eatery. Sandstone walls and patio furniture conjure a relaxed atmosphere. Tables and chairs dot the sidewalk. Fish rules its A5 paper menu. But while much of Freo’s fishing heritage is tied to Italian and Greek migration, Madalena’s origin story is set in Brazil. Or more specifically, the town of Madalena that owners Dani Flauzino and Joel Rees once called home, and the neighbourhood bars that made Madalena such a fun place to live, work and play.

Equally unconventional is the food that Madalena’s serve. You’ll often hear folks say that seafood is at its most delicious when it’s had the least done to it. When it’s served raw or cooked briefly, perhaps with a pinch of salt and a squeeze of lemon. Think of it as the mariner’s version of that well-worn chef soundbite “letting the produce speak for itself”.

While there are things on Madalena’s menu that embody this stripped-back approach – thoughtfully sourced oysters ($4.50; $6.50), good anchovies ($16) – chef Adam Rees won’t hesitate to put proverbial words into the mouths of the fish he’s cooking. To prove unexpected thinking can take seafood to unexpected places. To prove sometimes, more can be more.

There are those that insist dairy and seafood don’t mix. Rees says otherwise. The raw Abrolhos Island scallop ($8) served in the shell along with house-made almond milk brightened by verdant dots of dill oil prove him right. True, almond milk doesn’t come from cows, yet it feels apt that alt-dairy features in the alt-seafood playbook. (See also the creamy Spanish bread and almond sauce ajo blanco that transforms raw local tuna ($32) into an all-time crudo.)

For centuries, cooks have used vinegar to preserve cooked seafood as sweet and
sour escabeche. Can you still call a dish with an unvinegared seafood headliner escabeche? I’m not sure. So let’s call steamed mussels, plump with happy memories of the sea, plus chunks of shallot bathed in chardonnay vinegar and citrus ($24) a reminder that knowing the exceptions is more important than knowing the rules. Turbocharging forkfuls of crisp-skinned Manjimup rainbow trout ($42) with salted cucumber, lush creme fraiche and deeply caramelised shallot ought to be more than the fish can handle. But this improbable combination doesn’t just work, it dazzles and unveils new flavours not immediately obvious in its (already delicious) chamois-coloured flesh.

Previously, Madalena’s strategy with desserts was to thrill diners with textbook
renditions of French classics a la glossy wedges of citrus tart or quivering creme caramels. The tart ($15) is still available, but it’s now joined by more outre offerings that might use rhubarb jam, white chocolate pebbles and a fine, gingery crumble to hypnotise cream cheese mousse into thinking it’s a baked gingerbread and jam biscuit.

Yet for all its renegade thinking, Madalena’s is also cognisant of guests’ base passions. Some locals might be unsure of the lo-fi, maverick wines lurking in the fridge, but they’ll feel at home perched on a bar stool with a middy of lager from the tap and good waxy frites ($12) from the deep fryer. Or maybe they’re thirsty rather than hungry and would be better served by the upstairs bar, where the menu is bulked out with ace cocktails and small plates designed for snacking. For your sake, I hope the toothfish croquettes are on when you visit. And that you’re equally floored by the bang-for-buck that comes with getting four golden teardrops of lush, belly-enriched bechamel for just six dollars. And that your faith in value-packed bar snacks is restored.

When Flauzino and the Rees brothers opened Madalena’s six years ago, they spoke enthusiastically about being a place for the neighbourhood. While feeding and watering people is the main way Madalena’s serves its community, management show that it cares in other ways, too, by putting up signs telling guests to let staff know if they’re in an unsafe situation. By stocking bathrooms with free feminine hygiene products. By sharpening the formerly gauche, uneven service.

I must admit, the lack of staff uniforms makes it difficult to tell who’s a waiter and who’s a diner just stretching their legs. Then again, blurring the line separating “them” and “us” feels important to building a homely space where people feel comfortable dropping in for a snack and gargle, even if the calibre of the eating and drinking is anything but pedestrian.

In Brazil, such a place is known as a boteco. In South Freo, one such place goes by the name of Madalena’s.