Dare to Dream at The Loose Box

As high as I reach can I grow, as far as I seek I can go, as deep as I look I can see, as much as I dream...

Finding a special person with whom you truly connect at the deepest parts of yourself is a gift. For me, these special connections have been few and far between but what I have learned is how important it is to cherish them. We are all searching for meaning in our lives and above all, to be seen, understood and loved for who we are. I believe that creating the meaning in our lives is not just about what happens to us, it is also about what we do with happens to us and having the right people to walk beside us on our life journey is essential to our happiness.

Viktor Frankl, famed psychotherapist and a holocaust survivor talks about the fact that meaning in life cannot be invented but must be discovered. Frankl said that among all living things, only we humans can envision our futures and play out mental scenarios of how we will make our visions a reality.

One restauranteur who has made his dreams a reality is Alain Fabrègues of the Loose Box Restaurant in Mundaring. I was taken there by a special man in my life to experience the culinary mastery of a visionary who really has revolutionised Perth dining. The restaurant is situated in the heart of Mundaring. As you drive in you can’t help feeling as if you are visiting a little cottage somewhere in the south of France. This is a place you want to linger and stay a while.

We settled in for the night and went for the whole enchilada that Loose Box is famous for – a seven course degustation dinner complete with fabulous wine, mood lighting and deep conversation. We are the same like that, all or nothing type people who like to live life on full throttle. We kind of felt connected to the restaurant’s owner Alain, who was so hell bent on getting a special oven for his kitchen that he hired a chopper to lower it in through the hole he had cut out of his roof.. you gotta love it!

You can’t kick off an evening like this without a glass of bubbly – in true French style we ordered some fabulous champagne with a splash of Kir. Our first course was a Coconut and Prawn Broth served with freshly shelled prawns, balmain bugs, kaffir lime leaf and rozelle spice. Subtle and delicious the flavour of the lime leaf and coriander tickled our senses. I got the low-down from my lovely companion who is a keen fish guy on the best way to prepare seafood and how he thought Alain had gotten the sweetness out of the bug flesh. And yes he cooks too! For our second course we had Tian de Crabes Bleus - blue swimmer crab set as a montage with tomato, Toodyay olives and iceberg lettuce served with a light green vegetable sauce. Fresh and light this dish provided cool relief from our starter broth.

For our next courses we had Le Saumon de Tasmanie d'eau Profonde et La Saint Jacques de Shark Bay aux Aromates-Tasmanian salmon and Shark Bay scallops, braised with aromatic herbs and served with a beurre blanc on wilted spinach and Escargots à La Bordelaise en Pâte de Brick sur Ratatouille Tomates aux Chilies - snail fritter served golden on a warm ratatouille stack with a tomato and chilli sauce.

Funnily enough I thought I would feel full at this point but actually I was perfectly satiated and welcomed the strawberry and cointreau sorbet they served us to cleanse our palates in between courses.

Dessert was beautiful - le Cygne Majestueux en Voyage sur son Lac de Framboises – a majestic swan, made from home made vanilla bean ice cream and fine tuille biscuit. Served on a "lake" of raspberry sauce. The perfect dish to complete an unforgettable dining experience.

We were put on this earth to love and celebrate all the wonderful things this life has to offer. Alain Fabrègues has shared with us his love for food and passion for all things French at his restaurant. My experience dining at The Loose Box was surreal and languorous, time felt like it stood still and the world around me became a distant blur. It is a place of dreams.

If you haven’t been yet... share The Loose Box experience with someone very special who enhances your life just by being part of yours.

Passion Rating ★★★★★
Food:★★★★★
Service:★★★☆☆
Ambiance:★★★★★
Overall:★★★★☆

“Love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire.” Frankl – Man’s Search for Meaning.