Our restaurant critics’ picks of the latest and best eats around the country this week including A Taste of Middle Perth, Café Nice, Little Mexico, and Olli-Bella.
**PERTH
**[A Taste of Middle Perth
](http://eatdrinkperth.showmeperth.com.au) As an excuse to head out on a school night, a quest in Middle Perth is tough to beat. Middle what? Middle Perth, for the uninitiated, is the name coined by Andaluz, Helvetica (pictured), Greenhouse and Lalla Rookh Bar & Eating House for the precinct they trade in. While you won’t find Middle Perth on Google Maps (yet), this pocket of St Georges Terrace boasts some of the CBD’s best eats and drinks – eats and drinks you can experience at Tuesday night’s A Taste of Middle Perth small bar crawl. A progressive dinner showcasing each venue’s idea of a good time, it’s a fun way to take the pulse of the West’s capital as well as get into the spirit of Eat Drink Perth, the city’s month-long celebration of all things gustatory. Limited tickets are $95 and can be booked with Lalla Rookh general manager Patrick Ryan on (08) 9325 7077. MAX VEENHUYZEN
**SYDNEY
** Café Nice [no website]
If you’d been thinking to yourself in recent years “gee, I really love those Café Sopra places, but I just wish I could get that same fresh food, only slightly Frencher, in slicker surrounds and for slightly more money”, then boy, have Fratelli Fresh’s Barry McDonald and Nina Gravelis got the restaurant for you. The father-daughter team share a passion for southern France in general and Nice in particular, so their new venue, on the old Merrony’s site at Circular Quay, channels the Riviera capital with a sunny menu rich in vegetables, fish and Mediterranean classics. Ratatouille, pissaladière, salade Niçoise? Oui, oui et oui. The last is served in a bowl, the olive oil-poached tuna tossed with the other ingredients at the table by your waiter. The wine list offers plenty under the $60 mark, a good whack of rosé and most things are sold by the glass and carafe. To close, the fig clafoutis, still bubbling as it hits the table, is hard to deny. Café Nice, 2 Phillip St (cnr Albert), Sydney, NSW, (02) 8248 9600. PAT NOURSE
**ADELAIDE
A pop-up bar sensation, Little Miss Mexico sprang from a disused storage lot into gaily coloured glory for the Adelaide Fringe Festival. The drinks menu carries a bright summer vibe – Margaritas and other tequila cocktails, red and white sangria, a specialty rum bar – while the energetic team from Vinteloper Urban Winery Project is basket pressing grapes on site during vintage, and selling its finished wines by the glass and bottle. From the list of Mexican street foods, the fresh fish taco with a zesty citrus salsa is the ideal cocktail companion, and you can also feast on paella. Little Miss Mexico is open from 11am to late, with line-ups from about 9pm. It’s definitely running until at least the end of the festival on March 17, but beyond that we can’t say – get in while you can. Little Miss Mexico, 188 Grenfell St, Adelaide, SA. DAVID SLY
**HOBART
**[Olli-Bella at Mona Market
](http://www.momahobart.net.au/) MONA Market winds up for the season at the end of the month, so there are only five more chances to eat Tasmania’s best tacos while listening to live music on MONA’s lawns. Olli-Bella, named after Californian expat chef Gabriel Laborico’s two daughters, turns out four different tacos each Saturday, and they are well worth queuing for. He makes his own soft tortillas and the fillings – maybe braised pork with green chillies, with a liberal scattering of chopped coriander (our favourite so far) – are beautifully seasoned. Chase them with Olli-Bella’s watermelon and raspberry juice or a glass of MONA’s own Moo Brew Saison beer. MONA, 655 Main Rd Berriedale, Tas, (03) 6277 9900. SUE DYSON & ROGER MCSHANE
