Something fishy at the Fib

SARDINE burger. Now there’s something you don’t see on a menu every day, but then Blinco Street Cafe is not your usual sort of cafe.

Set in an old paint factory-turned artist enclave, colloquially known as The Fib (Australian for Fibonacci Centre) this is 21st century hippy Fremantle; polished concrete floors, basic mismatched furniture and old and saggy lounge chairs. The sort of place trendier joints pay a fortune to emulate.

The menu matches the decor, nothing fancy, but good value, comfort food.

With a range of fresh juices on offer we were soon sipping a delicious beetroot, apple and ginger and an apple and ginger ($7) as we checked out the menu—the specials board had been wiped clean due to an early rush.

There’s a passing nod to the owner’s Singaporean heritage at Blinco Cafe with nasi goreng and pandan waffles.

A fan of the green-coloured palm sugar pandan, I was tempted but went for the fried rice, in the hope that on a cold wet day it would remind me of a warm tropical one. Topped with a runny egg and coming with a rocket salad, at $13 it’s good value, but needed a bit more zip, maybe more fish sauce in the cooking, or soy on the side.

D’Angerous Dave is a sucker for sardines and the offer of a burger of them ($18) was too tempting.

I was mildly disappointed to see the sardines came all mashed up as a patty, and not simply slapped whole onto the bun, their little heads and glazed eyes staring—j’accuse! If you don’t like the fishy taste give this a miss, but if you do you’ll enjoy the thick, moist patty redolent of the sea.

Blinco doesn’t do chips but does do frites. Not the shoe-strings I’d expected, but a wonderfully oily variation of finely grated fried spud, which was delicious.

Purely in the interests of the review we ordered a lemon and a caramel slice and a house-made chocolate tart, which arrived nicely presented on a board, as a “tasting plate”.

D’Angerous loved the lemon slice, but I found it lacking in citrus bite.