The Astral Weeks team has taken a simple ethos – good food needs good sound – and amplified it into a Ah Um, a hidden dining room in Northbridge.

The team’s pitch perfect jazz kissa will sit alongside Chinatown titans like Old Shanghai and Billy Lee. The Heath Ledger Theatre is nearby, and the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts will soon be across the road, putting Ah Um at the intersection of Perth’s art and cultural scene.

You enter Ah Um through Astral Weeks. And although the dining room is smaller, it mirrors Astral’s layout and acoustics, which are designed to allow diners to enjoy a meal, music and musings (without looking for the proverbial subtitles).

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Co-owner Sean O’Neill doesn’t shy away from the legacy of the team’s first venue. But he says Ah Um feels quite different from Astral Weeks.

That difference is mostly down to Branden Scott’s (ex-Wines of While) menu. Like the diverse soundtrack that’s played through the digital hi-fi system, the menu slants global – it’s driven by local produce rather than the rules of a specific cuisine.

The kingfish pops with gems of grapefruit. There’s a nuanced beef tartare with nuoc cham and pommes dauphine playfully remixed with a Ossau-Iraty (Basque goat milk cheese) and Aleppo pepper.

The wine list (by winemaker Jean-Baptiste Courdesses) is similarly far-reaching. There are natural wines from WA’s southwest, the Adelaide Hills and Europe.

The artisanal sake list spans the whole of Japan. It’s from Black Market, which also supplies Sydney listening bar Ante.

“It’s from small producers that are making small quantities [so] you’re going to be getting these really beautiful, interesting sakes,” O’Neill tells Broadsheet.

Playlists pulled from AW Radio are pumped through a sound system built in situ by Sydney technicians Translate Sound.

“I think it actually sounds better than Astral [Weeks], because the space is a little bit smaller … [so it’s] much more of a controlled environment,” says O’Neill.

All of Ah Um’s elements buzz in perfect harmony. It’s hard to define – O’Neill calls it “a calm sanctuary … like stepping into this other world.” – but it’s worlds apart from this year’s other openings and a welcome addition to the scene.

Ah Um
Shop 12/60–66 Roe Street, Northbridge
(Enter via Astral Weeks.)
No phone

Hours:
Wed to Sat 5pm–late

ah-um.com.au
@ah_um_restaurant