Is George Kailis crazy? When the coastal dining king behind The Shorehouse in Swanbourne and freshly opened Magic Apple in Cottesloe unveiled plans to launch a luxurious brasserie at the southern end of Cott during a cost-of-living crisis, folks thought he was a few prawns short of shrimp cocktail. Turned out Kailis is crazy — crazy like a fox! Since serving its first $48 table-side Caesar salad in May, Gibney has been the talk of the town. Is it worth the money? Did you hear who dined there on Friday? Have you tried the martinis? When are we going? Kailis has successfully tapped into the western suburbs market, where cozzie livs means visiting Positano every other year.
Gibney saves them a trip to Crown Perth (frankly, it’s over, darling) or Wildflower (been there, done that). But you don’t have to be fancy or flush with cash to dine at Gibney. When my wife, Myra, and I slipped in unnoticed (yeah, right) for a Thursday lunch, the place had a decent spread of different folks from different strokes.
There were the requisite tables of boomers, blokey blokes talking blokey bloke business over white wines, and a couple of beardy mates in head-to-toe black double parked with a Swanny D stubby and a martini each — now that’s living! A group of gal pals with European accents filled the curved booth neighbouring ours. They soon littered their table with dirty martinis. You love to see it.
Cocktails are a must at Gibney. Moments after arriving, we were trolleyed. Trolley, eh.