The Blue Flamingo

I find the colour blue remarkably calming, I also find good service, excellent food and good drinks takes me to a happy place. Combine then? Winning! Welcome to The Blue Flamingo, which calls the old Leederville Hotel garden home.
It could not be more different to the old Leedy (which many would be thankful for) and the new venue is classy, bright, open and welcoming. Separate areas, various heights of tables, the smell of food wafting through the venue — not in an intense way — but it made me think of street food combined with the feeling of walking into your house and knowing someone had been cooking.
On my first visit, a group of us just went for drinks. We worked our way through most of the menu, focusing on their wines and cocktails — all to die for. It was a great afternoon. The 10 of us spent hours talking away in the sunshine until suddenly it was the evening. A venue that makes you lose your concept of time has done something well.
The second visit was a little more focused on food and beers. One thing I like about Flamingo is that all the drinks are easy to match with the food. The salmon ceviche was stunning and the guac is an easy but filling snack.
A venue that has a lot of hot sauces (especially one with such a Mexican focused menu) is important and these guys have nailed it. From not hot to oh so hot, the ability to change your food to suit your taste is something I thoroughly enjoy and makes it much easier to share food with a group of people.
I love the vibe that the openness gives, and it sits high on my list for a great Sunday sesh. Sit back, relax and let the ambiance of the Blue Flamingo take you over.

Cool and hip. Definitely an upgrade to the old leedy. Music is loud but good to groove to.

Like all great Mexican feasts, things start with guacamole — with their version accompanied by salsa roja and tortilla chips ($ 9.50). I just love guacamole (to the point where some nights I’ll happily clean some homemade guac up as my dinner option) and there’s was creamy and fresh. I personally prefer my guacamole screaming of lime flavour, and with coriander, onion and some kind of sweet addition like tomato. There’s was more of a mashed avocado, which I’m not opposed to at all — but it wasn’t quite the authentic Mexican fare I was hoping for.
The tortilla chips were crisp and shattered under my teeth satisfyingly when I bit down. The salsa roja was deeply flavoured and tasty, with the sharp tomato taste coming through in each mouthful. A nice addition to the plate to kickstart our appetites.
What I like about The Blue Flamingo is that their cocktail menu has both singular serving sizes and carafes, which is definitely a more economical way to enjoy a sweet tipple if you’re in a group (or not driving!). We had two different carafes to try that day — the Pink Dolphin Sangria ($ 14.00/$ 35.00) and the Cachaca Highball (same price).
The Pink Dolphin Sangria was definitely my favourite of he two, and really different to your normal sangria offering. Comprised of rose, brandy, vanilla, hibiscus, strawberries and mint, it was sweet and fruity, with the vanilla flavour complimenting the wine nicely. I thought that the hibiscus, while pretty, was more of a painful addition than anything as the dried petals got caught in my teeth. A strainer for when pouring would have been welcome!
The Cachaca Highball was made of cachaca, apricot brandy, lemon, ginger ale and bitters. Cachaca is a Brazilian based spirit which is made from sugar cane syrup. I first tried it at The Standard, but I have to say it still hasn’t quite resonated with me — the strong alcohol flavour just isn’t quite my cup of tea.
Next up we tackled the low and slow cuban pork sandwich ($ 16.00) which is full of slow roasted pork, pickles, mustard and smoked mozzarella. If there’s one movie that tends to be my secret pleasure for watching, it’s easily Chef — which really opened the worlds’ eyes to how amazing cuban sandwiches are! While not Mexican, I wasn’t complaining to see it on the menu at The Blue Flamingo.
This was a really tasty rendition, with that meat just completely falling apart. The flavour of spices shone through, and the sharp housemade pickle was exactly what the sandwich was begging for to be rounded out fully. I only ate half (barely) and found this really filling which was great to see for the price.
Because you can never have too much pork… we next tried the pulled pork tacos with grilled pineapple and salsa ($ 12.00). Oh how I love the combination of pork and pineapple!
The tacos are thin and texturally spot on, which is nice to see. The meat is juicy, the pineapple slightly smoky but sweet. The sharpness of the red onion is a welcome addition that cuts through the other ingredients perfectly. A little squeeze of lime makes my mouth zing from all the contrasting and tasty flavours.
Our final dish for the afternoon was the salmon ceviche with ponzu and amarillo chilli ($ 15.00). I love ceviche, with the freshness and tanginess of the ingredients — it tends to be a crowd pleaser. I thought that The Blue Flamingo’s version looked pretty, though personally I’m not the biggest fan of salmon as a ceviche protein — I prefer white fleshed fish as the texture tends to be more palatable (for me).
The use of ponzu was a spin on the classic, though deviated from the Mexican theme of the menu. I did really like that there were so many of those corn chips on the side — they’re so addictive!

This is an easy going place where it would be good to catch up with a group of people. No aircon and décor is very basic. Bar service only. The food is reasonable and just ok… Not a place for a gourmet meal at all but the food is still filling.
Music wasn’t great and it got quite noisy so we left early as we pulsing hear each other and we had a lot of catching up to do.
Go there if you have a large group

A cool place great interior and fantastic service and cocktails!!! The cocktails are a must! Came here on a girls night out ordered the pisco sours omg best cocktail ever! Such a great venue– would be cool to come and try the snack menu and cocktails another night. They do not take reservations but there is ample seating and benches!

Just going off of pure appearance this place is cool and relaxed.
The food looks amazing and the wings are rather delicious.
The food prices aren’t outrageous and the staff are friendly enough.
The drinks on the other hand are a bit steep in price and weren’t all that tasty.
A beer, Mojito and a Caipiroska will set you back roughly $ 48.
I did notice that people were smoking cigars as well, so next time I plan a boys night out I will be coming here to light up a few.

I’m giving 5 stars for the décor alone.
I may have to come back and do a follow up once i’ve actually eaten here but so far for the décor and the cocktail jug we had today, i’ll give it a smooth 5 stars.
The cocktail we had was the pineapple mojito and it was pretty decent both taste wise and price wise. For Perth, that says a lot.
The place is super kitschy Miami/​old Havana cool with a huge open space with lots of funky seating options, cool retro neon lights and script design.
Reminded me of a few bars i visited whilst in Florida earlier in the year.
Love the retro/​tropical feel to the place, it’s always been my kinda thing, and i would never have imagined something like this popping up in Perth, but here it is.
Loved the sweet calypso and salsa tunes coming through the speakers… hope its consistent… would hate to see the weekend clubbers overrun this place during the weekend night and ruin the reputation.
Perfect for summer sunday sessions… bring on the margaritas!

Love the setting! whoever designed this Cuban inspired place had a great attention to detail as it made the atmosphere welcoming and perfect for groups.
However, despite the fantastic ambiance the menu and prices were lacking.
Prices appear to be reasonable but for the portion size it is a bit ridiculous.
The menu is short and not that special.

I attended The Blue Flamingo Saturday night for a friends birthday drinks. The venue itself is excellent, situated in the old Leederville Hotel back bar it’s a wide opened area with heaps of seating and a really good feel, almost like you are on holiday. The crowd was good too, nice relaxed vibe for a Saturday night, and who doesn’t like a predominately outside bar on a summer night?
We got there for 7.00pm and it was easy enough to order drinks initially, however as the bar filled up drinks and food became a novelty — lines for the bar were ⁵⁄₆ deep and service was risiculously slow. When I finally got to the bar and asked if I could order food I was told it was at least a one hour wait.
It seems that only having one bar and serving a plethora of coctails doesn’t appear to be working for this venue once it gets busy. There was not a lack of staff either with the bar being fairly well staffed. There is a second bar which is set up currently as more of an opened kitchen.
The drinks menu is extensive with lots of different beer and wine to choose from, additional to this is a variety of cocktails and cocktail jugs. The food menu is small but had quite a few good looking choices on it, it is limited to small shares, a cuban sandwich and a share plate; none of which I can comment on as I did not eat here.
I won’t be writing The Blue Flamingo off — the concept is great, the music and atmosphere is chilled and relaxed — it has all the makings for a great summer bar, if they can sort out their bar/​service issues.
The only other thing worth mentioning is they for some reason they have a smoking section in the bar, this isn’t to everyone’s liking and I’m not sure if it is even legal in WA anymore but maybe because it is a completely outside bar.

Since the soft opening around 8 weeks back and officially open to the public for the last 3, this new lunch, afternoon and dinner destination has quietly come onto the scene in Leederville in what was once the outside dancefloor of the old Leederville Hotel.
Food and drinks are bar service (at least at lunch) and with plenty of sunshine on offer along with upbeat tunes in the background, this place makes for a cool new dining destination.
On the day me and Susan popped in, they did seem a little light on the staffing side with the gentlemen behind the bar who took our order running around serving dishes (instead of making our cocktails).
We decided on sharing the Miami Grill (we were told more than enough for two) and washed thus down with some cocktails. We chose the Pisco sour and the Palm Beach Special #2.
Both of the cocktails hit the spot when they did come out and held our hunger at bay until the food arrived. The Miami Grill didn’t disappoint in terms of flavour but did a little in the quantity of food stakes considering the $ 44 price point. Having said that, it wasn’t filling and the only stand out in the dish was the heart in terms of flavour. I also wonder if the price asked justifies the quality of the meat.
Overall a pleasant post exams lunch with Susan and bar some teething issues including staffing numbers this place could be one to look out for in the near future. Seems like more of a drinks and nibbles kind of place.