Pleased to eat here

What would you get if you drove a popular food truck indoors, surrounded it with cool communal tables, and then added a great rock and roll soundtrack?

Chances are you’d get something akin to Pleased to Meet You – a fun, full-of-flavour, American-inspired diner that’s recently opened in Northbridge, Western Australia.

For Clint Nolan, chef and owner, American-inspired fare has been an ongoing passion ever since he took a trip to Mexico and fell in love with Central America’s relaxed approach to eating and drinking.

The new venture is the latest in a long list of Clint’s family-owned successes, one that started over a decade ago when he opened the fine-dining Harvest restaurant in Fremantle.

After returning from Mexico he opened the Mexican Cantina La Cholita, through which he “attempted to capture the vibrancy and energy of Mexico City.” He also created the popular prohibition bar, Sneaky Tony’s, which serves up more than 300 rums and requires a password for entry on Friday and Saturday nights. A rock and roll pop-up bar, Joe’s Juice Joint, was also well received.

Now, with Pleased to Meet You, he’s providing a great new food experience for dinner seven days a week and lunch on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

There is room for around 95 people in the mess-hall-style dining room, with a focus on the serving of small plates designed to share. The cuisine and beverages draw inspiration primarily from Central and South America, with a few twists along the way.

Clint Nolan has a lot of experience scoping and working with highend kitchen equipment. “The first time I used Moffat was when I was at Harvest, so I have been a customer for around 12 years,” he says. “I have it all through the kitchens at all our venues.”

At Pleased to Meet You, Clint says it’s their new Washtech GL Glasswasher – with an RO filter system – that has been the real star performer.

“We initially used a Washtech GL Glasswasher at La Cholita and it worked very well. If you do the sums it really saves you money over time,” he says.

“While the filters do require an ongoing investment, when you consider the amount of money you previously spent on labour  on having staff manually polish the glassware at the end of the night – well, it definitely saves your bottom line.”

“The RO filter system is great,” he adds. “It softens and cleans your water so you don’t get any streaks on your glassware and it’s perfect for our style of venue.”

Clint’s other favourite pieces of equipment are a Waldorf target top, which he uses for warming up tacos and crisping up quesadillas, and the Convotherm Mini combi-oven.

“It’s the only oven we use on site and it gets a complete workout – running 24/7, dehydrating, roasting or being utilised during service. Our Waldorf deep fryers and target top also get well-used,” he says, “The equipment is durable, lasts long and is low maintenance – we love it.”