Hello there everybody, over the past month I’ve been hanging out with husband and wife super team The Offshoot Creative and we’ve been making a few short films all about Perth and the surrounding area.

In the first of four films I meet up with Kiren Mainwaring (chef and owner of Co-op dining in East Perth and Dear Friends in the Swan Valley) and our mission was to catch, cook and taste Western Australian Rock Lobster.

Kiren’s approach to food is a response to what’s fresh, local and in season, and he has a passion for the local seafood that can be found in the A-Class protected waters of Rottnest Island. This was the perfect time to catch some Rock Lobster as it’s the start of what is known as the ‘White Crayfish Run’.

The ‘White Crayfish Run’ is when the lobsters (or crayfish as they’re known to the locals) molt their shells and become a much lighter colour, almost a pale pink. They’re preparing to camouflage themselves as they march out across the sand to deeper ocean waters.

With the help of local fisherman and chef Aristos Papandroulakis, we jumped on his boat and pulled in a pot of fresh crayfish. Now it’s over to Kiren to cook them up on the beach BBQ with a salad of grilled peaches and nectarines and a selection of fresh ingredients he’s sourced from all over Perth. It truly is a celebration of West Australian produce.

Anyway, here’s how we got on.