Clancy and Darcy Travers with Greg Leaver at Strange Company.
Camera IconClancy and Darcy Travers with Greg Leaver at Strange Company. Credit: Supplied/Matt Jelonek        www.communitypix.com.au d442447

Blend of slick and welcoming

Belinda CiprianoEastern Reporter

The brainchild of local Greg Leaver and business partners Matt Giudice, Jason Townes, and Clancy and Darcy Travers, the bar-cum-restaurant ticks all the boxes for the friends who came together to create something different.

Leaver, also the owner of Fremantle institution X-Wray, said the new bar was slick and cool, but comfortable enough to feel like your lounge room.

"It's a combination of ideas from five different people about what they wanted to see in a bar," he said.

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"There was a range of different people involved " some younger people and some older people - so we had to try to make something we all felt comfortable with.

"That's what Fremantle is all about and that's where the name Strange Company came from. There's a whole selection of different people in Freo and we wanted to appeal to as broad a range as we could and still make it comfortable for everyone."

Enlisting the expertise of Movida-trained chef Ricky Mandozzi, the menu has a Mediterranean flavour, with ingredients sourced locally when possible.

"Ricky's very influenced by that Spanish rustic style of food," Leaver said.

"He loves local seafood, he's really careful about what suppliers he uses and where he finds his produce.

"He likes to find ethical and local produce if he can. If he can't find it here, he'll find from anywhere in the world that he's happy with."

As for the favourites, Leaver said customers could not go past the chargrilled Fremantle sardines washed down with a New York Sour.

"Everyone's raving about the sardines; they're caught by Jim Mandolio, who's a Fremantle legend," he said.

"We put them on the chargrill for only 30 seconds and they are served on locally baked sourdough with hazelnut romesco sauce, served with broad beans and fresh dill."