Written by Max Veenhuyzen
From contemporary pubs and hotels to a halal cafe owned by the local imam, Katanning’s food and drink scene is as diverse as it is delicious.
When the conversation turns to multiculturalism, Katanning isn’t content to just talk the talk or even walk the walk. The Great Southern town flies the flag for diversity in its community. Literally.
As part of its annual Harmony Festival celebrations, Katanning hosts a Flag Parade that brings together people (and flags) from each of the nationalities that call the 6317 home. This all-inclusive waving of flags isn’t just a one-off thing, either. Collectively, the crests and emblems that fly from the flagpoles at Lions Park are a colourful, year-round tribute to the town’s cosmopolitan spirit.
While budding vexillophiles may thrill at the thought of spying lesser-seen flags from countries such as Tajikistan and Estonia, the best way to understand and appreciate Katanning’s multicultural make-up is not by looking up at the sky, but by hitting the ground running. And hungry.
Like most West Australian towns with strong farming roots, people around here go to bed early and get up even earlier. (“Katanning believes in beauty sleep,” a local tells me.) Which explains why drive-through cafe Emu Lane draws a crowd in the AM. (Those chunky house-made sausage rolls speckled with sesame seeds, however, probably have something to do with its popularity too.) During summer, the prosaically named Vietnamese Cafe & Pho opens its doors from 5am: brekky noodles, ahoy.
For a town of its size, Katanning is well served for Asian food. The menu at Wan’s Thai & Aussie offers Siamese favourites alongside regional specialties from northern Thailand. The range at the local Asian grocer, meanwhile, would hold its own up in the big smoke. (Equally remarkable is the shop’s focus on ingredients used by the Karen, an ethnic group from the mountainous east of Myanmar.)
The most notable pillar of the local dining scene, however, is Malay food. When migrants from Cocos Keeling Island and Christmas Island relocated here in the 70s, they didn’t just help staff the local abattoir: they introduced the good people of Katanning to the pleasures of curry puffs, satay, spicy mamak-style mee goreng and other examples of (halal) southeast deliciousness. Today, this legacy lives on at places like food truck Malay Fusion Hub and The Daily Grind: a cafe owned by Alep Mydie who also happens to be imam at the local mosque.
Interesting, cross-cultural exchange is a recurring theme in many of Katanning’s most compelling food and drink stories. (Mydie, incidentally, is also a diehard West Coast Eagles supporter.) At Oscar’s, the dining room inside the Royal Exchange Hotel, guests can hook into pork adobo and beef bulgogi as well as parmis, wedges and other pub hits. Over at the 24-hour diesel truck shop, you can refill your B-double while refuelling on pizza and butter chicken. The local newsagency carries local eggs.
As if all this wasn’t enough, Katanning is also home to the Premier Mill Hotel: a brilliant, independent boutique hotel that breathed new life into the town’s old flour mill. A heads up: the hotel has just 22 rooms and fills fast so book early if you want in. But even if you miss out on a bed for the night, the Cordial Bar in the basement is where locals and visitors alike head for snappy drinks and snacks. Think of it as yet another way that Katanning makes everyone feels included.