Light Years restaurant review: Perth outpost of modern Asian dining chain the brightest light of 2025

Hotter than a Carolina Reaper chilli. Cooler than winter in Albany. And by far the best thing to come out of Byron Bay since wellness gurus and middling Triple J indie landfill bands. Far better. In a relatively quiet year for new restaurant openings, Light Years is a bright light on Perth’s hospitality scene. Not only has it finally reactivated the William Street site empty since Jamie’s Italian closed during the pandemic, Light Years is also packing in the bright young things keen for some mod-Asian tucker and fun cocktails in a room more stylish than platform sneakers. Opened in April, the Perth outpost in Gordon Stephenson House is the fifth Asian bar and diner, joining venues in Newcastle, Noosa and Burleigh Heads, plus the original instalment in Byron Bay. And it is going off. Or as they might say in the Bay, it’s gornorf! Myra and I couldn’t get a booking until 9.15pm on a recent Saturday night. We rocked up early, taking our chances with both the restaurant and the wet n’ wild weather. A couple of seats on the bar soon opened up and before you could say dark and stormy, we had cocktails in hand and were perusing the large fold-out menu. We love bar dining. It’s great for people watching and you can easily grab a bartender or waiter. Service at Light Years is slick. Dishes fly out of the kitchen, waiters are enthusiastic and the bar staff build impressive guns shaking a seemingly non-stop supply of cocktails. Most wines are by the bottle with a couple of each style by the glass. Plus there’s beers, spirits and sake, plus Japanese fruit liqueurs umeshu and yuzushu. This would be a great place to just hang out and sink a few umeshus, if the menu wasn’t loaded with alluring modern Asian fare. Emphasis on modern. Despite bao buns and dumplings being star attractions, this isn’t yum cha. We kicked off our dinner with the ginger and shallot bay lobster dumplings (four for $22), big juicy packages accompanied by pickled ginger in a sharp vinegar. The prawn toast ($22) was awesome: a slice of bread coated in a creamy prawn mix then topped with a crispy black and white sesame. This arrived hot from the kitchen, meaning the seafood aromas were intoxicating and each bite had a satisfying warmth, heightened by sriracha mayo. Simple and simply superb. The tempura bug roll ($24) was a dinner roll with a decent amount of lobster laced with spicy tartare and lettuce. A bite-sized delicacy. The sparkly venue manager from Singapore insisted we have the miso corn ($18), which was good advice. It is no surprise these lip-smacking corn ribs smothered in miso butter and dusted with furikake are a popular dish. Also among the must-haves at Light Years is the pork belly bao buns ($32) — a do-it-yourself plate featuring four slices of fatty pork cooked in chilli caramel, four fluffy bao buns, a pile of excellent kimchi cucumber, lettuce and more sriracha mayo. The cucumber could be a bar snack on its own. This dish is a ripper. We soon noticed two things about Light Years. Firstly, the decor is restrained, even the artworks have more muted tones than Kim Kardashian’s wardrobe. There’s not the usual jungle of indoor plants favoured by some establishments. Secondly, despite the fact the place was rammed on a Saturday night, we could hear ourselves think. Mostly we were thinking about what to drink next, with the bar staff pouring tastes of mostly new wave wines. Luckily, pretty much everything goes with firecracker chicken ($26) and fried rice ($28). The former was chunks of succulent chook fried in a mee goreng spice for a crispy exterior, served with a hot dipping sauce plus Thai basil and chilli. This had good crunch and a nice balance of sweet and spicy flavours. The fried rice was loaded with prawns and barbecue pork, plus scrambled egg, sweet corn, snow peas, mustard greens and peas, plus a “flavour bomb” to detonate on your palate. Clearly cooked on a very hot wok, this was top-notch fried rice. Despite obliterating our tastebuds with an explosive array of flavours, we bravely soldiered on and had dessert. A grown-up dessert. The miso banoffee tart ($18) came with a tower of whipped cream on top of a tart consisting of szechuan caramel, banana, chocolate and vanilla bean ice-cream. The tart itself was a bit hard but still had biscuity texture. Light Years is killing it, and it’s not hard to see why. Even with rain bucketing down outside during the city’s quietest months for hospitality, this place is a big hit with diners. The efficient floor crew hustle and bustle to deliver for the large, hard-working kitchen — the engine room of this impressive eatery. Perth party people often flood to the newest, shiniest thing for a few months and then move on to the next new, shiny thing. In this case, I reckon they’ll keep coming back. Light Years Perth 140 William Street, Perth OPEN Daily, midday-late. CONTACT 0456 456 023, lightyearsasiandiner.com.au BOOKINGS Yes THE VERDICT Buzzing modern dining room with spice-driven pan-Asian dishes and fun cocktails to match. Slick, fast service in Perth’s brightest new opening of 2025. Deserves the hype. 16.5/20