An Establishment In Brief
About The House
The Origin
An Idea, Some Years In Forming
The story of Bin Chicken Bistro begins, as all worthwhile stories must, with a moment of profound dissatisfaction. It was the late spring of 2023. The Head Critic, then a relatively unknown ibis working the Murray Street circuit, had just been served — without ceremony, without warning — a warm chip that had been stepped on.
He returned to his nest that evening, in the eaves of the old Treasury Building, and could not sleep. He spoke to his wife. He spoke to the pigeons. He spoke, finally, to himself. This, he resolved, cannot continue.
The Bistro opened twelve months later, in the wind-shadow of the Perth Bell Tower, with three bins and a single conviction: that the modern Threskiornis molucca deserved to be fed, not merely scattered.
"The chip had been stepped on. I knew, in that moment, that something had to change."
— Maître Molucca, founding statement, 2024
Our Head Critic
Maître Threskiornis
Molucca
— OAM, FRACI, Diploma Refuse Studies (TAFE) —
Maître Molucca arrived at the Bistro by way of the inner-eastern tip site, where he spent his formative years building a palate that has since been described as "frankly, unrepeatable."
He has reviewed more than four hundred bins across the Perth metropolitan area. He has been escorted from seven of them. He maintains a standing arrangement with the cleaners of three local councils, the terms of which he declines to discuss.
His wife, Janet, is also an ibis.
A Sample Of His Distinctions
- MMXXVI Inducted, Order of Australian Wildlife (Refuse Division)
- MMXXV Honorary Chair, Subiaco Waste Management Advisory Group
- MMXXV Featured Subject, Beak & Bin documentary series (SBS)
- MMXXIV Founder, Bin Chicken Bistro (Perth)
- MMXXIII Published, On The Lidded Wheelie Bin (essay collection)
- MMXIX Briefly banned from Hay Street Mall (charges dropped)
A Statement Of Intent
The Bistro Philosophy
I.
Provenance
Every offering must be traceable to its bin of origin. We do not blend. We do not mix metaphors of refuse. A chip from Cottesloe is a chip from Cottesloe, and we say so.
II.
Patience
The chip that has rested four hours is not the same chip that has rested ninety minutes. Time, we maintain, is an ingredient.
III.
Composure
The Bistro does not scatter. The Bistro does not lunge. We arrive at the bin with dignity, and we depart with dignity, even if a council ranger has been called.
IV.
Generosity
Should the offering exceed the diner's appetite, the diner must call others. The seagull, the magpie, the brush-tail. A bin shared is a bin elevated.
In The Press
Selected Coverage
"The most important development in Australian avian dining since the introduction of the lidded wheelie bin."
— The Avian Gourmand
"An establishment that asks, gently, what we have all been doing with our bins."
— Refuse & Form Magazine
"I came expecting a joke. I left understanding less, but feeling more."
— The Saturday Paper (Birds Desk)