Is Perth growing up?

I went to a mate's 30th birthday dinner the other night.  She and her girlfriend had chosen a hotel where we were going to have dinner - the Rose and Crown in Guildford - and I must admit my heart sank when they told me where we were going.   My imagination went straight to the bad, overpriced food place - as it turned out, there was no need.  The Rose and Crown turned out to have a perfectly fine menu with a bunch of well-priced options, good variety, good service, decent dessert and good coffee (and a couple of really inviting fires - always a way to get me in).  But it made me wonder why I reacted the way I did.  I know I wasn't the only one who felt this way, in the car in the way home we all agreed that it had surpassed our expectations.  Now if this was Melbourne I don't think I would have had that reaction - hotels are not necessarily synonymous with bad food in Melbourne, in fact, it's probably the complete opposite.  But Perth often has a bit of the hit and miss about it.  I've been to a lot of hotels where the food is over thought, overambitious and often turns out to be just plain bad.  When combined with shit service and +++ prices this can add up to a frustratingly bad night.  Especially when you venture away from the city.  It's like teenagers pretending to be grownups:  trying too hard; and a bit pretentious.  But something occurred to me as I started writing this - am I like an adult looking at a teenager - guilty of seeing them as they've always been..refusing to see that they're growing into something else.. growing up?  Perhaps Perth is growing into itself and I don't want to see it. 

What do you think?