Truly Scrumptious

Woodvale Tavern

The Woodvale Tavern seems to be based on an old English Pub, it has quite a large interior and stained glass windows. I’m not sure the atmosphere really feels as cosy as an old English Pub, but it’s friendly and welcoming. The visit was another stop on my mission to find the best Sunday Roast in Perth.

First of all I was glad to see that they had regular chairs and tables, none of the high tables with stools or backless chairs. I knew it was going to be a comfortable affair. The waitress showed us to our table – a nice booth and gave us the menus to peruse. I had already decided on the Sunday roast (carvery style), but I could see that other tables were choosing a la carte pub favourites.

When we went up to pay (that’s the deal, you pay first), we were given soup bowls, dinner plates and dessert bowls, and two rolls. The price includes a soup, carvery roast with all the trimmings, and a choice of desserts, and you can keep going up as many times as you like, you just have to keep your plates and cutlery.

The soup was pumpkin, quite nice, you go and serve yourself from a heated tureen, so can control your own portion size.

For the carvery, you queue up and are served a choice of turkey, beef or pork (or a mixture of the meats), and yorkshire pudding, then you help yourself to veggies. Veggies were plentiful with a choice of roast potatoes, peas, carrots, corn, squash, beans, and cauliflower cheese.

There is a table with all the usual sauces, and a tureen of gravy (which seemed quite Bisto-like).

The main course was very good. Not as posh as others we have tried recently, but good nonetheless, and a plateful was definitely enough for me I didn’t need to go up again.

Although quite full, we tried the desserts – again a serve-yourself option with heated trays of apple crumble and nutella chocolate sponge, with a tureen of custard. The desserts were lovely – the apple crumble quite sweet. My favourite was the nutella chocolate sponge – a wonderfully soft sponge with just enough nutella choc sauce.

It’s definitely good value at $34 for three unlimited courses ($15 for children) and I would go back. The service is friendly and the dining area is off to one side, so it’s a bit quieter and away from the clamour of the main pub area. Top marks for value, average quality, but all in all very tasty, and family friendly. If you have this lunch it will pretty much fill you up for the day.

Last Visit – August 2023

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Sweetwater Rooftop Bar, East Fremantle

Sweetwater is a new rooftop bar in Silas Street, East Fremantle at the top of a swish apartment block. There’s parking outside and a lift that whisks you up to the 6th floor. It’s an indoor venue and has views that reach out to the ocean and across Fremantle and North Fremantle.

On the day we arrived, they seemed a little short staffed, and the service was a little haphazard, however we were seated by a window which was nice. We ordered the vegan yum cha menu – $45 per person for several dishes, and a glass of prosecco.

First to arrive from the yum cha menu were three dishes, all quite tasty and I think I liked the dumplings best:

This was followed by another three dishes – cauliflower, which was lovely , tofu and sambal, and a tempura eggplant. The sambal was quite hot which overpowered the caramel sauce with the tempura but all dishes were good.

The last dishes to arrive were the heartiest – a cauliflower rendang with wok fried rice and Asian greens. The rice arrive a good ten minutes after the other dishes and it would have been better to have it all together.

So overall, what did we think? The dishes were all very nice but I can’t think of any wow moments during the meal. It was great to have a completely vegan menu worked out for us, so that was a plus. I think they could have created a menu that didn’t have two cauliflower dishes, as much as I like cauliflower, maybe a zucchini or sweet potato dish would have been a nice alternative. I also think that any venue with a vista should have spotless windows, and the windows were quite dirty.

There were no soft drinks on the drink menu and I think that they are geared up for a young crowd who come to have cocktails, it would be good to see some tea themed mocktails too, but all in all it was a nice place to while away a Sunday lunch. The staff were lovely, but rushed off their feet. I will revisit, but I may leave it a while to see if the menu changes.

Last Visit – November 2020

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