Welcome to Old Swan Brewery Cafe/Restaurant Function Venue

Was taken here for a romantic dinner by my lovely boyfriend on Thursday night. Always nice to go somewhere that you have been wanting to try as a surprise :)

We walked in at 7pm and were promptly seated by a lovely smiling waitperson. We got the menus and a water straight up and were left to peruse.

We decided on a bottle of Sav Blanc and some Turkish bread with evoo and balsamic and roasted capsicum dip. The bread was very fresh and delicious.

For mains I decided on the shark bay crab spring rolls, chilli spiced north-west tiger prawns and Japanese coleslaw in the mains size. Nothing really stood out as being spectacular and the coleslaw was rather bland. The prawns were fresh though.

B'friend went for the fish of the day Barramundi on wilted spinach, roasted fennel & saffron vermouth jus. The Barra was a good size and flaked away nicely.

Neither blew us away but both were pleasant enough.

For dessert we decided to share the chocolate indulgence plate, which again was nice but nothing exceptional.

The service was excellent and could not be faulted, smiling and stopping by to make sure we were happy.

The view across the Swan is spectacular and the restaurant decor is very cool.

All in all we had a really pleasant evening, would probably like to go back in summer to sit outside on the deck and enjoy a sunset.

Went to this place with my whole family. It was a big open spaced area and wasn't entirely sure on where to go. Anyway, nice place for a relaxing dinner, the view of the river was lovely. We had Turkish bread with dips which was nice. Had a nice glass of red and had fish as main. The serve was a good size and food was great. The children's meals were first served and they also had a good size for the children. Overall, it was a great experience.

The view of the river is lovely and the menu has some interesting items. It’s a wicked place to come for a spot of lunch. My experiences with the dishes vary - some fantastic while others were a bit more average pub-food. Good selection of beers.

I've recently read a review of a dinner here. I've dined here in the evening as well, and would agree with the 4 star rating.

However, I just wanted to point out that this is also a pretty good place for breakfast. A range of usual and not-so-usual breakfast options, well presented and reasonable service. On this occasion, one of the waiting staff was wearing some of the food, hence the 3.5 star rating there - otherwise, the service was friendly and reasonable. And the views rate 4 stars+ whether it's sunrise or sunset :)

Who would have thought I’d be writing a review, but here goes something! My friends and I set out for a night out to the Old Swan Brewery. We entered the building after crossing the bridge and you're momentarily confused by the room that greets you, am I lost or have I walked into someone's private foyer?

We found ourselves walking down some stairs as it was the only logical thing to do. A set of doors greeted us, one to a gallery and one to the courtyard. One automated door opening later there we were, in the air, greeted with South Perth river views. It was hot! Not only that, we noticed a wedding reception in the function room. It was at that point I realised, oh crap... I came underdressed!

So with that we’ll skip with all the informalities and try to get to the food…

At this point I was starving so my friends and I set out to ponder on what was going to make a pleasurable experience for our palates. But as god had intended the outdoor view distracted us for a bit, and out came the drinks first! We finally got to ordering not because the waiters were slow, but because our attention spans were that of a sniffer dog to a cocaine laced room! You can't help but chatter and relax to the surroundings. The one thing that kept at the back of my mind was whether the sailing ship that was docked would actually sail off somewhere... or is it just there for ornamental purposes. If it's the latter, wow!

WA seafood linguine, shellfish cream sauce - this was a safe pick for me. Not only because I was craving seafood but also if I’m eating right on the river, you may as well eat fish. There are three things that I look for in a "seafood pasta" - pieces of flesh/meat that resembles creatures that actually came from the sea and tastes like the sea, the sauce and how it's going to taste. You can tell if the seafood is fresh and believe me it was fresh! The fish was generous and so were the two plump slightly seared scallops still in shells! The cream sauce was gag-o-licious, clearly there was a chef behind the scenes not scared to use flavour and in this case real cream. I’m no expert on what makes quality produce and what makes something fresh but my mouth does, so I guess I’m safeguarded at least in some way! Maybe it's because I hadn't been out to eat in a little while prior to this night but I haven't been impressed with a seafood and pasta combo in a long time!

To go with my pasta I decided on the lemon potato, green beans & dukka egg salad with Persian feta... at first it seemed like an odd combo written on the menu. I mean, what is dukkah eggs? I could go into something here, but I won't. Does anyone actually really know? Well, it appears Google knows and now so do I. It all makes perfect sense to have the Persian feta which like with any good feta, melts in your mouth which is always something special.

My friends are communal people so we were flipping and dipping food in each other's plate. Is it proper dinner etiquette, are you kidding me? Of course it is! It’s the only place in life where you can taste the food on another man's plate!

So the one that caught my eye was the crispy skin salmon, served on a bed of fennel and orange salad with saffron vinaigrette! Crispy it was, salmon it was! Very nice and very light it was! I would recommend it for the delicate ones among us. ;) The other was the osb pale ale beer battered barramundi fish & chips. To me serving fish & chips in a more up-market establishment is never weird, to me it speaks volumes about a place. It’s how you make it and I have to say the chef excelled, the batter was light and left a very thin crispy lining on the burra. The one thing I’m pretty certain though is that the chips were deep fried in some animal derived fat! Let’s face it, any chef that uses dripping to deep-fry chips knows what he’s doing.

After the meal, we were satisfied, but what the hell, we wanted more. the desserts are made to order and at first, the word "dedicated" comes to mind, so the 20 mins cooking time is noted but hey who's complaining. We decided to share and ended up with the bittersweet chocolate pudding served with kirshed black cherries, apple rhubarb crumble served with Belgian ice cream and hazelnut biscotti, the osb bombe Alaska with strawberry liqueur and the ice coffee for myself. We would have licked the plates but the tenants in the penthouses over looking might have thought we were uncivilised. By this time, if our cholesterol levels hadn't sky rocketed, then Alan Bond never used to own the osb...

The one thing to point is that, you may have noticed there was little interaction with the staff and to be honest it was perfect. They were there with a smile and attitude when you needed them and they knew what they were doing. After all there was no need to ask if the meal was okay, thumbs up to that and not only were they easy on the eyes but they were immaculately primped and jgust’d!

This place needs no puffing up, the food does all that for you, so go and take a friend, you will not be disappointed. When you've come across a good thing, you can't help but tell everyone about it...

I’m reserving this place for self-indulgment moments and second dinner dates...



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