Lunch at Riverbank Estate in the Swan Valley, Perth
Sticky date pudding, butterscotch sauce, brandy snap and rum and raisin ice cream – does life get better than this?!
I admit it, I absolutely love food photos – taking them and spending hours scrolling through them. So when I saw photos on the Riverbank Estate Facebook page of their new winter menu, well I just had to get my tingling taste buds down there.
The Estate is located 3.8kms from the Guildford train station in the Swan Valley. They are very much setup as a restaurant more so than a cellar door. You can still stop in to only taste their wines like a normal cellar door, however I would definitely recommend staying for at least a platter, or one of their amazing desserts!
The restaurant overlooks an outstretched lawn and the vines below, a very pretty setting. There is outside and indoor seating. In winter the outside is barricaded from the cold with clear plastic screens so you can still enjoy the beautiful view of the vines yet you stay toasty and warm.
I recently had a catch up with a friend at Riverbank and we were both suitably impressed. The only problem was that I wanted to order so many things on the menu because they all sounded so damn good!
Since I was driving I was rather responsible with my drinks, so I sipped on a glass of the newly released 2013 Verdelho. Check out my tasting note here.
Here is what we ate:
Mains:
Char grilled beef fillet, onion jam, ham and cheese croquette and oven roasted tomato for AU$42
Oven roasted pork loin chop, prosciutto wrapped, sautéed spinach, brandy soaked prunes and apples AU$42
Dessert:
Sticky date pudding, butterscotch sauce, brandy snap and rum and raisin ice cream AU$15
Chocolate hazelnut and caramel tart, chocolate cone with raspberry sorbet and crushed honeycomb AU$15
All the dishes were completely mouthwatering. The only slightly negative aspect was that both the meats were a touch over cooked. I actually couldn’t believe that my ‘no pink to be seen’ steak, which I ordered to be medium cooked, was amazingly tender and just melted in my mouth. That’s some good cooking! I was quick to forgive and my friend’s pork had plentiful sauce for the meat to soak up.
The desserts were awesome value as they really are quite large and not to mention stunningly beautiful. We topped off the meal with an espresso, which was made to perfection. At about AU$70 a head it was an afternoon well spent.
I always think it’s a good sign if you’re looking forward to going back to a resturant again – and it’s safe to say that I’ll definitely be heading back again soon with Mr. Spittoon.