RiverBank Estate Release New Menu + $150 Off Wine in March
As with when we dine on a regular day, the service was impeccable. Nicola the lovely Restaurant Manager and her team on the night Emma & Anna were front of house and swooned everyone with their professional and friendly service. While Head Chef Darren King and Sous Chef Jared Hargreaves worked their magic in the kitchen.
RiverBank Estate is probably the closest of the Swan Valley wineries to the CBD. It’s approximately a 25 minute drive from Perth city and a few kilometres from the Guildford train station. It’s actually on my Swan Valley walking tour route.
The New Menu
For the blogger night we enjoyed a sample of the dishes from the new menu – they were definitely enough to entice me back. Check out this softshell crab and the most amazing side salad – it nearly stole the dish for me! It doesn’t look like much but the fresh watermelon, bits of rice crispies and the deletable dressing just caused an awesome textural flavoursome mouthful.
Here’s what we enjoyed:
The highlight for me was definitely the scallops with that delectable pea and mint purée and the oh so crisp prosciutto which Mr. Spittoon was nearly stealing out of my mouth. Or maybe it was the other way around 😉
The scallops came in a close tie with the perfectly lush grilled wagu beef and wasabi. Part of the excitement of the dish for me was the wine pairing of the RiverBank 2013 Sangiovese. These two together took you on the ultimate food and wine adventure. Talk about seducing the taste buds!
Speaking of wine, I love how RiverBank have on the menu what wine they’d recommend for each dish. It makes ordering easy and you’ll also rest assure that your wine will match your meal as it will have been perfectly matched. When a wine and food combo is a match made in heaven you’ll know as the food will be heightened, the wine will be heightened and you’ll hardly be able to get comprehensible words out. That was me when I tried the beef and Sangiovese anyway.
RiverBank always put together the most beautiful desserts, I don’t even think Mr. Spittoon got a lick of this one. And yes I was that blogger who was basically licking the plate! You can’t go wrong with the banana, chocolate and caramel combination – it brought a lovely evening to a fantastic end.
I know this is piggy of me to say but I really want to try everything on the new menu – check it out below (click on the images to enlarge):
The Wine
On the night I wasn’t too sure how I’d structure this post, so at the time we decided to make one comment on each of the wines we tried. Here’s the raw version:
Pink Diamonds Sparkling
Pretty peach-pink colour, smooth and refreshing with the olives and pate.
2013 Chenin Blanc
Citrus, lemongrass, tropical, cheerful and friendly on the palate, the acidity makes it a lovely palate cleanser.
2013 Semillon
Just the right weight of flavour with a refreshing burst of orange citrus.
2013 Sangiovese
Beautiful vibrant colour, blackcurrant, opens up with food, it almost has a buttery texture in the mouth with the wagu. Even good with the wasabi, it’d make a great red with sushi.
2008 Merlot
Lovely with the little bits of chilli on the pork belly dish, so smooth and rather intoxicating when tucking into such a great meal.
2010 Cabernet
Virtually opaque on the eye, rich like dark chocolate and cigars.
How do you get $150 of free wine?
Simply quote the code word blogger when ordering a case of wine and you’ll get $150 off. This deal is valid for March 2016 only and unfortunately no sparkling included.
For more information on RiverBank Estate:
Address: 126 Hamersley Road, Caversham WA 6055
Phone: (08) 9377 1805
Wines: Verdelho, Riesling, Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, Semillon, Shiraz, Cabernet, Merlot, Tempranillo, Malbec, Fortified Shiraz, Fortified Muscat, Sparkling Whites & Red, Sweet Reds & Whites
Wine tasting cost: Free!
Food available: Yes, see above 🙂
Child friendly: There is a big grassy area but no playground or anything specifically catered for kids
Website: riverbankestate.com.au