Black Swan Winery and Restaurant, Swan Valley

A few months ago I asked around for good places to go in the Swan Valley, and I was inundated with recommendations.

Yesterday I finally made it up there to meet my friend Little Sue at Black Swan Winery & Restaurant for lunch.

As many people had said, it was lovely, and even on a rainy day like yesterday the view over the vineyards was beautiful.

Getting our priorities right we both ordered a glass of bubbles immediately, had I not been driving I’d have ordered another as the first one went down rather well!

I would have liked to have seen more WA craft beers available on the menu though.

For our mains LS chose the battered barramundi which was golden and crispy with succulent fish, she insisted that I tried it so I could let you all know how good it was.

The portion was huge and it could easily have been a share plate for us, but as it was such wintery weather, ole greedy guts me felt like it was a shanky day so I ordered the lamb with mashed potato!

This was meltingly tender in a deeply rich reduced gravy with heaps of teeny baby onions, creamy mash and al dente broccolini.

Luckily by not eating all our potatoes we had a little space left for a pud, and who can resist a sticky date and cream confection with butterscotch sauce?

Not me, that’s for sure! It was gorgeous, well worth leaving some of those spuds for!

Little Sue chose the chocolate ice cream served with Bailey’s crème brûlée, the top of which gave a satisfying crack with a tap of the spoon revealing underneath a perfect creamy custard.

As always when we meet up we have the best time, she has the most hilarious tales to tell, so much so that our sides ache, not only with all the food but all the laughing!

Roll on next time for our catch up!