Penny Garden

On a wet day last week we descended on Penny Garden in the Swan Valley for lunch — adjacent to the Yahava coffee outlet, Penny Garden is large, open space with views out to a lawn area and a dam. It was quite busy for early in the week, but service was prompt and friendly.
The menu is what you could describe a country pub style — hearty meals, generously proportioned — nothing particularly innovative — but judging by the custom they attract hitting market.
We started with a shared bruschetta — three pretty thin slices of toasted bread, but with a good level of garlicky taste, and topped with a pleasant mix of tomato and onion, scattered with crumbed parmesan; thicker bread and a touch more and chunkier tomato would have been better we thought, but it was a pretty good starter.
On to the mains — Lady FWO choosing pot roast of beef, while I opted for that old reliable of pub cuisine, fish and chips.
The beef was served in a large bowl, sitting on a mountain of creamy mash, a large quantity of crunchy peas, and a thin but well-​seasoned gravy splashed around. The meat was extremely tender, unctuous even, sticky, falling apart, delightful. But the amount! This was a huge serving — it could have fed a truckie, a wharfie and hungry farmer — certainly much too much for Lady FWO who is pretty good on the tooth anyway — smaller serves at a little less cost would be the go we thought.
My fish and chips was not quite the success of the beef — the batter was a little heavy but the main problem was it had been in the oil too long — too brown, a little too crisp and the fish inside starting to dry out — a good sized serve nonetheless. The chips were fine.
They have a pretty small wine list, but at least with a bent to local wines — our bottle of Faber Cabernet Sauvignon (grapes sourced from the Frankland) was excellent. An aromatic bouquet of blackberries, bay leaf and chocolate, while the full bodied palate was full of juicy fruit flavours — mulberries, blackcurrant — and dark chocolate. A hint of vanilla led to a lingering finish.
So what to say — well the price points for what is on offer are at the top end of the scale — so a little less food for a smaller price should be considered — and observations of other dishes indicate that large serves are the order of the day. Food for thought.

Really not impressed, over priced and underwhelming. Sign says great food, its average to say the least.

We easily found the Penny Garden Restaurant (situated next to Yahava coffee).
Our 4yr old clocked the bouncy castle straight away. It was a good bargaining tool for us — he could have a bounce if he ate all his breakfast — little did we know HOW BIG his breakfast was to be!
We sat indoors overlooking the dam and vineyards; you can also sit outside under the veranda. Inside was a little noisy, as we were essentially sitting in a big shed. The staff were friendly and efficient.
The food was all very tasty, fresh and well cooked. I really enjoyed the Avo Smash, which was poached eggs with avocado ($ 22). The eggs benedict ($ 20.50) got the tick of approval, as did the BIG pancake stack ($ 19).
We did think that it was perhaps a tad expensive for breakfast, but considering we enjoyed the food we didn’t really mind that. Penny Garden is a very family friendly restaurant. It was well suited to our large family gathering with lots of children under 10.

Always great food, Penny Garden is much more adventurous than all of the other restaurant owners in the area and we will always recommend them to friends and family.
The food is always great and out of our many visits the quality is consistent.