SEAVIEW HOTEL, South Fremantle
by JENNY D’ANGER:
IT was with some trepidation the D’Angers returned to the Seaview Hotel for lunch.
We’d last dined at the iconic and oft-renovated watering hole in October and the food had been anything but stellar—in fact, some had been downright inedible.
I was very pleasantly surprised this time round: Garlic bread ($6) came dripping with oil and smothered in garlic, a far cry from the hard biscuits we were presented with before.
Whether the improvement is down to a change in management, in kitchen staff or the luck of the draw, I can only say long may it continue.
The Seaview’s restaurant is a swanky, modern addition to the heritage-listed hotel but on a pleasant sunny day the pavement tables are a great spot to watch the ever-changing parade of people walking past—we happily chatted with fellow dog lovers.
The wait staff are efficient and pleasant, and I love the chefs’ shirts, which are made by the girlfriend of one: They are a reminder to red-meat lovers of where their meal comes from, with pictures of cows, sheep and pigs showing various cuts of meat.
There is indeed quite a range of steak on the menu including rump ($25) or sirloin ($27) which comes with potato, broccoli, asparagus and pink peppercorn cream–and for an extra $7 you can add garlic Australian tiger prawns for some turf and surfin’.
Moist fillets encased in a wonderfully crisp but not oily beer batter
My vegetarian-chef mother-in-law may not have been amused with the shirts—meat is murder and all that—but she was impressed by her vegetarian focaccia ($14).
Moist and tasty it was filled with deliciously chargrilled vegetables, feta, pesto and rocket and came with a serve of chips.
The melanzane parmigiana—eggplant, napolitano sauce and parmesan ($17), sounded good, but my choice came down on the side of the swordfish ($28).
The generous serve was moist and firm and pleasantly chargrilled. It arrived perched on chunks of oven-roasted Japanese pumpkin, and the sweet, soft pumpkin flesh went beautifully with the fish, aided and abetted by cherry tomatoes and spinach, drizzled with a parsley-infused oil.
As good as it was I went seagulling when D’Angerous Dave’s fish and chips ($18) arrived and I wished I’d ordered a side of fries: Not because I was hungry, they were just that good—crisp on the outside, fluffy on the inside.
His fish was pretty damn fine too, moist fillets encased in a wonderfully crisp but not oily beer batter, and served with a homemade tartare. Fish and chips done well is a thing to be treasured and I must say, we’re lucky in Freo that a number of places do it well. Elsewhere in Australia batter is often thick and doughy.
The dessert menu was short but interesting with a choice of banoffe pie or sticky date pudding, chocolate mousse ($10) or ice cream and raspberries ($8).
Shame we were too full to eat any.
Pub food has sure come a long way and the Seaview is out to reclaim its crown as a Freo must-visit, we opined as we wandered home.
SEE THE MENU OR MAKE A BOOKING HERE
Seaview Hotel
South Terrace, South Fremantle
Phone 9335 2259
Open 7 days 12 noon till late