The Old Fig Tree Restaurant

The Old Fig Tree Restaurant

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Posted 2017-05-21 by finyfollow
Caversham is home to many fine dining establishments, as well as wineries which have excellent dining facilities.

I have not eaten at many of them and chose one that was before the main road, West Swan Road. This restaurant changed hands just five weeks ago from a couple who had run it for many years. The new owner is Ryan van Biljon and Ryan came round at one stage to make sure everything was good.

The name has been changed to the [b]Old Fig Tree[/b] and the place is a bit more upmarket now with a far more interesting and unusual menu.

For this lunch, I had bought a voucher online and this cost just $50 for two people and was worth maximum of $119 (depending on which meals you chose).

You enter down a very long drive which is lined by grape vines (I believe this large piece of land used to be Houghtons many years ago) and it is situated next to a large Cidery, which also looks well worth a visit.



There is plenty of parking and the restaurant features outside as well as inside dining and a large area with café blinds, where you can sit and eat. The small inside area has white tablecloths however the rest of the restaurant is more casual with comfortable rattan furniture.



On this particular day and being just before the start of winter, it was a blistery, nasty day. They had real fires burning in several places as well as outdoor gas fires. The area with the café blinds was very cosy with a lovely ambience overlooking a pleasant outdoor area with a simple, yet elegant garden.



[b]Old Fig Tree** is now managed by Hayley who is friendly, outgoing and charming!



Our voucher allowed us to pick any two courses from the menu and so we shared two entrees - the first of which was Sultan's Spiced Turkish bread.



The entree was a Vegetarian entree and consisted of Chermoula, Zorg and feta cheese inside Turkish bread. It was oven baked till it was crunchy and then drizzled in sumac oil.



This was an excellent choice as it was a huge serving and extremely tasty. It probably would have been enough for me for lunch! At a cost of $10.50, this was well worth it and quite an unusual combination.

The next entree we shared was the "Grilled Atlantic-Salmon Salad', and this was a much lighter entree which melted in your mouth. The salmon was not overcooked and done to perfection on a bed of interesting and tasty salad – not heaps of lettuce, but with mandarin segments, cherry tomatoes, Spanish onion, cashews, rocket and a lime vinaigrette. This one cost $17.50.



Well, my friend and I shared these two and pronounced we were both "full". Shortly after Hayley brought out our main meals. They were huge and looked delightful – beautifully plated with flair and elegance.

I chose the Chardonnay poached chicken and truffle parcels and this was a large parcel of chicken breast covered in filo pastry with mushroom Duxelle, baby spinach and oven baked till it was golden brown. It was served with sweet potato mash, seasonal greens, including fresh asparagus, broccolini and a chardonnay garlic cream sauce.



This was delicious with the creamy sauce just topping off the exquisite tastes of the chicken wrapped in thin pastry. Once again, beautifully displayed on a large plate and could not be faulted! This meal cost $32.50 and was well worth it.

My friend had The Old Fig Tree Scotch Fillet which was cooked to her liking and served with smashed potatoes and sour cream, a grilled vegetable kebab and seasonal greens. Added to this was a choice of either mushroom, pepper, garlic cream or merlot jus.



I was only able to taste one mouthful of this as mine was so large, and the mouthful I had made me want to come back to this restaurant and have this dish next time. This one was the most expensive on the menu at $38.50.

Our bill would have come to $99 so at $50 we paid about half price, howeve,r this is another restaurant that I would have been happy to pay full price for, as the food was so good.

Coffee and wine were extra and the restaurant is fully licensed.

Hayley explained that they will be releasing their new winter menu shortly and this will consist of more chicken and lamb shank dishes. There are several dishes for gluten-free eating and some of the interesting meal available include:

  • Fillet Steak open sandwich
  • Slow cooked roast of the day
  • Catch of the day
  • Ispanak Borek (filo pastry filled with spinach, feta and roasted capsicums, oven baked and served with a fresh salad and Sumac oil)
  • Lamb and Nigella seed brioche burger
  • Honey glazed pumpkin and ravioli
  • Honey and mustard lamb fillet (available also as an entre)
  • Truffle stuffed mushrooms (entre)
  • Soup in a bun (entree which was the day's soup served in a dug-out, hard crusted sour dough bun
  • Garlic sour dough bread (entre)

  • It is not a large menu, however, the menu is adequate and allows for several different tastes. They also had a separate dessert menu and their cakes looked scrumptious though of course, we could barely finish what we had, let alone eat dessert!

    Hayley chatted to us and told us that on a Friday nights they have a musician called Jimmy playing guitar and singing. Jimmy does not just stand there and sing, but also involves the audience as he asks them what they want to hear and is apparently excellent at entertaining diners. Jimmy is there each Friday night from 6 pm to 9 pm.



    They are open from Tuesday to Sunday for lunch and dinner (though closed Sunday for dinner) and also from 8 am on Saturday and Sundays for breakfast. I feel sure this restaurant will become very popular as people learn about the good food and surroundings and it is one that I will definitely be back to try some of their other meals.

    Although it has not been open long, the reviews all seem to be very good and it is great to see an enthusiastic, friendly person running a personalised, professional restaurant. The surroundings are very relaxing and it is a very pleasant place to have a meal, a coffee or a weekend breakfast at.



    It is situated at 55 Benara Road in Caversham and their website is not yet finished, but bookings can be made on 0447 259 299 or via their Facebook page.

    #Wheelchair-Accessible-
    #restaurants
    #lunch
    #food_wine
    #dinner
    #caversham
    #cafes
    %wnperth
    209470 - 2023-06-16 06:19:51

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