The Silver Spoon

The Silver Spoon
691 Albany Highway, Victoria Park
(08) 9361 4220

1. Comfort and Surroundings

Alexander: For this review, let's break comfort and surroundings down and consider each one separately. First, comfort: The Silver Spoon is very comfortable with well-spaced, well-sized and well-apportioned tables. The bathrooms are clean and pleasant. You could sit in the seats for hours and not feel uncomfortable. So, yes, it's a comfy place. But turn to surroundings and things are a bit different. It's not that anything is particularly bad, just that some things seem a bit, well, awkward. The Silver Spoon is obviously going for a classy vibe with white table cloths and a sleek black, silver and white theme. But there were a few things that stood out: the cigarette butts on the veranda, the waiters in casual clothes (one of whom I originally mistook for a patron taking a bit too much interest in whether I had finished eating). Plus, it's smack bang on Albany Hwy, across the road from a car dealership, which doesn't make for the nicest view. (Some people might argue that there's not much you can do about that; well, what about a giant wall with a delightful trompe l'oeil painted on it? Problem solved!) All in all, I am going with a 3.

Lola: So Alexander has summed it up very well, The Silver Spoon just feels a little awkward. I'm a big believer in working within the space that you have and making the most of it, but this wasn't done here. Having said that, the hall to the bathrooms, including a water feature, is quite lovely. And I think the entire place would scrub up really well, sans cigarette butts. I'll have to give an ambivalent 3.

2. Service

Alexander: Table service at breakfast! Hooray! And pleasant service at that. My only complaint: no one refilled our water, and it ran out pretty early into the meal. A 3.5 from me.

Lola: The wait staff seemed to genuinely care about the food and how we liked it, which gave the feeling of one big Silver Spoon family, where everyone is passionate about the restaurant and their product. This is always wonderful! And I too enjoyed the table service, though it would have been more worthwhile had they been close to us during our meal, so we could request more water. A 3.5 from me too.

3. Tastiness

Alexander: I ordered the vegetarian breakfast and 5/7ths of it as a great experience. The poached eggs were cooked perfectly, I am happy to report, and the potato cake had a delicious crunchy exterior and soft, pillowy centre. The roasted tomatoes were sweet, roasted with a hint of garlic, the mushrooms weren't oily and the house made beans had a lovely rich flavour. So that's the five good parts. The two bad parts? The toast was a bit thick and very hard to cut into and there was a noticeable amount of grit in my spinach, making that part inedible. What a shame! I will give it 5/7ths out of 5, or in other words, 3.5.

Lola: Oh yeah, I could see the spinach grit on Alexander's plate from where I was sitting! For my meal I chose the Mt Cook smoked salmon with truffle scrambled eggs, asparagus and Turkish bread, and also a side of sausage (yes, it was a singular sausage when delivered). I'll award it a 3.5. The smoked salmon was abundant and superb, the asparagus cooked to perfection, but unfortunately my scrambled eggs were clumpy and overcooked. Really disappointing. And I'd heard such good things about the food here! The sausage was pretty tops though, I must say.

4. Drinks

Alexander: You can't get too much wrong with a long black and there was nothing awful about mine. But I am used to my long blacks coming out steaming hot and needing a few minutes to cool down, whereas this one was drinkable straight away. I'm not a coffee expert, but it seems like this is unusual? Perhaps a reader could enlighten me. Anyway, I am going to give my drink a 2.5.

Lola: Meh. Lukewarm coffees are not okay! And neither is a lukewarm, 'hot' chocolate. I couldn't resist trying the marble chocolate, a mix of milk and white, and the flavour was great but the milk was barely heated. Sure, it's better than burning the milk, but that's not a concession I'm willing to make. I also sampled a chai and that too was lukewarm. Sigh. Add some undisclosed soy milk to the mix and I'm giving a 1.

5. Fiscal Matters

Alexander: Prices are reasonable for Perth, coming in just slightly below the average price point. Toast is $5 and the priciest items are $18. My dish was $14 which I thought was quite reasonable (some breakfast places still try to charge the "big breakfast" price for a vegetarian breakfast, which is just ridiculous). I also like that there is not one set price for all sides; I find it strange that a side of tomato often costs the same price as a side of bacon. 3.5 from me.

Lola: Hmm, I thought it was still a little overpriced, my dish coming in at $18. While there was a good portion of smoked salmon, and it was really large, the price is not quite what I could call reasonable. And a $4 teeny sausage was a bit steep. However, the $5 toast and $11 eggs and tomatoes on toast on offer are both pretty good value. I'm even it out and awarding a 3 overall.

The verdict...

Comfort & Surroundings: 6/10
Service: 7/10
Tastiness: 7/10
Drinks: 3.5/10
Fiscal Matters: 6.5/10
TOTAL: 30/50

The Rose and Crown

Sunday 1 November 2009

Rose & Crown
105 Swan St, Guildford
(08) 9347 8100

1. Comfort & Surroundings

Alexander: The signs on the way to the Rose & Crown set the tone: "This way to historic site." Think it's strange that there are signs pointing to a restaurant? Not in historic Guildford! Dating back to 1841, the Rose & Crown is truly a gorgeous building, all exposed brick and wood beams. The setting for breakfast was the equally lovely courtyard next to the main building. On another day, it would have been perfect to enjoy delicious food and beverages amongst the manicured gardens and shady trees, however the gusty winds on this particular morning made things slightly uncomfortable. In fact, at one point I had to chase my menu across the courtyard and under another group's table. Still, for the most part, I was too busy soaking in the history to get too concerned, so I'll give it a 3.5. Which just goes to show, never judge a venue by the suburb in which it's located! Unless it's Girrawheen.

Lola: What's wrong with Guildford? Guildford has lovely connotations! Great antique stores, a large book exchange, an aesthetically pleasing post office, one of the best burger joints in Perth. Apparently there's a museum of taxidermy there too, somewhere. The Rose and Crown is another of my favourite Guildford things. There are a few places to sit in the hotel but I had booked for outside in The Garden. It's a really nice and relaxed place to sit back for a morning (and I can say from much experience that spending an afternoon there is just as pleasant) and the overlapping umbrellas make it pleasant even on a sunny day. The wind was the only problem, but there wasn't anything that could be done about it, so I'm going a 4.5.

2. Service

Alexander: I'm having trouble deciding how I feel about the service. It's not that the staff were unpleasant, but it sometimes felt as though their time management skills needed a bit of work. I stopped at the "Wait here to be seated" sign, and boy did I wait. Even as a number of the staff clearly noticed me. And we had water glasses on the table, but we didn't get water until we asked for it. That being said, it's nothing a couple of Oprah multi-tasking episodes wouldn't fix! Plus, I did enjoy the novelty of being asked in an eastern European accent, at WA's "most historic" pub, if I would like a coffee to "jump start" my morning. A 3 from me.

Lola: Alexander has summed the service up really well. The staff were nice, but not exactly efficient, and it was a pretty quiet on the morning of our attendance. I'm adding an extra half a mark for the fact of table service. 3.5.

3. Tastiness

Alexander: Maybe I was really hungry on this occasion, but the Rose & Crown delivered exactly what I was after. I went with the spring onion potato cake served with an organic egg and roast tomatoes. And I added bacon... because what dish isn't better with bacon? Not listed on the menu, I also discovered that the meal was served with toast. So it was a hearty breakfast, with some nice flavour combinations. The spring onion potato cake was the standout - hot and fluffy with just enough flavour - and acted as the perfect conduit between the other ingredients on the plate. My only issue was the fact that the gale force winds turned my food cold before I had finished eating it, but I guess I can't blame the Rose & Crown for the weather. A 4 from me.

Lola: I had absolute food envy as Alexander's potato cake was, indeed, delicious! That's not to say mine was sub-par though. I chose the 1841 Bali Breakfast (I'm not sure what the 1841 is for except that the hotel has been around since then): sweet, sticky fried rice topped with a fried egg. It was very tasty, but with the sweet capsicum combined with the strong sauce, it was a little too sweet for my taste. Having said that, I'd still recommend the dish, for sure. I'll give a 3.5 in this department.

4. Drinks

Alexander: The quality of the coffee is an important aspect of any breakfast venue, so I went with my standard - a cappuccino - to properly compare the Rose & Crown to other venues. Not bad, but I wouldn't drive all that way solely for the coffee. It's hard to give a great mark on this one, but that's not to say that a different drink choice wouldn't have scored higher. I'll go with 2.5.

Lola: I began with a hot chocolate and while the flavour, strength and temperature were all pretty good, here's the thing: I am really turned off when drinks become hard work. The chocolate syrup and milk were not remotely mixed, it had clearly not even been tried. Maybe it's an attempt to make it look pretty? If that's the case, it failed a little, as a base of syrup topped with warm milk is not my idea of a pretty picture. After carefully stirring it together, trying hard not to make a mess, I did enjoy the drink, but the work certainly made it less enjoyable. I did, however, also enjoy a Bloody Mary which was one of the better ones I'd sampled. Alexander pointed out that he'd be disappointed by the lack of celery, but for me, absent celery is a bonus! Overall, a 3.5 again from me.

5. Fiscal Matters

Alexander: Maybe it's the fact that the Rose & Crown doesn't have to pay exorbitant inner-city rent, but the prices here are very reasonable. I was discussing with a friend the other day how breakfast add-ons (bacon, mushrooms, tomato etc) seem to cost $4 at most places in Perth. Which, when you think about it, seems crazy. Anyway, you don't have to worry about that at the Rose & Crown - my additional bacon came in at a modest $3. So my whole meal was only $12.90 for a substantial plate of food - you'd be lucky to find that in Mt Lawley! Nice, a 4.

Lola: Agreed! My generous dish also came in at $12.50. I'm usually never one to leave good food on my plate, but I really couldn't get through my whole dish this time, so that's not bad value at all! I also think it's deserved of a 4.

The verdict...

Comfort & Surroundings: 8/10
Service: 6.5/10
Tastiness: 7.5/10
Drinks: 6/10
Fiscal Matters: 8/10
TOTAL: 36/50