homestead brewery

just awesome. went to the homestead brewery last weekend with a few friends and we loved it. it was very busy and i can understand why. the swan valley has needed something like this and it doesn't disappoint. great food, the octpus and the beef and black swan pie are to die for. the beer is incredible, the other swan valley breweries should be worried about their competition, not only is the beer better than most, but the venue it is in is beautiful. and surprisingly the coffee was awesome. didn't expect it going to a big venue like this, but they use typika coffee and no expense has been spared to get the best to the customers. the staff were friendly, lovely girl at the front door was full of information and helped us understand the venue and how everything worked, the bar staff were great and friendly (as well as the barista who answered any questions we had about the beer and wine even though he was very busy) and the wait staff delivered everything with a smile.

highly recommended to anyone, familys, couple, doesn't matter there is something for everyone. management should be proud of there staff and what has been achieved. hope it stays this great after the "new venue" hype has died down. we will definitely be back.

lunch. beautiful venue, unfortunately really disappointing meal, out of eight meals , only one person enjoyed the food, pork extremely salty, fish dry, steak tasteless, the hype didn't live up to expectations. waste of my last day of holidays

gorgeous premises. about time perth has a great brewery in the swan valley. drink selection good. only feedback is food a little average. second time to eat and think could improve. pulled pork tacos lacked taste and may have been better presented in soft taco roll instead. will definitely be going back for a drink.

excellent location, ok food. such a nice location for a group of mates or even a family with small kids. and we will definitely be coming back, however the food needs to improve for sure. it is just ok. if you were judging this place purely based on its food it wouldn't survive amongst the ever evolving foodie culture of perth.

uncomfortable. although the food was "okay", i wouldn't rave about it and it certainly wasn't cheap. on a very hot perth afternoon, the beer and water were not cold enough and although they had misters spraying water, certainly none of it was going in our direction. there were no fans, and no one even seemed to be all that sure of our table number. the "help yourself" cutlery was devoid of knives at one end and forks at another.
if they put some fans on the verandah i might go back.

 you've gotta love a good dose of pub food after a day of sampling far too many wines. mandoon estate really captures the essence of the swan valley, a haven for families to retreat, where kids can be kids and where honest, wholesome local produce grows strong.  beef and black swan pie with steamed buttery vegetables pizza, prosciutto, buffalo mozzarella, basil, san marzano's 

returning to mandoon on a wednesday (after visiting the restaurant on their first day – monday), this time we decided to try the brewery – first stopping at the cellar door for a wine tasting. sitting on the verandah at a high bench we had a view across the vines back towards the original cellar door – now just the winery – and also across to the adjacent sandalford vineyards. we had struck a beautiful perth spring day, with the temperature in the mid to high 20s. the homestead brewery has 4 beers on tap at present, (with plans for more as well as a cider and a perry – which should be flowing in a month or so) – no.1 belgian pale ale, thunderbird pale ale, black swan ipa and kaiser’s choice hefeweizen. as well there is the full range of the estate wines by the bottle and glass, and various spirits and soft drinks available. the menu ranges from bar snacks – nuts, olives and the like – through shared plates which include bacala and grilled polenta; grilled octopus with kipler and padron peppers; and wort marinated pork ribs with corn bread; to other dishes such as a grilled chicken salad and a wagyu burger and then to larger dishes such as belgian wheat beer mussels, pulled pork tacos with apple and fennel slaw, and beer battered fish and chips. desserts included white chocolate and strawberry fondant and a hop bavarois with pistachio tuile and lime syrup. they also have a pizza menu which includes focaccia al stracchino; prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella; confit lamb, with red onion and feta; and pear, gorgonzola and rocket. on this day we ordered the triple cooked chips, the grilled octopus and wort marinated pork ribs, and followed up with the hop bavarois. the grilled octopus was very tender, well seasoned and accompanied by slices of kipler potato and peppers. it presented and was cooked extremely well. the pork ribs were melt in the mouth, unctuous from marinating in the wort from the brewing process, accompanied by a

good wine, disappointing food, some changes needed. the homestead could be a great place for lunch. mandoon wines are lovely and the venue has been well put together. the service was friendly and seemed efficient if a little amateurish at the same time. but what really lets it down is the food. at best it is what i would describe as (barely) standard pub grub. i was expecting better

beef and black swan pie (the black swan is a beer, of course) with steamed vegetables was nicely cooked but the whole thing was quite bland and the pastry not fully cooked. same with my wife's togarashi spiced squid. hardly any spice flavour at all and she could not detect any wasabi flavour in the wasabi mayonnaise.

the beers mostly tasted fairly ordinary but i did like the belgian pale ale. they don't have a porter or stout, which would have been an improvement for me.

i understand why some swan valley wineries charge for tasting (to deter the pub-crawling drunks) but if you are having a meal i think they should waive this fee. also i can not see any justification for bunging 30-50% onto the cellar door price for wines purchased with meals.

judging from the reviews here i'd say a lot of people think the same as me. hopefully the management will take note and make some changes, particularly in the kitchen.

dissappointed. this was our 2nd visit to the homestead brewery. we thought it would be the perfect setting for our wedding anniversary with our adult kids. arrived early for lunch as we were told that they were not taking any more bookings thus the restaurant/kitchen was not under the pump from the lunch time crowd. setting and ambience lovely but the food is really notup to standard. we had the wagyu beef burgers and the pulled pork.the burgers were bland and the infamous twice fried chip did not impress. the pulled pork dish turned out to be a treasure hunt- lots of coleslaw with the pork hiding somewhere underneath between more salad leaves and tasteless taco shells-surely this dish would be better served in sweet buns or something similar .please - we need something like this in perth but it seems that already the standard is falling to the usual overpriced under- performing dishes we have grown accustomed to and try to avoid!
service was prompt , friendly and very efficient.

bier kenner. t.tomic. dear hospitality manager. your explanation to jessiegirl review was not satisfactory. all you said to her was that the brewery will be producing more types of beers on tap in the future and not producing better beer in the future on tap. its clear you dont know any better about beer. jessiegirl said that she is underwhelmed about the beer, she doesn't want more of the same, she wants it brewed properly ie fresh taste and aroma of malts with beautiful real hops that have been fused with the wort in the boil and fermented for the length of time it would take for a specific beer to become that perfect beer with a regal head.
instead of a sales pitch on beer, whom dont know any better, there is a real simple test without drinking it for any beer person to determine whether their beer they just bought is that perfect all natural, non gagging, no hangover beer they just paid for and trusted the brewing outlet with, ie to actually ask another customer for their empty glass which they just finished consuming the contents and then place it in front of you and let it sit for about 15 minutes to dry out. then place your nose over the glass and sniff, you will be able to smell the aroma of grain and hops in its dried out form which is pleasant and not a close to vomit or harsh undesirable smell.
a friend had asked me to meet up at the homestead brewery yesterday, a first for me at the homestead. nice schematics
ie the layout of the venue which is the norm of many venues within australia. also the norm of these venues is produce a terrible beer and the homestead brewery is no exception. its very disappointing to see a good brew vessel like shulz being used to produce terrible beer. a professional should never blame their tools.
beer awards are irrelevant because everyone is taught from the same pot and whatever one starts with will stick with because they perceive that to be correct. it's difficult to change a bad habit unless self wants to know better.

i'm going to leave the front line staff alone because they only know what they have been told.

please send me an email when you think your beer has improved and i will come again to taste, on the house of course.

breakfast in the swan valley… is there anywhere worth visiting besides taylors art & coffee house ?  some of you might say "oh but there's that place (i won't mention it's name again for fear of an angry mob with pitchforks knocking at my door baying for my blood)". no - not that place with it's $25 tinned bean breakfast. not ever. well now we have another choice for a top quality brekky in the valley. drum roll please….. let me introduce to you homestead brewery at mandoon estate winery. the swan valley has been waiting for an establishment like this. i love the old world charm of the valley but this ultra modern winery is offering something a little different.  on its massive grounds is the boutique brewery that provides a more casual feel than the formal mandoon estate restaurant. sit with a view of the vines or of the shiny german made schulz brewing equipment. afterwards head outside to the picnic benches to watch the kids play on the playground or stay for a beer (served after 10am). hot tip from my beer loving dining buddy gus from gusface grillah   - their black ipa is a winner. the coffee here is by typika. yep… that super popular place in claremont that has people lining up out the door all morning. when i tasted the coffee, i knew this was the start of something good. they weren't just serving some mass produced "italian" named coffee for the sake of having coffee for "those" people that insist on having one at a friggen winery. if you want coffee here, you are going to be treated to the real deal. on the menu is milkshakes that cost $9. i had to find out what a $9 milkshake tasted like… i felt like john travolta as vincent vega in that scene in pulp fiction - "i gotta know what a five dollar shake tastes like", minus the heroin and cocaine of course. it came out full in the silver mixing cup and it was made with real vanilla bean. my opinion? "goddamn, that's a pretty f***ing good milkshake. i don't know if it's worth nine dollars but it's pretty f***ing

left dissapointed. i have been here three times now. the first time for breakfast which was fabulous, the place the food and the staff. i rushed home and told all my friends to go there. however my second and third visits were not so enjoyable.

last satruday 8/11 we took our daughter and her family for lunch. sitting outside in the garden was lovely, the surroundings are great, you feel like you are in margret river. but i was very disappointed that you could only order food from the deli shop, and not from the main bar area. i enquiried why and they said that it was too hard for the staff to run table service out to that area, ok it's a large area, but then they gave me a buzzer to go and collect my food or should i say part of my food when it was ready, why can't they do that for the main restaurant too. anyhow the food came at different times and was very expensive and sub standard most of it went in the bin.

last night we went for dinner for a friends birthday in the bar area and again dissapointed. there was no table service and the menu was very limited, steak and chips, fish and chips etc. and not too cheap. fine for lunch but not so much for dinner.

overall the complex is lovely and the staff are very friendly and helpfull although hold into your glass if you haven't quite finished as they will whip it away. i feel they haven't quite worked out their menu's or customer service yet. breakfast i would recommend and i will go back for a drink but maybe not for dinner or lunch, at least for a while anyway.

charcuterie plate. selection of cured meats, sourdough, oritz anchovies, cornichons and caperberries.

it was a really lovely selection and tasted great. although needed just a few more slices of sourdough. but thumbs up all the same.

still hungry.. we came along to homestead with all the family and were seated outside as there was supposedly nothing inside when there was. scenery was lovely. kid friendly for those who have them.
it's surprising that there's no table service considering the prices of the food. you have to go up to the bar and order. staff were friendly though and pleasant.
i ordered the burger and chips. my partner had the fish and chips.
i will never pay $23 for a mcdonalds cheeseburger sized burger again. so not worth it. however it did taste nice. but for the cost of something so small...no. i ended up finishing off the spaghetti the kids were given to feel as if i ate something.
the fish and chip serving was also pretty small especially when paying $28 for it. what a rip off.
if you don't mind paying through the nose for nice tasting food with your family and kids, as there is a kids area...then good to go here and the pretty surrounds.
but if you're expecting a decent pub size feed for the prices you're paying...don't expect it. you might want drive thru on the way home to feel like you ate a meal.

what a beautiful place. love it. coffee from typika so nice to have local roast. everything about this place is really beautifully done i wish these people all the very best this is such a good thing for wa and perth. fine tuning with a few things as time he's on and this will be the best in the valley.