Sunday Afternoon At Core Cider House | Perth Hills

When an invite pops into your inbox for an unvisited eatery in Perth, it has me curious immediately!

I received a lovely invitation to visit Core Cider House in the Perth Hills and accepted the invitation with much excitement. The email provided lots of information on the venue and I had a bit of a google too, it looked amazing.

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I organised for Ms. D, Ms. G and I to have lunch at 2pm on a hot Sunday afternoon. We were excited just pulling into the venue because the first thing you see is the beautiful orchard and it stretches far and wide. We could hear the music as we walked in and I love nothing more than food, drinks and live music with friends.

We made our way in past an area that serves pizza for casual dining on the grass and up to the reception and main bar area. We were a little early but our table was ready, the place was packed. Booking is necessary!
We took our seats and got lost in the array of menu choices. As it was a warm day, we ordered a tasting tray each ($18)(not included in our invite). The tasting tray comes in very nice little glasses and accompanied by tasting notes so you know a little about each cider. We were advised to start from left to right, simple! My favourites were probably the Coregasm and the Pith’d, sparkling lemon cider is right down my street and so refreshing!

As us bloggers do, we each wanted to try different things in the menu so I went for the Sirloin Fillet ($35) as it’s one of my favourite things to order, Ms. G went with a trusty Chicken Scallopini ($28) and Ms. D was excited to order the Seared Duck Breast ($32) We decided that one potion of Sweet Potato would be enough to share between the three of us.

We were asked if we wanted to order dessert but on seeing the portion size, we thought we might wait to have dinner and see how we feel. Let’s be honest though, there is always room for dessert!

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Our food arrived together, yes, our portions were huge also.

I chose the steak because I love a good steak, I asked for it medium-rare and that’s what I got. I was a little more on the rare side however I am much happier with that than closer to medium. The steak was tender and juicy and the flavours were delicious. It was accompanied by lightly seasoned asparagus and baby potatoes. The herbs added to the baby potatoes were a nice touch and didn’t unbalance the dish. I didn’t add too much to each bite as I didn’t want to take away from the juicy steak.

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Ms. D’s choice of duck was a winning choice and she loved the accompaniment of the fresh pickled red cabbage and the sour apple reduction. The sour apple reduction is not something I had ever tasted before but it balanced the dish and reminded us that we were sat in a beautiful orchard and the freshest of ingredients were used in our dishes.

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Ms. G had the chicken which was quite dry. It was saved by the sweet tomato sugo delicately smeared over the top of the chicken. Both Ms. G and Ms. D loved the freshness of the salad served with the chicken which had pieces of apple, nuts and soft cheese through the leaves. We all agreed that this dish had so many delicious elements that a little less sauce/dressing would have been perfect so not to mask the beautiful flavours of the dish.

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We also had the Sweet Potato Chips  which were quite a large portion and enough to share between us. The chips were chunky and delicious, they had a slight crisp and were not oily in anyway. We also enjoyed the dipping sauce and as our mains were cleared, we kept the chips and dip to finish off the last few.

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By this stage we were feeling rather full until we saw a tart slice being delivered to a table. Of course we had room for dessert!  On looking at the menu, I was keen to try the Sliced Apple Pie ($15) however on seeing the portion size, I knew there was no way we would finish it and not have to be carried out of the restaurant due to not being able to move. We decided to order two desserts to share, Chilli Chocolate Marquis ($12) and the Wild Lime Ginger Tart ($12).

Both desserts arrived together, of course we tried the chocolate one first. I wasn’t sure if I would like the chilli chocolate but wow it was delicious! It was chocolate all the way until there was a subtle kick of chilli in the back of your throat. As you may know, Ms. G is a chilli queen and needless to say she really enjoyed it, we all did. The texture was similar to a mousse but extremely light and when accompanied by the drunken berries, particularly the raspberries, it added a little sweetness to the marquis. Beautiful dessert!

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The second dessert was the cute slice of tart. Ms. D loves her ginger and was keen to try this one while I waited to find out how ‘gingery’ it was. Much to my surprise, the ginger was quite subtle and for someone who isn’t overly keen on ginger, I really enjoyed it. The light crumbly base was also delicious and the drizzled vincotto tasted like honey and added a little sweetness to the dessert.

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Spending the afternoon at Core Cider House certainly feels like you are in Margaret River without making the trek back to Perth. Before we left, we went out to the back of the venue where visitors can purchase fresh fruit and preserves. We sampled some of the preserves on our dishes and decided to buy one to take home. 

Core Cider House hold functions and have a special Valentine’s Day Dinner on the 14th of February as well as an evening of music on the 24th of February 2017 with Flash Nat & the Action men. For more information on the event, click here. I was excited to hear that there is a cellar door under construction, which gives us another reason to visit again soon.
On a final note, a big thank you to Core Cider House for having us and we look forward to returning soon.