Today we went out to the Duckstein in the Swan Valley for our friend Pete’s birthday. It was a late arvo type dealy, and I had envisioned some type of pork and potatoes product for dinner, given of course, that the Duckstein is a German Brewery. During the afternoon I enjoyed several of their finest ales (Dunkels) and entertaining conversation with others in attendance. However, as 430pm approached we were advised that the kitchen was closed and the Duckstein would be closing at 5pm. Lame.

So upon being kicked out of the Duckstein some of us headed up the road to Elmars In The Valley in search of dinner and further good times. I enjoyed a glass of Dunkel there and upon seeing the price of the food (around $40 a meal) decided that some chips would have to suffice for now.

The chips were fine, but I was disappointed they didn’t come with mayonnaise. I mean is this a German pub or what?
At some stage Steve and I decided to leave to find dinner elsewhere. We decided to swing past the Rosemount drive thru, pick up a beer and enjoy it with a burrito at The Flying Taco. ’twas not to be, however, as when we got there we discovered that it was no longer there. Gone. Just a vacant shop left in its place. Sad.
Ok, so back up plan….Halu – our fave Japanese restaurant. At first we thought we’d just get take away, but then thought we’d try to get a table. There were no tables available when we got there, but the Halu lady said she could give us a call when one became available. So we went across the road to Wee Bar, where I enjoyed a Newcastle Brown Ale and Steve had a Makers Mark. We enjoyed our beverages and talked to the bar man about random music and listened to Heart. Thanks Wee Bar, I still have that song stuck in my head today.

After not too long we got a call to say our table was ready. This was a good thing, as by this stage we were both starving, and possibly a bit tipsy.
At Halu we ordered out 4 favourite items – Fremantle octopus, pork belly Kakuni, Scallop Namban and Agedashi Tofu. And some sake.

We were quite full and we weren’t going to get dessert, but then got talked into it. When were told Matcha and Sesame ice cream were on offer we couldn’t resist.

Dinner was great. Halu is the best. We had a good chat to one of the staff talking about how much we love Japan etc and tried out some of our best(worst) Japanese.
We had grand plans to go back to the Wee Bar for a nightcap, but decided against in the end. In hindsight, probably a very good decision.