The Garden

The Garden: Main Entrance

So it’s ‘Date Night’, and my hubby and I find ourselves in Leederville with no set plans or reservations for dinner. Stumbling from door to door looking at menus we see a leafy courtyard and decide that it looks interesting and worth a visit.

So we venture into The Garden, a rather funky urban pub with concrete, steel, wood and greenery softening it. A mezzanine level has a leafy view over the alfresco area diners. There’s an open and spacious atmosphere with seating under trees or by a narrow pond and a cacophony of birds in the trees overhead drown out any traffic noise from outside.

The Garden: Courtyard

As we wander through the alfresco area trying to find a table, staff inform us that they have just started table service. However it was a rather long wait just to be served probably due to how busy it was on a Tuesday night. The menu will please even the fussiest of eaters. I liked the ‘Small Things’ part of the menu and a group dining near us ordered a few of these over drinks to share.

We settled on 3 things to order. Firstly we chose the Arancini with pumpkin, maple syrup, fetta and almond pesto ($11) from the small bites menu as it sounded interesting. I was hoping the maple syrup wasnt too strong making them sweet and pleased to find it was very subtle compared with the pumpkin. The texture was just right inside and a perfectly crisp outer making them very moorish. I wasn’t too fond of the almond pesto but my hubby loved it.

The Garden: Arancini

Secondly, the Potato, rosemary, fetta, fresh prosciutto and almond pizza ($22) which had a thin crispy base. The rosemary is strong but complements the tender potatoes. A generous portion of prosciutto was arranged on top then scattered with the fetta and almonds. Definitely mouth-watering.

The Garden: Pizza

Lastly we chose the Smoked chicken, sweet corn, croutons, greens, fetta with chipotle dressing ($25). The smoky flavour was dominant and although the chipotle dressing was lacking a bit of kick it was perfectly coating the greens. Fresh, crispy croutons and crunchy corn off the cob added to the generous serving size. All served in an enamel frypan with tongs to serve.

The Garden: Smoked Chicken Salad

A quirky feature of the garden is that all the meals are served on enamel plates which reminded me of camping as a child. The garden is worth a visit, whether looking for a bite with drinks or a more substantial meal. And if you visit on a Monday or Tuesday, the pizzas are half price from 12 noon!