On our recent trip to Perth, we did a day trip to Rottnest Island. Rottnest Island is a small island, 18 kilometres off the coast of Fremantle, and literally means "Rat Nest Island" because the Dutch explorers thought that the island's native quokkas were giant rats. You travel there by ferry leaving from Perth or Fremantle.
After a few hours spent exploring the various tracks on the island, we gratefully settled down for lunch at Aristos, a restaurant on the waterfront at Rottnest Island.
The owner is the guy who used to do Surprise Chef on Australian television, whose name is incidentally Aristos. The menu at Aristos is diverse, covering seafood, steaks, pasta, burgers and pizzas.
We opted for fish and chips, a perfect choice for the beach atmosphere. Tim opted for Panko crumbed fish and chips ($26) - it was meant to be garfish, but we don't think it was from the size of the pieces of fish:
I opted for the grilled fish and chips ($26), which was served with a lovely lemon butter sauce:
These meals were unremarkable but tasty enough. Service was a little erratic, with Tim receiving his meal a good 15 minutes or so before me, despite us ordering at around the same time at the counter. I started to wonder if I had been forgotten!
Here's Tim looking very happy with his pint of beer at Aristos:
Tim was a little worried lest he should not see a quokka. I assured him that he would, and indeed, we saw several of the little fellas on the island, including this one:
Quokkas are very fond of tourists because they are seen as a source of treats - however, if you go there, please don't feed them.
Our ferry back from Rottnest Island landed at Fremantle, so we decided to visit the Little Creatures Brewery:
In addition to the mixed olives ($8) that we ordered, we received these very tasty kangaroo skewers with tomato chutney ($22) for free, presumably because we were sitting in the right place at the right time:
This gorgeous banksia was sitting in a bottle by the door on the way out of the brewery, so I could not resist taking a photo:
It was a very full day, but I enjoyed it.
Colebatch Ave
Rottnest Island WA 6161
Phone: (08) 9292 5171
40 Mews Rd
Fremantle WA 6160
Phone: (08) 6215 1000
Hi Gaye:)
ReplyDeleteI know I should probably be enamored by the wonderful meals you had on your visit but, I just can't help myself, I LOVE that last shot of the Banksia. I have never seen one before and it is quite gorgeous!!!
I can't help thinking at the price of those meals and how they should have been served promptly at the same time. None the less you had an enjoyable day, Tim looks quite content and you had freebie skewers too!
Thank you so much for sharing your day trip Gaye. I love seeing your corner of the world...
Hi Louise, glad you enjoyed the post. I think the banksia is rather gorgeous too. The meals were pricey for fish and chips.
DeleteHi Gaye,
ReplyDeleteI looked that plant up and now I am on a mission to see if I can grow one here in my garden. Wish me luck!!!
Good luck Louise!
DeleteI didn't realise that was why it was called Rottnest Island. Makes sense though! :D
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you made it to Rottnest :-)
ReplyDeleteNow those are portions I can appreciate!
ReplyDeleteThe fish dishes both looked good to me at Aristos...and cute photo of Tim with is beer. I think those little quokkas are so cute! Why aren't you supposed to feed them treats? Okay...now on the other place, really Kangaroo skewers? You eat Kangaroo? Really? I didn't know that. Sounds like it was all a very fun outing!
ReplyDelete