Black Swan Winery & Restaurant

Got to know this place from a friend of mine, telling me that they serve black pig here, and according to her

 "the black pig was so tender and soft, the ratio of fats and meats is just right to salivate your entire palette, the flavour from the fat oozes out, going around your mouth, makes you crave for more, it was the best porky moment of my life" - And that was few years ago.

After hearing this, i suggest that we visit this place for black pig salivating moment and also do some wine tasting while we're in the valley.

It was a beautiful spring day when a group of us visited, included the friend of mine who wants to indulge into the black pork again! We started off the morning with some coffee tasting from Yahava koffee, chocolate tasting from Margaret River Chocolate Factory, wine and beer tasting from various winery/brewery before heading up to Black Swan Winery.

After much drinking, we were so hungry and can't wait to chow down a whole black pig!  We were greeted and seated soon after we arrive, it was a pretty quiet lunch for them, i guess that's how it's like in other winery restaurant in Swan Valley.

After we were presented with the menu, the black pig seems like the only dish that I am dying to try, without any hesitation, we ordered 3 black pig and 1 lamb dish, also a pate to share as entrees. If i haven't heard the raving from my friend, i wouldn't go for the black pig, instead i would have chosen something else, because the menu does have some other thing that sounds really good.

Not long after, we received our nicely present Chicken liver & foie gras parfait ẃ warm toast & kumquat jam. Those little crispy baguette toast was done just right, mop up with some really smooth foie gras parfait on top of the toast, it was divine. Oh, and don't forget to put some of the kumquat jam on top too! It's a great entree to share among your friends and it's only $12 for all those, wish we have more toast though, and i find that the seasalt that sprinkle around the plate was abit irrelevant.

Braised lamb rump ẃ roasted garlic, swiss browns, braising jus & watercress - $36

Here comes the mains, the lamb rump look unappetizing, it's way too black to make you want to eat it. I had a taste of it, we all agreed that the lamb rump is way too dry and the braising jus has a very strong flavour, it's definately not for everyone, but on the upside, the mash was really good! But for that price, we expected more than that, especially coming from an award winning restaurant!

Black pig “Coteletta” ẃ fondant potato, celeriac remoulade, rocket & lemon - $35

I was a bit shocked to see that my long waited black pig has been CRUMBED!! I wasn't too keen for it to be deep fried, but who knows what's the surprises waiting inside it! Afterall, alot of Japanese famouse black pig dish was crumbed and deep fried too! I was over optimistic, i thought i would be surprised once i bite into it, nonetheless, it tasted just like another crumbed deep fried food, and it wasn't even soft and tender, it was chewy, hard and dry. My friend that have tried the truly awesome black pig told us it wasn't serve like this a few years back, it wasn't even deep fried! I was having this inner monologue, screaming to myself "why would the chef uses such top quality porduces and deep fried it!" We can't even tell if that is the real black pig, because it tasted like normal pork and chips. If i want to eat deep fried food, i would have gone for fish and chips, or squid rings or even KFC and i wouldn't be paying that much too! Very disappoiting indeed, one of friend spent more than 45mins to cut and chew on the tough pork, she said and i quote "I was cutting the pork with the knife using all my strength, now my hand are sore and my jaw hurt like hell from chewing, i can't close my mouth now!" The dish is not working for me, the celeriac remoulade doesn't really goes well with the pork, that aside it was way too salty, the chef got carried away by putting too much capers into it. Though, the fondant potato is quite nice.

We skipped dessert after the much disappointing mains, plus they don't have a lot of choices in desserts too, but the Vahlrona chocolate terrine, forest berries, coulis, double cream - $15 sounds interesting!

We left the place immediately with sore hands and jaw, and a small comment to the cashier, she told us she will let the chef know, I'm not sure about that, maybe someone should go and check out if they have change anything to it!

Overall experience: 2 out of 5 (the foie gras and toast saved it)

Black Swan Winery & Restaurant

8600 West Swan Road

Henley Brook

Tel: 08 9296 6090

Opening Hours:

Lunch for 7 days including public holiday

Dinner only Wednesday to Saturday