The Whale and Ale, Clarkson

The Whale and Ale was recommended to me last year, and I've been hanging out to give it a try.

So I organised for a group of us to go, and 12 of us rocked up on Easter Saturday night. Their website is down for maintenance, which is inconvenient, and they refused to email or fax me a copy of the menu, which was disappointing.

However they have a huge menu, with something for everyone, including a whole page dedicated to vegetarians.

I ordered the gammon steak ($22.90), which turned out to be two gammon steaks, with a pineapple ring and fried egg and huge serve of chips. Maybe too much, but it was delicious.

The service was great and we didn't have to wait too long to get our meals, which was a nice change in this town!

For dessert I shared a banoffee pie ($6.90), which was good value, though the plate we got it on was far too big and would have looked better with some chocolate drizzled over it, or something. There wasn't a lot of banana but a shitload of toffee, in fact it seemed like condensed milk in a biscuit base. We couldn't finish it, but I was glad we ordered it. Banoffee pie is rare around here, and usually uber expensive. And sometimes the offee turns out to be coffee! Yuck.

The restaurant wasn't packed, but I think even if it was it wouldn't be too noisy. The tables aren't too close like in many restaurants. It's all very airy and modern, and brightly lit, which I like.

The Whale and Ale is tucked away in Clarkson, and the fact it wasn't full was testament to it being unknown. But it's a top pub and definitely worth the hike. It's also in the gold section of the Entertainment Book, offering 25% off up to $30.

Highly recommended.

Murphy's Irish Pub, Mandurah

This pub, on the Mandurah foreshore, was lively at lunchtime on Easter Sunday, without being so noisy you couldn't hear the conversation around you. It's clean and the decor is pleasant. All in all a very laid-back atmosphere.

They have a decent lunch menu, not huge but the usual pub fare was there. I ordered the marinated chicken salad with cashews and caramelised pumpkin ($17.50). It was delicious, though packed to the brim with salad onion. Had this been listed on the menu I wouldn't have touched it with a barge pole. After I had picked it all out, I got stuck in. The raspberry dressing was very tasty. There was only four or five pieces of pumpkin, so maybe they should have listed feta - which was plentiful - on the menu, instead of pumpkin! The chicken was flavoursome without being too salty or overpowering. The feta was delicious and good quality, and there were just enough cashews too. Salads can often have far too much lettuce/rocket to outweigh the other ingredients, but not in this case. I would definitely order it again.

As an aside, my mum ordered the steak sandwich ($19), which I considered but for my fear of too-strong aioli. But I tried it - delicious! I'd probably order it if I had another lunchtime venture to Murphy's.

Murphy's also has a good, interactive website that's clearly updated often, to their credit. Recommended, especially for lunch on a weekend to watch the footy.

Paddy Maguire's, Subiaco

Paddy Maguire's is actually something of a chain, with restaurants in Perth, Sydney and Adelaide. It hasn't a decent website too. Bonus!

It's got a good Irish pub vibe, the soccer was on when we were there and everyone was in a good mood. It's definitely a Subiaco venue (read: not a Northbridge venue), so the place wasn't full of bogans and their half dressed tarts.

The tables weren't cleared too quickly, so it was a little bit of a trek to find one that was clean.

The menu was pretty decent. I was in need of a hamburger, so it was Paddy's Burger ($18) for me. It was pretty decent, though the beef was a bit on the dry side. But the onion chutney was delicious and the side salad wasn't packed with red onion.

My mum ordered Maguire's Steak Sandwich ($18.50) which was huge! And also a bit excessive maybe, what with the bacon, egg AND beef. But if you can handle your food falling apart before it between the plate and your mouth, the steak sandwich is a goer.

The drinks cost a fortune; we paid well over $20 for two Southern Comforts and a Diet Coke!

But overall I was impressed by Paddy Maguire's. It's nice to find a venue where I don't feel like I don't belong there just because I know all the letters of the alphabet. And the food was pretty damn good as well. Would definitely go back.

Recommended.