Hogs Breath (Restaurants in Perth in general)

Member Name: nursingstudent

Product:	Restaurants in Perth in general
Date:	22/06/02 (237 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Amazing atmosphere, Reasonable prices, High quality food

Disadvantages: A long way to go!, You need to loosen your belt, You want to try everything on the menu

Walk into one of the many branches of the Hogs Breath Cafe Saloon and Grill throughout Oz and prepare to be amazed. That is what happened to us. From the moment you go through the door you will be guaranteed a wonderful eating experience, from the food to the atmosphere, from the service to the bill at the end of the evening. We paid approximately £35 for a meal for 2 adults and 3 children with drinks and extras. But surely a steak is just a steak you may say, you could not be more wrong - these people have made eating steak a memorable experience.

So what is on the menu? Prepare to salivate......

Starters are available if you want them (though honestly only a real glutton could manage a 3 course meal here), they do soups such as butternut pumpkin with yummy breads, mini spring rolls with sweet chilli dipping sauce, deep fried potato skins with dips, deep fried chicken strips, nachos with oodles of extras, buffalo wings - chicken wings in a ranch sauce, or you can have a huge sampler plate of all of the above.

Prime Rib Grill - this is pure heaven on a plate (a rather large plate too), the 300g steak is cooked for up to 18 hours which makes it extremely tender, it is like cutting butter and literally melts in the mouth. You can choose just how you want your steak, whether rare, medium rare, well done, or burnt, I usually go for medium rare, just a bit pink in the middle. You can have a choice of sauces with your steak, I highly recommend the mushroom, you could eat this on its own with nothing else. Also on your plate you can choose to have mashed potato, a baked potato, perhaps with sour cream, or if you really want to push the boat out you can have their unique hogs breath curly fries, fascinating curly chips which are a big hit with the kids (even the big ones like me!). How dare they make chips taste so good - very moreish. The rest of the plate is full of freshly cooked vegetables such as corn on the cob, carrots, salad
and broccoli, all absolutely perfect. So how does that sound? Good? How about these then to tickle your taste buds...

For those that prefer a smokey flavoured steak you can have a hickory smoked version, cooked with an authentic hickory sauce. Or you can have an Italian style rib with garlic butter and pepper. If that’s not your kind of thing you could go for the blackened rib with a spicy cajun flavour, hot, hot, hot! Or head for the steak known as El Grande, with a creamy salsa cheesy sauce and loads of jalapenos. Phew!

You can add extras to your plate (if you have the room) such as guacamole (bleh!), grilled bacon, grilled onions, avocado, more fries, salads, corn chips with salsa, more baked potatoes or the sauces previously mentioned - mushroom, Dianne or pepper.

So what if you are like my husband and you don’t particularly relish the idea of a steak, what can the Hogs Breath Cafe offer you then?

How about a Chicken Caesar Wrap? Chicken pieces in a tortilla with lettuce, bacon, parmesan cheese and caesar dressing, and of course the usual curly Hog Tail fries and salad.

Fancy a burger instead? You can choose a traditional burger with all the trimmings, including beetroot (I always thought this was a strange addition to a burger but was amazed at what a good combination it made - I’m a convert!) Their cheese burgers also come with a BBQ sauce and of course those brilliant fries again. Another alternative is the chicken and ranch burger with a seasoned chicken breast, cheese, tomato, onion, lettuce and their own recipe ranch dressing, very tangy. Or the Hawaiian Hickory chicken burger, loads of hickory sauce, cheese, tomato, onion, beetroot, and wait for it.... pineapple! Do there culinary talents know no ends?? If you are really famished you can head for their Boss Hog Double Burger (you need a rather large mouth for this one), two huge burgers, two lots of cheese, the usual vege
table trimmings and BBQ sauce, you will not need to eat for a week after this one.

For those who just want a light meal instead of a blow out you can choose a salad (wimp). But I must admit that their salads sound pretty good and even I may be tempted to steer away from their steaks next time. They do a chicken caesar salad, veg salad with crispy noodles, chicken and ranch salad with bacon pieces, cheese, seasoned potato chunks, oriental beef salad with cashew nuts and a Thai Sweet Chilli dressing or maybe a Caribbean chicken salad with tropical salad, avocado and mango. You can even slap on extra dressings such as honey dijon, raspberry, vinaigrette, mango, creamy caesar and balsamic Italian.

Tempted yet? Or do I need to go to tell you about their Rib and Vegetable Parcel in filo pastry, their Tasmanian Salmon, Caribbean Chicken, Tex-Mex Combo of chicken chimichanga and sirloin steak or Chicken Dijonnaise........ OK, I’ll stop.

What about the kids you may ask? Yes, they are extremely well catered for, they are even given their own menu to colour in whilst they wait for their meal to be brought. They can choose from fish fingers and curly fries, hot dog and fries (this hot dog has to be seen to be believed, about a foot long!), or a burger or chicken nuggets, again with fries. And the good news is that they get FREE drink and FREE ice cream!!! Yes, FREE! Though by the time they have eaten their main course they are pretty full up.

Got any room left for pudding? Loosen that belt and prepare to be tempted by their incredible Mississippi Mud Cake (extreme indulgence, especially with cream and ice cream), or apple pie - tastes homemade, or baked lemon cheesecake with a wild berry puree, or a good old banana split. They also do desserts of the day, I had a Baileys Chocolate Mousse last time, thought I’d died and gone to heaven. Drinks are from the extensive bar and you can finish off with coffee, liqueur coffe
e if you want to really overdo it.

So how much is this all going to cost you? Is your credit card going to cringe? Not really, a typical steak will set you back $21.95, about £8.70, not bad considering you don’t have to eat again for a week at least. Starters will set you back about £3.50, burgers about £4.00, childrens meals about £2.75 (and that is incredible value). Salads are about £5.20 and all the puddings are £2.60.

What makes the Hogs Breath Cafe just that little bit more special is the service that you get, the waiting staff are brilliant, they are attentive without being overbearing, they are helpful when trying to choose food, they are great with kids, and they do not try to sell you things you don’t really need like lots of accompaniments that you won’t be able to fit in your stomach. Also the ambience of the place has to be commented on, the walls and alcoves are covered with really unusual items of memorabilia, old photos, advertisements, household items, bicycles, it certainly keeps you occupied whilst you wait for your meal, which incidentally arrives extremely quickly.

So, if you are ever in Perth head for Northbridge and prepare to be stunned, in fact if you are anywhere in Oz, you will find Hogs Breath throughout the country with eateries in Adelaide, Airlie Beach, Aspley, Bondi Beach, Brisbane, Bunbury (our all-time favourite), Byron Bay, Cairns, Canberra, Castle Hill, Coffs Harbour, Cronulla, Darwin, Dubbo, Glenelg, Gold Coast, Hobart, Holden Hill, Ipswich, Joondalup, Mackay, Mandurah, Mooloolaba, Nelson Bay, Newcastle, Parramatta, Port Douglas, Port Macquarie, Redcliffe, Rockhampton, St Marys, Surfers Paradise, Tamworth, Terrigal, Toowoomba, Townsville City, Cannon Park, Tuggerah and Wagga Wagga. So if you are in Australia you
have no excuse... they are everywhere!!

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