Karalee On Preston

I hadn’t heard of the Karalee on Preston prior to last week. It became the last-​minute venue for a family celebration yesterday (due to the first choice venue rejecting our booking) and after perusing online reviews, my expectations were low.
Thankfully, after entering the tavern from a supermarket car park (not a great exterior façade) I was pleasantly surprised by lots of natural light, friendly ambience and views of the Swan river. We were swiftly greeted by a waitress who ushered us towards a corner table.
After reading the menus, our drinks orders were swiftly taken at the table. Drinks arrived within minutes and we happily chatted amongst ourselves whilst awaiting the arrival of our last lunch guest. It was only after about 30 minutes that we really started looking for a waitress to take our meal orders. It was at this point that we realised that food needed to be ordered at the bar (no biggie, but clearer communication would have helped!).
Within our party of nine, we settled on two chicken parmigianas, two steak sandwiches (‘Best Steak Sandwich in WA 2014′), a Thai beef salad, a grilled halloumi salad, ‘Catch of the Day’ (crispy skinned barramundi with parsnip chips and courgette) and two kids nuggets and chips (which came with a soft drink and ice-​cream with syrup for dessert, aka diabeetus). None of the meals were exceptionally cheap, with the salads sitting at around $ 26 – 28, classic pub meals at $ 25, fish of the day at $ 32. I have no idea how much the kids meals were, they shouldn’t have existed (sorry guys, I’m being opinionated but I feel that the next generation should be eating proper food. At least add some salad!).
In terms of beers on tap, the Karalee featured many mid-​range pub brews such as Swan Draught ($ 9 pint), Carlton Dry, Heineken and Hahn Super Dry. The closest thing to craft beer was Little Creatures Rogers and Pale Ale. I quite happily ordered the latter.
The meals came out in good time, happily distributed by a smiling waitress. My order was the halloumi which was accompanied by quinoa, wilted spinach, sautéed courgette (using the word courgette, not zucchini) and ‘drunken raisins’, according to the menu. The meal was tasty, with four large slices of fried halloumi atop a pile of warm quinoa. The baby courgettes were soft and slightly sweet, the quinoa was well seasoned, the raisins… well, they looked and tasted like juicy sultanas (there was no discernable ‘booze’ flavour) which added a burst of sweetness. The whole meal was a little oily and could have benefited from some fresh herbs or acidity, but on the whole I was pretty happy.
As for the other meals? Well, I sampled my husband’s soft, moist barramundi which flaked perfectly with a fork. The skin was crispy, the courgette was soft and well seasoned, the parsnip chips could’ve been a little crispier but the dish was near-​perfect. Both steak sandwich boys were in heaven (the steaks had a medium pink interior, served in toasted Turkish bread with an accompanying basket of beer battered chips), I didn’t attempt the parmigiana (both of which were massive and covered in a mountain of ‘classic pub grub’ cheese and tomato sauce, accompanied by beer battered chips) and the Asian beef salad looked reasonable (topped with crispy noodles and a sufficient pile of marinated beef strips). The nuggets and chips, well… they were yellow. The ice cream came with either chocolate or strawberry syrup and both girls did sport satisfied sticky grins by the end of our lunch.
All in all, we had a positive experience at this pleasant South Perth community pub. It’s right down the road from the Cygnet cinema and South Perth jetty also, so there are a few leisure options to help you burn off that full-​belly feeling. I would visit again.

The claim ‘best steak sandwich in WA’ (2014) is a big claim I just had to check out. Thankfully — it delivered. Had to have the steak sandwich which lived up to the claim of best in WA. We also had the Mexican jambalaya which was spicy and full of plenty of tasty ‘bits’ (chicken, seafood etc), not just a big bowl of rice.
The ‘No singlet/​thongs after 6pm’ sign at the door put me off a little initially and the guys drinking at the bar fitted the description perfectly. Thankfully the decent number of sit-​down tables meant we didn’t have to eat amongst the tradies on lunchtime break.
Overall positive experience, we will be back!

Great view but that’s about it. Pretty good service but average food every time I have been.

Came through here for a business lunch and felt totally relaxed. It’s overlooking our beautiful Swan and only a stone-​throw away from the City. Nice modern menu with something for everyone’s palate. I came for the Salt and Pepper squid to pair it with the views and wasn’t disappointed.