Elmar’s In The Valley

Walked in, loud music at lunch time.
Sat down, read menu, very expensive and over priced.
Noticed sign cash only at bar
Re read menu then noted 20% surcharge for public holiday
Got up, left, went down the road Duckstein. Happy with choice. Never going back

Bottled pear cider, $ 10. Tiny quiche with salad, $ 23.90. Insight to never go back due to the stupidly extortionate cost, priceless.

Food was very average and overpriced. The apple strudel wasn’t fresh. Good service though.

One of the few places you can order a Stein of beer! Food was nice but a little $$, we ordered a sharing platter which was okay… but next time I would order a main meal to fully appreciate their German cooking

Beers are great and so is the layout of bar, restaurant, and garden area. Food is priced at the top end.
Salad and prawn skewers on this visit, brings my rating down.
Its in the top 3 brew wise in WA with me.

Dass ist ja ganz toll hier! Pretty fun place that would be especially great with some mates or for the entire family (kids can play in the huge backyard). Live music was a nice touch.
However, this place is probably not worth a drive to the Swan Valley. If you’re already there, maybe, but otherwise? Food was ah-​ok. Beer was certainly tasty, but a pretty small selection in my (humble) opinion; there are 8 beers listed but 2 – 3 were not actually available.
We ate a soup of the day, which was so-​so. The ‘gourmet bread’ was just two slices of fairly normal bread (ok, not supermarket bread, but not entirely as advertised). The tasting platter had several very nice items (salami, one of the sausages, and pâté), but the other half wasn’t great.
So, I would not mind visiting again if the occasion called for it, but it’s no must-​visit destination. Staff was friendly by the way. No complaints there.

We arrived at Swan Valley for lunch and decided to dine at Elmar’s in the Valley, a german style brewery and smallgoods producer. I have heard that the food served in Elmar’s are decent in portion, so all of us decided to order and share a few dishes. We sat outside under the shade admiring the Swan Valley landscape while indulging in some beer to cool down. It was a beautiful day indeed.
For our lunch, we ordered the Large Elmar’s Tasting Plate ($ 36.90) which consists of Onion Beerstick, Cheese Kransky, Elmar’s Salami, Pork Rillettes, Cheddar Cheese, Cabana, Plain Water Crackers and Rosemary Water Crackers, Gourmet Bread, Pumpernickel and House Marinated Chili Olives. The tasting plate was indeed… large but it showcased a good variety of Elmar’s smallgoods on a plate.
We had the Elmar’s Bratwurst Plate ($ 36.90). The Elmar’s Bratwurst Plate consists of a trio of bratwurst — Grillbratwurst, Cheese Kransky and Coarse Pork Bratwurst, on a bed of Royal Blue Mashed potato and Sauerkraut served with salad and a side of Mustard. The Bratwurst were all cooked perfectly, full of flavour and blended well with the mustard. The mash potato was the favourite on our table. It was smooth and creamy which is the perfect texture of a good mash potato.
We also ordered the Elmar’s Specialty — Pork Shank (Schweinehaxe) ($ 42.90) and it was so delicious. Portion, as usual was very generous. The pork shank was very tender and the meat came off the bone easily. It was definitely the winner of our lunch.
Overall, our family friends really enjoyed dining at Elmar’s in the Valley. All of our plates were left clean and the pork shank was a clean bone minus the meat. It was a very satisfying and filling lunch that ensured our stomachs will not be left crying for food for the rest of our Swan Valley adventure. We will definitely be back to Elmar’s in the Valley again! For good food, one must be willing to travel the distance.

Elmars was the second stop of our self guided cycling brewery tour in the Swan Valley on Sunday. Situated on large, green grounds off West Swan Road, Elmars is welcoming and homely.
It has a really good feel about it and I’m already planning a winters day to return and feast on pork, pork and more pork (and a stein or two!!).
They offer ample sized beer tastings. I’m pretty sure my beer tasting glass was the same size as the beer I received at Mash for $ 6. At Elmars they offer 1 tasting for $ 2, 3 tastings for $ 5 or 6 for $ 10. Excellent value and the beers were excellent as well. I really liked their wheat beer which is saying something as I’m a huge fan of Amber and dark ales more than anything else these days.
They also have a small goods shop on the premises and we bought smoked beef and chicken liverwurst to take with us for a picnic. Delicious stuff. Oh and we bought a cold mini keg of Pilsner to take along to our picnic too — the perfect thirst quencher on our cycling tour.

Please visit my blog for the full blog post.
Food and presentation — 3.5÷5
As expected, the food at Elmar’s in the Valley was fairly tasty but it seems the portion size has shrunk. The tale of the shrinking pork shank and missing potatoes is a story about a beautifully seasoned pork shank with the crackling nice and crispy, however the pork shank has shrunk and there were only 7 cubes of potato — what happened Elmar’s? The pork shank used to be much bigger and the dish was filled with so much potato you couldn’t see the bottom of the plate…
We all really enjoyed the bratwurst plate, the sausages were great, however there were only just enough to share, I can’t really decide which sausage I liked the most but I really liked the mash which was nice and creamy.
The beef salad was the least impressive dish, the salad dressing and the beef were a bit bland with the beef being slightly overcooked.
Service — 2.5÷5
The service at Elmar’s in the Valley has always been average and today was no different. We had to wave a few times to get the attention of a wait staff to take our order and our water bottle wasn’t refilled/​replaced automatically but the wait staff were generally friendly. What really annoyed me was that the staff member who took my reservation did not inform me of the surcharge and this was also not on their website. I also thought it was very cheeky of them to print special menus for the day with the 20% surcharge included in the prices because we thought the price was 20% on top of the listed price and if you didn’t see the sign at the front of the restaurant, you wouldn’t even know that you’re paying extra, very sneaky!
Atmosphere and décor — 3.5÷5
I really like the atmosphere at Elmar’s in the Valley, it’s nice and relaxed. We sat inside but they also have an outdoor sitting area. The décor is mainly wooden which fits in with the general style of the restaurant and they have a little gift shop inside which sells their famous sausages and cold meats, as well as knick knacks and some German and European foods such as pumpernickel, marzipan and Haribo gummy bears.
Value for money — 1.5÷5
The prices at Elmar’s in the Valley on a non-​public holiday is still not what you would call cheap or even good value but the prices charged today was definitely ridiculous for what it is.
I’m pretty sure that we will be back for more over priced German food some other time, just because.
Taste Test Total Score ¹¹⁄₂₀

Elmar’s in the valley is a great place to spend a sunny afternoon with the family. the beer is great and nice and cold. The food is great but best of all they have a pizza making session for the kids that keeps them occupied and they actually eat the food because they made it themselves !!.
Theres a large outdoor area for the kids to play and is fully fenced in so you know they can’t do a disappearing act on you while you eat your lunch !

Well worth the trip have the pork shank its expensive but expertly cooked. A browse to the meat section is a must as a take home pack of black forest ham is a must !

This is the place young men dream of. So many kinds of meat and beer, platters of sausage and tasting trays of ale, what more could a man want?
The range of booze and food available is really extensive. With delicious beer, wine and sparkling created in house. The portion sizes are massive, my boyfriend and I shared the platter for 2 and couldn’t move or eat for the next 8 hours.
The venue is full with mostly young families, though two bucks parties did go through while we where there, which I think is a testament to what a manly heaven this place is. There’s great live music on the weekend and it’s so nice to do a little day trip to the Swan Valley.

Elmar’s In The Valley is unique amongst the breweries in the Swan Valley, in that it is a glass brewery. That is, the beer is made using glass containers, such as a giant glass kettle. The result of this brewing process is that the beer is fresh and full-​flavoured.
The highlight of their beer collection is the Kick Back, a wheat beer with a hint of vanilla. The beer is refreshing and is lovely to drink after spending some time on the road — it has a very smooth taste and goes down very smoothly. Their ale is also worth a try and is the opposite to the Kick Back, with its strong taste.
Elmar’s is definitely worth a visit, for they brew some of the Swan Valley’s finest beers.