Last weekend we bundled everyone into the car and headed south for Portia to compete in the Country Pennants Swimming Competition in Mandurah. I felt a bit ho-hum about staying in Mandurah, only because I have always viewed it as missing out on the benefits of being situated truly in the country or truly in the city. I’m happy to report that it was a lovely place to spend the weekend. Below are some of the highlights from the things we managed to fit in around the swimming races at the Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre.
Food, glorious food! Where would we be without it? It always figures highly on our agenda (maybe a bit too highly at times!), so we were thrilled to discover an amazing cafe on the foreshore called Flics Kitchen. We had dinner there to celebrate our wedding anniversary on Saturday evening and liked it so much, we returned for breakfast on Monday before we left. The food was contemporary, completely innovative, scrumptious and good value for money. We had the chef’s choice for $50 a person, which consisted of approximately six stand out dishes of beautifully fresh, well seasoned food with some amazing and clever flavour combinations. Our favourite dish was Flic’s roast chicken, dill tots, summer vegetables, smoked bacon butter, wild herbs and chicken crackling. Delicious! Another favourite was Exmouth king prawns, camarelised orange, confit kipler potato, pancetta, heirloom radish and vanilla bean dressing. Worth a visit to Mandurah just to dine here alone!
Another great local business to visit was Paper Planes Co. This shop has a beautifully curated collection of wares, mainly for children, but adults would love this collection too. It has toys and trinkets that I hadn’t previously seen anywhere else and a very patient, tolerant owner who was happy to let the kids experiment with the toys and read the beautiful books on offer. Also popular with the kids, was the Whizzpop Candy Store with its large collection of imported cavity inducing treats. The foreshore is beautiful for a stroll (we saw dolphins jumping out of the water) and the area is enlivened with some beautiful street art.
There is also a very cute little train which does a continuous loop along the foreshore. It was like reliving your childhood!
We spent a very short time in Mandurah and only just scraped the surface of some of it’s attractions, but it was a very pleasant experience and definitely worth a visit or a detour to browse Paper Planes Co or to dine at the delightful Flics Kitchen. We stayed at the Quest apartments (easy walking distance into town) and really enjoyed their swimming pool right on the canal, as well as the lush gardens.
Have you visited Mandurah before? Did you enjoy it?