Rendezvous Hotel Perth

Disclaimer: All pictures were taken by my iPhone so I apologize for any graininess, or if the food doesn’t look too appetizing! 😛 Once again, the resident photographer is still out of town!

 

Hubby and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary last month (woohoo! two years of bliss!) with a bunch of friends down south. It’s probably not a typical way of spending your anniversary, but what better way than to share it with friends that you consider family right?

Well, we didn’t actually plan it that way to be honest! We wanted to use a voucher that we bought from Scoopon that gave us a night’s stay at the Rendezvous Hotel with champagne, dinner and breakfast included but because they were booked out for our anniversary weekend, we had to postpone it. We finally used the voucher last Saturday,  which worked out well because it was a weekend away with just the two of us before hubby got sent off to Mission Week for 5 days where we have to do the whole long distance relationship thing again! (sobs!)…brings back not-so-good memories.

But anyway, the day started off in Claremont Quarter area , so we had lunch there and of course we HAD to drop by for more Koko Black 🙂 where we shared a delicious chocolate mousse martini. But more of that in another post to come 🙂

We checked into Rendezvous Hotel and Observation City at about 2pm in the afternoon. The concierge there were excellent and were so willing to help with my 1 tiny overnight bag 😛 and check-in was a breeze (also the state of the lobby area!).

Our room was on the 17th floor and had a fantastic view of the ocean and the beach and their Cascade Pool and Bar, and we had champagne chilling in the fridge as well (which was part of the deal).

The hotel was a stone throw away from Scarborough Beach, so we decided to take a stroll down the beach. Even though it was a fine day, it was really windy so the “No swimming” signs were up that day, which was a bit of a shame but there were still surfers there enjoying the waves.

I reckon Perth has one of the most beautiful beaches in the world – blue skies, soft sand, clean and the inviting waters of the sea! There’s just something about the sea and the waves crashing that just calms everything down…

We managed to get back to our hotel room and watch the sunset, which was literally breathtaking 🙂 Hubby had a field day clicking away on his camera taking pictures of the sea and the sky as it changes colours. It was so pretty and a perfect way to end the day. I will try and post some pictures from his camera when I actually get my hands on it!

Then, it was dinnertime! We were starving by now and since we had a voucher to dine at the Pines Grand Carvery and Buffet (Dinner – $36 per person), we decided to give it a go (even though I’ve been there a few times for lunch and I remembered that the food wasn’t too impressive). We were ushered into our seats straightaway and a very nice waitress came and explained where everything was, told us of the wine special to go together with the buffet, and gave us a bottle of water to start off with, which I thought was a nice touch.

There were basically 3 sections to their buffet – the colds or starters, the hot foods and dessert. My first impression was that the selection wasn’t huge but there were a lot of people that night, so there was a constant flow of food. There were a combination of hits and misses with regards to their food – I started off with soup; it was chicken and noodle soup, doesn’t look that great, but tastes good! It reminds me of the soups that I drink at home, I wanted to go back for more, but knowing me and my small tummy capacity, I didn’t want to waste space. 😛

The salads were alright, nothing to shout about…prawns were fresh and cooked just right.

I liked the roast beef and mashed potato (especially the mash! It was smooth and creamy, very buttery)…

I was a little let down by the other hot foods, the crumbed fish was a little soggy, the cream sauce ravioli was ok and the lamb shanks, whilst it was tender, still had that game-y taste which really didn’t do much for me. I think it was a preference thing though because a couple who sat beside us polished it up clean!

With desserts, they had a range of cakes which tasted pretty good. I just wished I had the tummy space to fit them all in! There was chocolate cake, passionfruit cheesecake, brownies and a selection of fruits. The brownie and the passionfruit cheesecake was a standout I thought and I wouldn’t have minded going for more if I could!

As a whole, the buffet was not too bad, but the food didn’t have a great selection, neither did it have the quality (with misses more than hits!), if only they improved the taste of their foods – I think that the dining experience will be quite pleasant, especially with the view and the delightful waitstaff!

We were also given breakfasts for 2 the next day and I was delighted to find that there was a hot breakfast included as well due to past experiences of being served only continental (cold) breakfast. My plate of hot foods had scrambled eggs (good!), bacon (a bit cold), tomatoes (a bit soggy), mushrooms (I preferred fresh ones), hash browns (excellent! fried to perfection) and sausages (yummy! I think they were chipolatas). Hubby took the fried eggs but complained that they were cold and a bit rubbery. They also had a coffee machine which you could select which type of coffee you wanted and even provided guests with little takeaway cups if you wanted to do that. There was a range of fruit juices and different types of cereal (which I thought wasted space in my tummy and therefore didn’t take any), so I went for the danishes instead. It was yummmy! I wished they were a little bit heated up, then it would have been perfect.

Once again, there were some hits and misses for their breakfast buffet, but overall a positive dining experience because of the atmosphere and the smiling waitresses even at 8 in the morning! I liked Rendezvous Hotel quite a bit – even though it’s a bit older than the flashier hotels in Perth, it’s in a great location with great staff making their guests feel comfortable and well looked after. I would go there again if I had the chance, but I probably wouldn’t dine there, we just might try out the local restaurants in the area…or splurge out at Hippo Creek! 🙂