We visit The Merrywell regularly – in fact we’ve visited the Crown gastropub more times than I care to remember since it opened in 2012. We keep going back time and again as we love the outdoor area on a sunny afternoon and we’ve always found the food consistently good. The Merrywell is a stark contrast to the dingy Paddy Hannans from years ago! It is incredibly popular and more often than not, we choose to dine a little earlier, just to make sure we get a good table in the beer garden.
The term “Gastropub” isn’t really used very much in Perth – it’s most widely used in the UK. In the early 90s the first gastro pub popped up in London. It was a new concept, where the focus was also on a restaurant within the pub. The standard of food was much higher than the traditional “pub grub” of bangers & mash and a ploughman’s lunch. The phenomenon caught on and now there are thousands around the world. Even Heston Blumenthal runs a few gastropubs – like The Hinds Head in Bray (UK) where we visited last year. The Merrywell’s menu is very casual and modelled on American “dude” food. In other words it’s JUNK FOOD, done very very well! Nobody does junk food better than the good ol’ U S of A. On the menu you can find such Yankee doodle delicacies like… burgers made from doughnuts (yes really!), the deep fried wonder that is mac n cheese bites, buffalo wings with blue cheese dipping sauce to die for and duck slopy joes! 
We both felt like burgers. I scoffed the The Merrywell Angus Burger ($26). This was stuffed with sharp aged Cheddar, Bacon, a Secret Sauce and Caramelised onion. I decided to go “Aussie Style” for an extra few bucks, as I’m rather partial to Pineapple and Beetroot on my burgers. The fries were deliciously crunchy. The burger paddy itself was cooked medium-rare. It was pink in the middle and super juicy! Though to be fair we didn’t really need sides, we couldn’t resist…
We also love that kids are welcome at the Merrywell – there is a good kids menu and they provide some colouring paper & pencils too. The Merrywell never disappoints us. The vibe is great. The service is good (though it’s mostly self-service). We enjoyed our lunch and almost went into a deep fried, salty coma – but that’s what dude food is all about; Delicious, brash, comfort food.