Four Mid-Week Pub Lunches to Get You Through Hump Day in Perth

Slip into the majestic, heritage-listed Guildford Hotel at lunch hour to linger over a plate of slow-cooked, gently smoked, beside-itself-with-flavour Butterfields beef brisket with miso and Texan rub, served at exactly 75 degrees, alongside braised red cabbage, miso mash and pickles. Yep, it’s the kind of feed that’ll give you the bounce you need to make it through to the weekend. If beef’s not your thing, swap it for sticky Albany pork butt with Carolina sauce, bratwurst sausage with beer mustard, lamb ribs with sticky Asian barbecue or half a chicken with blackening spices and pineapple hot sauce butter. Lunching with colleagues or mates? Order an entire kilo to share. Built in 1886 then gutted by fire in 2008, the Guildford, which lies 13 kilometres northwest of the Perth CBD, reopened in 2016 following a major revamp including a new open plan, exposed brickwork, polished timber floors, brass fittings and 19th-century furnishings.

If there’s one surefire way to get through hump day, it’s by digging into a damn good burger. Tuck into the barbecue beef brisket burger at the Stables Bar, and you’ll know exactly what we mean. This mighty creation comes crowded with smoked bacon, American cheese, mustard, pickles, mayo, tomato and cos. Visiting on a Thursday? Nab it and a schooner of Heineken 3 for just 20 bucks. Alternatively, between 11.30 and 2.30pm, Monday to Wednesday, substitute the burger for whatever’s available on the Love Your Lunch menu, and you’ll spend just $15. For pretty views of the Perth skyline among splashes of greenery, find a table on the balcony. There’s also a fireplace to keep you warm in the winter.

Another spot where the Mediterranean has had a big impact on what you’ll be eating for lunch is the Resident Bar in Nedlands. The menu is all about share plates, so take a friend if you can — or a massive appetite. Start with pan-seared scallops, cauliflower puree, goji berry vinaigrette and herbs before moving on to baked snapper with prawns, quinoa, olives, lemon, sweet potato, chilli and zesty leaves. Wherever you eat in the venue, the whiter than white interiors, high ceilings and enormous spaces will make you feel like you’re a long way from the boss’s orders. If you’re in need of fresh air, claim a table on the outside terrace or in the beer garden, where you’ll have a magnificent boab tree for company.

When you need a good ol’ pub classic, but one made with super-fresh ingredients and a creative touch, there’s the Brisbane. A generous serving of pork belly comes with pumpkin, smoked almonds, burnt butter and spring onions, while chicken parma is reinvented as crumbed chicken with pancetta, capers and sage. There are also pizzas, pastas and share plates, such as buttermilk fried chicken with kewpie mayo and pickles. Perched on the corner of Brisbane and Beaufort streets, just opposite Birdwood Square, the Brisbane was built in 1898 and scored a massive revamp in 2004. It added an idyllic tropical beer garden filled with palms, ferns and shady trees where you can soak up a decent dose of sunshine. Here, you can savour a beer and celebrate making it through 50 percent of the working week.