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Paul booked us into Rustico at Hay Shed Hill for lunch to celebrate our 39th anniversary. The on line booking system had a box that could be selected if a dog friendly table was required. We decided to give it a go….

It wasn’t overly warm so, expecting to be outside, we rugged up warm and set off for Rustico at 511 Harmans Mill Road, Wilyabrup, Margaret River. I took charge of Mr Tilly while Paul went inside to find out which of the outside tables was allocated to us.

Paul returned with a look of total surprise – our table was inside in the warm. In we went, passing the doggie treat table, to a fully enclosed patio with ceiling heaters.

We’ve been to dog friendly places before with Mr Tilly, but never before have we been to a place that actually welcomes furry family members so warmly. I briefly spoke to another couple who were there with their fur baby too. They were as pleasantly surprised at the seat allocation as we had been.

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Mr Tilly was thoroughly spoilt with cuddles and treats from two children at a neighbouring table. The jars of doggie treats from the comfort station must have been sorely depleted.

Ok – so Tills was very, very welcome, but what about the food? Rustico is a little different than most places. It has a shared tapas degustation menu. Five courses for $75 per person, and $45 extra for premium wine pairing. We went with the food only and chose our own drinks. Paul had a stout to start with, I chose the Giniversity pink from specialty gin menu. Later Paul had a beer, and I had a glass of Hay Shed Hill bubbles. All very enjoyable.

Now onto the food. Firstly a bowl of mixed olives was served to nibble on while we waited for our first course. I know the menu lists five courses, but each course consists of two seperate plates or boards of tapas, so in actual fact it was more like ten courses. I’ve had tapas many times before, but never like these ones. Each dish was so beautifully cooked and presented that it was closer to fine dining than it was to tapas.

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There’s a vegan menu, and a child’s menu too. I think my grandson and his girlfriend, who are both vegan, would be very happy with the choices on the vegan menu.

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The waitress asked at the end of our meal if we had enjoyed it enough to come back again. Without hesitation the answer was a definite yes. Every course was sensational, there was a good selection of drinks and the two each that we chose didn’t disappoint, the surroundings were awesome, and as far as dog friendly, well I’ve never taken Mr Tilly to more dog friendly place before.

Rustico at Hay Shed Hill – what a pleasure! We’ll definitely go back.