FOUND. Lab restaurant review: Byford microbrewery a brilliant discovery for fans of craft beer and pub grub

You’d think finding a small brewpub making experimental craft beers in the outer suburbs would be about as likely as spotting a Sizzler in Peppermint Grove. But there it is, glistening, on Lake Alambee — a giant man-made underground pool with frogs, in the heart of misleadingly named housing development The Glades at Byford Estate. FOUND. Lab is not your typical pub, even by inner-city standards. But the 206-capacity microbrewery and restaurant arrived in Byford a few months ago due to an atypical confluence of circumstances. The original designs were far grander. Due to open by the end of this year, FOUND. was planned as a 1000-capacity brewhouse and multi-function venue taking pride of place in the massive redevelopment on the Perth Girls School site in East Perth. Sky-rocketing costs due to COVID and inflation means that the FOUND. team, who have oodles and oodles of experience in the craft brewery and hospo industries, wisely decided to sit on the project, but not their hands. East Perth’s temporary delay is Byford’s gain. Taking over former restaurant and cafe The Strand, FOUND. Lab is terrific. Terrific beers. Terrific pub food. And a pleasing enough vista. I know this is a food review but FOUND.’s not-so-secret weapon is Will Irving, the former Feral brewer responsible for the game-changing Biggie Juice who tread grains, hops, yeast and water during the delay assisting Slumdog Brewing at Feral’s old Swan Valley brewpub, now the Baskerville Tavern. When we visited the Lab on a sunny Sunday afternoon, 10 of Irving’s creations were pouring — six “resident” beers, plus four from his more envelope-shoving “wandering” range. For beer lovers, the best way to work through the taps is to grab a beer paddle — you can have as many or as few 100ml tasters as your heart desires. We got seven (oops!), spanning from a spritzy fruit sour to a mocha-choca nitro dark beer (both core range), plus a couple of excellent hazies and an experimental India pale ale using terpenes found in hemp flowers. Don’t worry, despite The Glades sounding like the sultry locale of Floridian drug runners, (“Get the airboats!”) there are no active CBD or THC compounds in the latter beer. Pity. Anyway, all the beers were superb iterations of styles, albeit each given a decent nudge beyond box-ticking by arguably WA’s best brewer. If your eyes glaze over at the mere mention of Strata hops or the word “dank”, then FOUND. Lab has a decent range of beverages for craft beer agnostics. There are around a dozen wines covering the colour spectrum by the glass, plus cocktails, low and no alcohol options, as well as coffee from Fremantle roastery Pound. Enough of the good libations, let’s chow down. The stars of head chef Trent Wilmot’s menu loaded with classic pub tucker, vegetarian plates and five pizzas, are the huge sandwiches accompanied with French dip. There’s three options: classic, Korean fried chicken and smoked portabello mushroom — all inspired by Los Angeles’ downtown diner Philippe’s, which claims to have invented the decadent sambo. The classic French dip sambo ($28) shoehorned super tender beef, fried shallots and gooey provolone cheese into a crusty baguette, with a pile of fries, pickled guindillo chillis and, of course, the jus dip. As the name suggests, you simply dunk your sandwich in the dip for added flavour and general gluttony. Don’t worry, it’s not a sin to double dip, or triple. Cue: my Homer-style drool, and kudos to Philippe Mathieu for dropping a bread roll in his roast pan more than a century ago. There are plenty of our drool-worthy pub portions at FOUND. Lab — none more so than the buttermilk fried chicken ($18). If you have kids, you may need to order two of this share plate. Our nippers loved the crunchy chicken, without the very spicy mayo and excellent house pickles. The three elements combined added up to perfect beer food. We did try to distract them with the local fish and chips ($32), a huge serve of goldband snapper (caught locally but presumably not in the lake) coated in crispy beer batter and accompanied by a fresh salad of rocket, white fennel, parsley, dill, mint and pickled shallots, plus tartare and lemon. Again, more than you’d expect at an outer suburban pub. The roasted heirloom baby carrots ($15) come with a scoop of whipped goats cheese, drizzled chilli honey and a generous sprinkle of sesame seeds. While the multi-coloured carrots looked tasty, the root veggies were undercooked and too firm. The pepperoni pizza ($23) was excellent from the spicy sausage and creamy stracciatella to the crispy, charred thin base and crust. FOUND. Lab has four different house-made kids’ meals for $12 each, La Poleta icy poles ($4.80 each) and a chocolate hazelnut brownie for sweets. After that feast, we found ourselves wandering around Lake Alambee, mostly to work off some carbs before we embarked on the 40-odd minute drive home. Given the quality of the brews, chews and views, suddenly Byford didn’t seem so far away. FOUND. Lab 1 Olsen Gardens, Byford OPEN Wednesday-Sunday, 11am-late. CONTACT foundlab.au BOOKINGS Yes THE VERDICT Pub food worthy of the delicious brews. Airy and open venue with vistas of the lake or, if you prefer, stainless steel beer tanks. Family and user-friendly microbrewery sure to lure craft connoisseurs while keeping locals more than happy. FOUND. a niche. 16/20