Where is Melbourne’s best pub? Find out tomorrow. Source: News Limited
SNEAK PEEK: FROM a pot and parma in the front bar to a gourmet meal in the dining room, Melbourne’s best pubs have long punched above their weight.
But a new wave of watering holes has redefined the boozer and our pub scene is now a punter’s paradise.
Fancy a banh mi in the beer garden? Sure. Want dozens of rotating craft beers on tap? Done. How about a big name chef in the kitchen? Oh, we’re all over that.
So pull up a pew, grab a bevy and tuck into our guide to Melbourne’s 25 best pubs - the teaser edition.
>CHECK BACK TOMORROW FOR THE FULL LIST OF 25 BEST PUBS IN MELBOURNE<
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INDUSTRY FAV: Andrew McConnell and business partners at the Builders Arms Hotel in Fitzroy. Source: News Corp Australia
BUILDERS ARMS HOTEL - Industry-voted Best Pub
211 Gertrude St, Fitzroy. Ph: 9417 7700
Twitter @BuildersArmsHtl
SINCE 1853 it’s been everything from an Aboriginal meeting place to gay disco, but first and foremost the Builders Arms has always been a public house. And that’s something its current custodians (pictured from left) ‒ Andrew McConnell, Anthony Hammond and Josh Murphy — have been at pains to ensure remains true to this day. After stripping back the layers its many prior owners added over the years, they reopened the Builders Arms in 2012 to welcome everyone, day through night. Whether it’s a burger and a pot of Carlton in the front bar, the famous fish pie (top right) and a glass of something crisp and clever in the bistro, or the daily rotisserie in the garden, there’s something to suit all moods and occasions. It’s this offering of great, well-priced food teamed with effortlesslyinteresting things to drink — either by the bottle or from the tap — all served in a stylish yet welcoming space, that has won this incarnation of the Builders countless fans. Though it was never created to impress the industry, impress it clearly has. We asked 50 of Melbourne’s leading chefs, bartenders, managers, restaurateurs and other industry people to nominate their top five pubs and The Builders was Melbourne’s Best Pub as voted by its peers. DS
Pot of Carlton draught: $5
Price of pork schnitzel: $19
Most popular meal: Fish pie
Most popular drink: Carlton draught
Note: Weekend asked 50 of Melbourne’s leading hospitality professionals - chefs, bartenders, managers, restaurantuers and other industry people - to nominate their top five pubs. The Builders Arms was hands-down favourite. So we’ve dubbed it the ‘Industry Favourite’.
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GREAT NORTHERN - Great Beer
644 Rathdowne St, North Carlton. Ph: 9380 9569
Twitter: @GNH_Carlton
FANTASTIC beers, a cracking garden to enjoy them in, honest food that’s hearty and well-priced — no wonder the Great Northern has been wowing the crowds for more than 140 years. Add a dog-friendly policy and you have a warmly comfortable space that’s as welcoming to blow-ins as it is to regulars. With 20 craft beers and cider taps there’s a brew or two that’s bound to appeal, whether something local (2 Brothers “Taxi” pilsner) or from afar (Brooklyn Blast IPA from the US). With sport on the screen in the front bar, an old-school dining room that’s charming and timeless and a pool table (of course) along with that fabulous beer garden, the Great Northern does a good job of encompassing all that makes a pub truly great. DS
Pot of Carlton draught: $4.70
Price of parma: $20
Most popular meal: 2 Brothers pilsner-battered fish and chips
Most popular drink: Stone and Wood pacific ale
CHECK BACK TOMORROW FOR THE FULL LIST OF MELBOURNE’S 25 BEST PUBS
The Great Northern in Carlton. Source: News Corp Australia
WAYSIDE INN - Great steak
446 City Rd, Southbank. Ph: 9682 9119
Twitter: @Wayside_Inn
SOME pubs are bars first, dining rooms second. The Wayside Inn is the other way round. By all means, enjoy a counter lunch at its convivial front bar. The oysters are shucked to order and the burger is a beauty. But the Wayside — companion to Footscray’s equally impressive Station Hotel — has so much more to offer: sensational seafood, seriously good steaks grilled over red gum, and a French-made rotisserie that burnishes everything it touches, from organic lamb to suckling pig. Gloriously plump free-range chicken is always on rotation here and ingeniously partnered with smoky bacon, brown mushrooms and buttery mash ($38). “Good honest food” is how executive chef Sean Donovan describes the Wayside’s value-for-money fare. High-calibre cooking is how we’d put it. SP
Price of a pot: $5.50, Mountain Goat steam ale
Price of a parma: n/a
Most popular meal: Chicken, mash, mushrooms, bacon
Most popular drink: Two Hands McLaren Vale shiraz
The Rose in Fitzroy. Source: News Corp Australia
THE ROSE - Local hero
406 Napier St, Fitzroy. Ph: 9417 5626
http://ift.tt/1bQmFrz
“DO not mess with The Rose” was the loud-and-clear message from Fitzroy when the beloved footy pub went up for sale in 2012. Developers circled but the day was won by a well-meaning local, Michael Quinn, who faithfully promised to maintain The Rose in all its dingy glory. He’s stayed true to his word, tweaking the wine and food offering, and adding a few more craft beers to make it “a little nicer’’. Like other favourite Fitzroy stalwarts The Napier and The Standard, tucked away in the backstreets, The Rose has resisted gentrification. Quinn says he is acutely conscious of displacing the residents of old Fitzroy, and so downstairs, the pub remains intact. But upstairs, there is change afoot. The second storey opened before Christmas, including a swish bar overlooking leafy Rose Street and a rooftop beer terrace. And behind the scenes,
a new kitchen is nearly finished for chef Sam Pinzone (ex-Rockpool). But even the up-market upstairs section stays true to the pub’s footy roots, with a 75-inch screen in pride of place. “We are The Rose,’’ Quinn says. “And now we’re The Rose upstairs.’’ AB
Pot of Carlton draught: $4.30
Price of a parma: $17, veal or chicken
Most popular meal: Roast of the day
Most popular drink: Carlton or Coopers
BRIDGE HOTEL - Local hero
642 Bridge Rd, Richmond. Ph: 9429 5734
Twitter: @Bridge_Hotel
THE Sand Hill Road boys — brothers Andy and Matt Mullins, Doug Maskiell and Tom Birch — have a formula with their venues: they run pubs where locals come first, comfort is king, cold beer flows and there’s footy on the screens. That’s not to say their venues are formulaic, far from it — the Prahran and the Richmond Club are sisters in name only — but they know what works. The Bridge, with its many different spaces that even include a laneway down the middle, is as good looking as it is laid-back. Proudly a Carlton draught pub (with support from the Mountain Goat boys down the road), the kitchen serves big serves of honest staples good for sopping up the booze (the $13 parma or steak every Tuesday and Wednesday rightly packs them in, as does the $19 Sunday roast). And at 5pm on Fridays at each of their pubs, a keg of Carlton draught is tapped and you decide how much you pay for each pot until the keg runs dry. Proceeds from these Karma Kegs go to charity, so you can drink and feel good about it, too, and there’s lots to love about that. DS
Price of a pot: $4.50, Carlton draught
Price of a parma: $21
Most popular meal: Summer salad
Most popular drink: Carlton draught
The Bridge Hotel in Richmond. Source: Supplied
THE PARK HOTEL - Great beer
12 Watton St, Werribee. Ph: 9741 1441
Twitter: @theparkbeer
WERRIBEE’S Park Hotel has transformed a dingy eyesore on the main street into a polished gem that is quickly becoming the western suburb’s new favourite drinking hole. But be warned — it might take you quite some time to decide just what to drink. With more than 240 craft beers and ciders on the menu as well as 14 beers and two ciders on tap, which change regularly, drinkers are spoiled for choice. You won’t find the big brands here — it’s the smaller artisan producers that feature on the drinks list — and the knowledgeable staff will help you choose your tipple. The Park Hotel is also gaining a reputation for great food with a menu of creatively refined pub standards with a modern twist and the delicious pizzas are topped with flavour combinations you’re unlikely to find anywhere else. Pork belly and ginger scallop with hoisin, shallot and chilli jam pizza, anyone? Within a year of opening, the eatery and beer hall won the best beer list in Australia award from Beer & Brewers Magazine and was a finalist in last year’s AHA National Awards for excellence. MP
Price of a pot: $4, Stone and Wood lager
Price of a parma: $22
Most popular meal: Steak sliders
Most popular drink: Stone and Wood
CHECK BACK TOMORROW FOR THE FULL LIST OF MELBOURNE’S 25 BEST PUBS
YARRA HOTEL – Live music
295 Johnston St, Abbotsford. Ph: 9417 0005
Twitter: @YarraHotel
THOUGH it’s just a drop punt from Victoria Park and has had a few ex-player owners over its 160-odd years, the Yarra doesn’t wear its colours on its sleeve — unless of course that (tattooed) sleeve is attached to a muso and a guitar. Its current owners took over the pub last year and include musician Mick Thomas (ex-Weddings, Parties, Anything) and publicans Guy Lawson (Napier in Fitzroy), brothers Gav and Glen Perriam (Fitzroy’s Union Club) and Greg “Clanger” Kleynjans (Adelaide’s Grace Emily). They’ve created an old-school boozer where the emphasis might be on (good) beer and (better) bands, but with a bewt beer garden and a cosy red-wallpapered dining room, there’s space here for all. The menu covers the classics, the bar is built for perching at, and the live music means good times are great times and a quiet night at the pub often becomes anything but. DS
Price of a pot: $4.40, Carlton draught
Price of a parma: $22
Most popular meal: Yarra burger
Most popular drink:
Collingwood draught
The Grace Darling in Collingwood. Source: News Corp Australia
GRACE DARLING - Great food
114 Smith St, Collingwood. Ph: 9416 0055
Twitter: @TheGraceDarling
A CHICKEN parma revolution has quietly taken place at the Grace Darling, where new chef Raymond Larkins (pictured) has turned the classic dish inside out. He’s serving up a roast baby chook stuffed with all the goodies you would usually find on the outside. Controversial? Oh yes. Popular? It’s a hit. Larkins says the Grace was headed for gastropub territory, but he has deliberately pared the menu back, mixing a few new, innovative dishes with the classics. “There are so many good restaurants around Smith St. Why would you compete?’’ he asks. Owner Maurice Manno agrees. “We’re just a rocking public house with good food,’’ he says. The local bohemian community rolls in for one of Melbourne’s most generous happy hours (4-7pm on weekdays) soaking up half-price Coopers pale and the ambience of the heritage-listed venue where the Collingwood Football Club was formed (don’t hold it against the pub). AB
Pot of Coopers pale: $5
Price of a parma: $24
Most popular meal: Inside out chicken parma
Popular drink: Coopers pale (especially during happy hour)
RAILWAY CLUB HOTEL - Great steak
107 Raglan St, Port Melbourne. Ph: 9645 1661
Twitter: @RailwayClubHotel
ON track for dinner at the Railway Club Hotel, some people are dreaming of chilli mussels, tiger prawns and King George whiting ... but not many. Most visitors to this welcoming pub in a sleepy corner of “North Port” want steak. Great steak. And Railway chief Jon Woolley (who also manages O’Connell’s in South Melbourne) rewards his carnivorous customers with beautifully chargrilled beef from Tasmania’s Cape Grim. Rump and rib eye, porterhouse and eye fillet ... every cut is displayed in the Railway’s comfortable hacienda-style grill room and you’re encouraged to pick out your preferred slab of purple protein. Our 800 grams of medium-rare rib eye ($68), in a red wine jus, is “sliced to share” and comes with monster-sized onion rings, roasted field mushrooms and hand-cut chips. A big glass of shiraz — there’s plenty to choose from — seals the deal. Climb aboard. SP
Price of a pot: $4.90, Carlton draught
Price of a parma: Veal parmigiana
Most popular meal: 250g eye fillet with hand-cut chips
Most popular drink: Stone & Wood Pacific Ale
CHECK BACK TOMORROW FOR THE FULL LIST OF MELBOURNE’S 25 BEST PUBS
The Maori Chief in South Melbourne. Source: HeraldSun
MAORI CHIEF HOTEL - Rooftop bar
117 Moray St, South Melbourne. Ph: 9696 5363
http://ift.tt/1bQmGMa
LOCAL lore has it that South Melbourne’s Moray St was supposed to be Maori St, but an unfortunate spelling error put an end to that. Fortunately, the Maori Chief pub pays tribute to the Kiwi contingent past and present. “When the All Blacks play you can’t move in here,’’ says barman Andy Dunn, who was a customer for 12 years before taking up residence behind the bar. “I had to pay back my tab,’’ he jokes, but Dunn, like many locals, has genuine affection for this historic pub that is blessedly free of pokies and betting. In a suburb where many pubs don’t deign to serve Carlton, the Chief sells plenty of it, in addition to three kinds of Mountain Goat on tap. They don’t make ’em like this any more, so it’s great to see such a historic building in near-original nick. The only concession to modernity is a rooftop beer garden, with a bird’s-eye view of the city, courtesy of Melbourne’s mania for outdoor drinking. AB
Pot of Carlton draught: $4.20
Price of a parma: $21
Most popular meal: Chief burger chilli parma
Most popular drink: Pot of Carlton
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