Pub: Bridie O’Reillys Hotel
Where: 29 Sydney rd., Brunswick
Phone: 9387 2600
Date: 16 April 2010
Score: 13.5/20
Internet: brunswickrd.bridieoreillys.com.au

Around 20 years ago, reviewing pubs had all the allure of chowing down on a plate of week old stewed cabbage.

Mark Shield, if my memory serves me correctly (touch of Iron Chef there), took up the considerable challenge of selling Melbourne’s pubs to the wider community in a style so copied today. Simply he was at trailblazer with his no-nonsense, ascerbic, sarcastic, thoroughly entertaining written musings, His knowledge of, and writing of wine was similarly brilliant..

He wrote a book on Melbourne pubs and to this day I remember his review of the Sarah Sands hotel, now trading very successfully as part of the Bridie O’Reillys franchise.

His ratings were based on pots (stars) – More pots, the better. The SSH received none – the only pub. He said ‘worst in Melbourne. Bloke dressed in leather, tough tatts, released a thunderous fart when sitting at the bar. Not for me’.  Mark passed away a decade ago, but not before he saw the gastro pub revolution in Melbourne that he long championed.

The Sarah was a bit of a regular haunt for me back then, mainly for the music, but like so many Brunswick pubs became tired and irrelevant, given what was happening in nearby Fitzroy/Carlton,

Changing its focus, the pub went Irish, and became Bridie O’Reillys Brunswick, one of three in Melbourne. I suspect if you’ve been to one, then the other two follow suit.

Setting aside my prejudice for these types of businesses, I like what I got at BOR’s Brunswick and judging by the lunch crowd, they do too.

What struck me there was none of the overt, in your face, Irish-ness that these pubs trade on. Good. However the authentic Irish colleen behind the jump made the ordering ever so sweeter!!

Instead of the Pogues or Foster and Allen filling the air, a Fleetwood Mac concert provided the backdrop on enetering.

The grand old pub on the corner of Sydney and Brunswick Rds is neatly decked out in the clubs magenta and black colours. The beer garden, visible to all, is enclosed and many a Friday night is full no matter the weather.

Inside there is the heavily wooded walls, leather couches, snugs (quiet corners) with enough bric-a-brac affirming heritage but not over-doing the diddly.

Beer was good – cider on tap refreshed – and it could pass for a neat suburban pub that doesn’t theme.

Food and wine was fairly priced and my barometer for pub pricing – Pepperjack Shiraz cost $30. Bargain.

Tried was;

• All day Irish breakfast - $16.90. On the plate was a pork and leek sausage (excellent), black pudding, sautéed mushroom, grilled tomato, eggs and a roll. It was very taste and filling, good buying

• Veal Scallopini - $18.90 – mushrooms, mash, vegetables. – Again a good pub dish

• Chicken Scallopini – 22.90 – sweet potato mash, corn, tomato – it came as a recommendation from the bar and was neatly done.

While the menu is set across their three venues, the local kitchen is allowed some latitude and top of the wozza was the 200g Eye Fillet, vegetable risotto and broccoli at $29.

The sheer size of the old Sarah means that the small tavern feel cannot be replicated in spite of best efforts to create the vibe. But to me, I think they pull it off with a personal, friendly approach and achieve the revitalisation of this near dormant pub.

And that is the case with most of the pubs in Brunswick which now realise that their proximity to town is an asset to be exploited to the fullest.

On leaving I heard the un-Irish ‘Oasis’ belt out their classic ‘Don’t look back in anger’ and wondered if I even heard anything from, say U2, in the previous 2 hours.

Bridie O’Reillys in Brunswick is well worth a visit.

Tony's Pub Of The Week 2010

Tony Leonard is back again this year providing readers with reviews from all the pubs he visits on the Neil Mitchell program every Friday after 11:30am. Your home for all of the reviews - 3AW.com.au/pub2010. View all the reviews by clicking on Tony's image on the right.