Pub: Kent Hotel
Where: 370 Rathdowne St., Nth Carlton  
Phone: 9347 5672
Date: 27 August 2010
Score: 14.8/20
Internet: www.kenthotel.com.au

Here’s one for starters today.

Would you ever design your home so that your shower is exposed to the passers-by  so that they can make an assessment on your personal hygiene?

Answer:  No (unless your favourite holiday destination is Maslins Beach)

Would you allow unfettered access to the wider world by designing your bedroom with Perspex walls so that any Tom, Dick etc., can observe your nocturnal habits as they walk their labradoodle at 11pm?

Answer:  Of course not, unless you work for Captain Snooze and are quite happy to show off their latest quilt.

Would you be happy to eat on a footpath, along with a clutch of strangers so anyone passing by can make a 15 second assessment about you, based on the plate in front of you?  Worse still, comment on how badly you have ordered?

Answer:  No, don’t be silly, unless of course you answered yes to the first 2 questions.

But hold on.  What if I said getting a table in front of the wonderful Kent Hotel was Melbourne’s best outside dining (IMHO), with the best footpath in Melbourne for that purpose, and the park over the road in Curtin square provided the tranquil backdrop?

Then hop aboard (wait for warmer weather if you like outside) and enjoy some of Melbourne’s best pub grub, served with a friendly professionalism in a hotel/bistro that gets better with age.

The pub is essentially two rooms, without any significant differentiation, common menu for both and the attentive table service is a plus.

Word of warning.   If you are thinking of forming a posse and having a quick round at the bar while discussing the overblown importance of independents in the Australian parliament before dining, you may be disappointed.  

While there is enough “pubiness’ about the Kent, the tables back up pretty much to the bar and space is limited.

However the beer is very good, well maintained and had a cleansing taste.  The offerings from the taps don’t deviate from a standard commercial line.

The menu is an interesting read with the chalkboard specials supporting the standard menu, which is heavily slanted Italian.  If you like your wine, then there is substantial reading also.  If you fancy “brunch’ all matters egg, bacon and sausage are available.

The pizza ($19) on the specials board comprised, roast lamb, goats cheese, Spanish onion, fresh tomato.  An excellent base, great toppings, although I felt the lamb was more by-stander than hero.  Still, a wonderful start.

I love fish and chips.  The house F&C’s cost $22, had two glorious, hot, fleshy tubes of Rockling, shoestring fries  (starting to bob up too), tartare with a simple green salad, drizzled with a neat vinaigrette.

All the while, the pub buzzed comfortably on this coolish Thursday afternoon and without any bells or whistles, had created an extra layer of comfort.

From the specials board was a Lamb Shank Pie ($24), with mash and pan-fried Brussels sprouts.  A fully encased, YES!!, pie, atop a pool of its own juices, crunchy sprouts – what a way to enjoy a winter’s day.

A message to all kitchens – more pies, not a piece of pampas on top of a stew in a ramekin.  It’s easy, surely.  Please.

Kangarilla Road CabSav from McLaren Vale ($40) was the choice.  Priced near enough to the mark, it made for easy, safe drinking.  The options for wine are plentiful, confirming to me that it bistro first, pub second

Leaving the Kent, I look at the tables, still untouched as the Curtin Square garden braves itself against the chill.  I think of the Hazy Shade of Winter that the Bangles sang about, without the patch of snow on the ground.

 Soon enough, diners aplenty will prefer outside to in, oblivious to the passers by peering at the plates.

Three pubs in august reviewed, three rippers, all with significant points of difference.  

The Kent confirms on thing to me – pub life in Melbourne has no peer in Australia.