Venue: London Tavern Hotel
Where: 414 Hawthorn rd., Caulfield South
Phone: 9528 3855
Date: 11 September 2009
Score: 13.5

In the not too distant past, there was a time that pub rock in Australia was king and on any given night, from Martinis in Carlton to the Manhattan in Ringwood to the Tarmac in Laverton, you could see the best in Australian music belt it out some 2 or 3 feet from your face.

The choice was plentiful; inner suburban heroes like ‘The Sports’ or ‘The Falcons. ‘Midnight Oil’ or ‘The Angels’ were slaying them out in the barns in the ‘burbs and it was a grand time, mostly knocked over by 1am.

But today’s POTW, The London Tavern, in down town, quiet, urbane, Caulfield South more than held its own, yet was really an anomaly on the live landscape.

Head in and imagine that instead of the Dapto dogs filling the air, it was ‘April Sun In Cuba’, with the late Marc Hunter belting out this aussie/nz classic.

Times pass and thankfully the music scene, after years of relative inactivity, has slowly arisen, although the heights of the late 70s-early 80s are never to return.

The LTH befits the area, and is a clean, well run pub, with many of the patrons taking block at their favourite spot in the sports bar as they have time and again.

TAB, pokies and bistro are all separate, and much credit must given to the extensive, real meals fairly priced, on offer in the bar, e.,g  sausages, parmas, fish and chips, steaks, all ranging from $9-14.  

An absolute tick is the daily special, knocked out at the ridiculously low price of $6.95 (chicken curry and rice was the offer when I visited).

Into the 100 seater bistro and the galley is making a real effort to break the perception of ‘pokies tucker’ with some nice offerings above the run of the mill.  

The LTH motto of great pub meals is evidenced by, say, bangers and mash @ $16.50, lambs fry, bacon @16.90, or ramp it up with marinated pork chops, Asian greens at $23, or veal masala  at $23.90.

Ok, you know what you are going to get, but I liked the attitude of everyone at the pub, best exemplified by the beer – a simple, but somewhat neglected foodstuff.  At the LTH, the taste was clean, and the glasses properly treated.

Tried was;

-  Thai fishcakes, rice, coriander chilli coconut dipping sauce at $11.50e.  4 in number, tasty and hot, a good starter,
-  Veal parmagiana, chips and salad - $20.90.  Not only the real McCoy veal, but a genuinely tasty kitchen made Napoli sauce elevating to one of the better tried in recent times,
-  ½ chicken, marinated in plum sauce ($20), C&S.  Plump, moist bird, not usually associated with plum, but it came together neatly,
-  Oyster Bay Sav Blanc at $25.  This was a very fair price, a level not normally seen in pub or restaurants for one of the most popular table wines
Two things that all pubs should rememeber – heat of chips  (OK here, but maybe a tad hotter) and run of the mill salads (theirs could have been one of any).  C’mon, aim higher boys and girls.

Even though the LTH has a captive ‘pub’ audience , the nearest to my reckoning is the Rosstown on Dandenong Rd., it has to elevate itself to make a competitive and appealing offer given the multitude of choice and to that end, it does it easily when compared to many who have pokies.

Normally bottle shops don’t come into calculation, but it would be remiss to not mention theirs; beautifully set out, multitude of choices and priced competitively again.  It is worth a more than a passing mention!

Before I leave, I (boringly) regale a staff member with tales of music past when the LTH was a big hitter in the live scene. With an air of resigned irony, she says nothing as exciting as that happens around here now.

I suspect that’s the way the pub, and locals, want it.

3AW Pub Of The Week 2009

3AW Pub Of The Week is back - and better than ever - on 3AW.com.au. Take the tour through Victoria's best and worst pubs with our expert, Tony Leonard. Click on the image on the right to be taken to the home page for Pub Of The Week.