Review: Rose Hotel
Pub: Rose Hotel
Where: 406 Napier St., Fitzroy
Phone: 9417 3626
Date: 3 December 2010
Score: 13.9/20
Internet: n/a
The headlines in the little paper caused me to stop, gather my breath and have a closer inspection:
“PUBS BAN SUITS”
Be assured, someone wearing a Delmonte – Looks good, feels good, is good - number that the late and great Hal Todd advertised around 3 in the morning – and nearing its 30th birthday, would have the red carpet rolled out the way things are at the moment by publicans.
Closer inspection revealed that it is 4 prominent city BARS had issued the take the tie off or else edict, with the tone being come in casual; you’re scarring off the natives.
Two things from this;
- A pub IS NOT a bar (where have you heard that this year?!)
- These businesses must be low flying as the word I’m hearing is that the discretionary spend, in pubs, has plateaued at best, and on the decline in many instances. Good luck to them anyway.
If today’s pub of the week had a motto, it invokes the spirit of Kurt Cobain and come as you are and it’s a good way to bookend the year with the Rose in Fitzroy, having started off at the Mona in Seddon.
Day or night, it is the quintessential extended home away from home, and three years from my last visit, the friendly vibe remains intact, the food and drink prices still offering real value, and the beer is served cold, fresh and in 7oz glasses Yay.
I like the nook/cranny layout of the pub, highlighted by a glorious horseshoe bar, the exposed brick walls adding a layer of comfort, and the pub boats as authentic old time “ladies lounge” as you are likely to see.
Meals run all day, every day, midday to 10pm. About $21-2 is the maximum – on the day lamb rump, cous cous, sun dried tomatoes, but most meals fall squarely in the mid teens and can be ordered in two sizes – small (and they’re not) and large (which they are).
Sausages and mash - $13/15, meatloaf $14/17, roast of the day, with veg, $14/16 and so it goes. The usual suspect of pastas/lasagne will set you back a similar price.
One of the specials was Pork Belly, Spring Onion Mash and apple. $21. The meal came as two very large wedges and the meat was moist, filling, tasty, the only slight drawback being the crackling, more chewy than crunchy. As it is cooked in one large piece (with minimal re-heating) that can happen but the meat was luscious.
Also tried was the Chicken Burger, with the lot (cheese, bacon, tomato, avocado) and chips $12. Slightly different take, with the chicken being seasoned and the fillet cut into small bite sized pieces. Very good pub snack food.
The generosity of spirit extends to their wine list. Most are priced in the mid $20s with one or two over the $30 mark.
Pepperjack, the barometer for all wine pricing in pubs was $32. That’s ok by me. Shared was a bottle of Squealing Pig Sav B at $26. This is popular, inoffensive drinking and at that price was real value.
The Rose, like the few remaining of its type, won’t be seen in any good food guides, vying for a chef’s hat. But you need to look beyond the well worn façade of the pub to see its real soul revealed.
It is run by Tony and Georgia, husband and wife. While the horses go quietly on in the background there is no TAB, no Pokies. Their bottomline is determined on how they deliver their hospitality and in these fickle times, the rooster/featherduster cliché is apt. To re-iterate, they run the kitchen for 10 hours solid, daily.
The regulars are there, either out on the footpath or at one of benches or in the ‘ladies lounge’, but it home to so many in this anonymous part of the inner north.
Find it without the SatNav.
It is a good way to finish 2010, and like visiting a much loved aunt or uncle, the feelgood factor can’t be measured.
Postscrpt:
The 16th pub of the year is announced on Neil’s program on 10 December. Many thanks to those who emailed (I did get back to you) and the bloggers (just getting around to it, sorry).
Many thanks again to Vince and Peter from the Melbourne office of DeBortoli who have stuck with the segment in excess of 20 years.
Finally, Many, Many thanks to Ben Wise, our tireless webmaster who gets all of this into the ether somehow. Much appreciated mate.
