Pub:          Gertrude Hotel   
Where:     148 Gertrude St., Fitzroy
Phone:        9419 2823
Date:         12  November 2010
Score:         15.2/20
internet:    www.thegertrudehotel.com.au

It is difficult after 16 years of talking about Melbourne and Victoria’s (mostly) fabulous pubs, to not run similar themes through a review.

Today, I am compelled to re-iterate the…”first 15 seconds” theory, which in its most un-scientific terms is a left/right side of the brain conversation on whether you want to be somewhere foreign.  Today my target is the Gertrude hotel.

First up, I see a table of women, having lunch in the front bar.  My guess is that they are local workers who feel comfortable here.  Big start.

Second, service is prompt, but not overbearing.  Beer is poured and it is excellent.  I ask some daft questions about the pub, remembering it to be the Renown some years ago. I am engaged in a pleasant conversation with the barman.

The lighting is low key  (even greater effect on a stormy day), basic pub carpet, bare wooden tables.  It could have been totally transformed to reflect a modern Fitzroy, but hasn’t. Cosy, warm, inviting are three adjectives that spring to mind.

Before walking into the dining room – set on a slightly higher split level to the bar - my 15 second rhetorical question is answered emphatically in the affirmative.   The Gertrude has won me already.

In its beautiful understated manner, water, bread, butter, is brought;  menus are presented.  The choices do not overwhelm, and are limited to 5 (or so) entrees and mains, supported by a couple of blackboard specials.  They make for different reading but do not intimidate.

The background music is going at a perfect level and even then I am asked if I want it turned down.  I tap the mat 3 times confirming euphoric submission.  Stop it!!

The temptation is to label the Gertrude a “gastro’ pub.  It isn’t by a long way.  It serves smart, snazzy pub food, in the right setting, at real value for money, with the right mix of hospitality.  The Gertrude is the acme of why our pubs are so envied.

I see a beautiful beef pie, mash, gravy ($18) go to a table and I want it.  Fully encased in pastry it looks wonderful. Increasingly I take the view that if the kitchen is happy to go that level (rather than the facile stew in ramekin with pastry on top) then it is a lock that all the food will be at a sharper end of the chain.

Tried was;

•    Onion tart, with anchovy and olive slivers - $11.  Sweetness of the onion coupled with saltiness of the other ingredients, the pissladiere made for a beautiful rich share.  If I knew what ying and yang meant!!....

•    Asparagus risotto, house cured bacon and chervil - $20.  Of all pub dishes that are so woefully reproduced, risotto is the Bradman of them all.  Not here, Creamy, moist and tasty, the hero of the dish – the rice - is cooked to perfection, achieving the perfect balance of crunch and give.

•    Pasta of the day - $18.  Pappardelle, with baked ricotta, peas, pancetta, mint shattered the usual list suspects of bol, carb, lasag. etc.  Housed made, the thick pasta ribbons were again a fine representation of the kitchen; the mint providing the freshness.  Interesting, but successful mix.

•    Tscharke’s  “Girls Talk”  Savagnin.  $38.  Not familiar with this grape, but a drier , golden version of SavB.  Fairly priced, great drinking, another point of difference with The Gertrude.

Like many of its inner suburban brothers and sisters, there are no Pokies/TAB to support the bottom line, but somehow they would be out of place here.  

And here’s the clincher – in an area laced with competition for the leisure dollar, simple, basic, rules of hospitality provided make you want to barrack for the pub’s (and owners) success.

Table cleared of crumbs before the mains, music at a sensible level, smiling attentive staff – it just might catch on.

Review: Young and Jacksons

"It is comfortable and comforting, old world, iconic, but above all, it is one of Melbourne’s most identifiable landmarks."