REVIEW: Yorkshire Stingo Hotel
Venue: Yorkshire Stingo Hotel
Where: 48 Hoddle St., Abbotsford
Phone: 9417 3088
Date: 26 June 2009
Score: 13
I’ll go a topsy-turvy with the review today, and unlike ‘The Sound of Music’, I’ll start at the end, a very good place to start.
Without apology, I am barracking for the new owner, Allison, to have a successful career at the Yorkshire Stingo and in the greatest ‘fair dinkum aussie tradition of supporting the underdog’, then this is your cause for 2009.
First the background. This pub has had a roller-coaster reputation of being a big-hitter in the area, to one of a succession of operators who, for whatever reason, can’t seem to recapture its former magic.
Whether it be a stronghold for the magpie faithful, or those who love to watch “drag shows/lucky spinning wheels etc’, not too many ideas haven’t been explored to resurrect it.
Don’t know Allison’s surname, but I know her mentors, Peter and Hayley Giemza.
Peter had had a midas touch with pubs, taking them from basket cases, and turning them into profitable, well-run businesses. From the Blarney Stone in Port Melbourne to St.Kilda (The Newmarket), Palmerston Sth Melbourne, to name but a few, somehow he makes them work.
Now it is a protégé’s turn and it is high risk. Lease, rent, running costs are one thing; working from virtually a nil customer base is another.
The pub itself remains faithful to years past. Cosy front bar, large dining room, fireplace, TAB (no pokies), and the first thing to hang the hat on is affordable, value for money food.
Proudly, the Stingo champions ten for a tenner. Ten, fully plated, proper bar meals (no nachos, satays etc) in either dining room or front bar.
Spicy meat balls, bangers/mash, arancini, pie of the day (chicken and vegetable was the offer), curry of the day. Call it a throwback to an era past, but you know you are getting a bargain. For sure, it won’t appear in Gourmet Traveller or Epicure, but you will be satisfied with the purchase.
Top of the board is the 300g porterhouse, vegetables or C&S with a sauce for $19.90
Beer is excellent, clean finish, which I know sounds easy, but doesn’t always materialise. She has learned the basics well.
Tried was;
• Tuna Patties, mash, and vegetables - $10. Knocked over easily, popular too with some of the other diners given the plates going out,
• Beef vindaloo, rice, pappadam - $10. Had a neat kick, not overly brutal , but a nice hummm. Very fair price for a bar meal,
• Vasse Felix Classic Dry White @ $29. A staple of the oz wine industry, without an outrageous mark-up (have seen it at $44 in a pub this year). Again a reflection of what she is trying to achieve.
Anyway the fairytale is that she turns the business into a thriving centre of the community and soon after years of toil she gets an offer she can’t refuse.
If only it was that easy. To be fair, there is a way to go. Long, long hours and after 12 months, the build –up is slow, but at least it is on an upward scale.
And it will continue so, with a generosity of spirit and an old fashioned welcome. I hope she is gunning it in 12 months time.
Where: 48 Hoddle St., Abbotsford
Phone: 9417 3088
Date: 26 June 2009
Score: 13
I’ll go a topsy-turvy with the review today, and unlike ‘The Sound of Music’, I’ll start at the end, a very good place to start.
Without apology, I am barracking for the new owner, Allison, to have a successful career at the Yorkshire Stingo and in the greatest ‘fair dinkum aussie tradition of supporting the underdog’, then this is your cause for 2009.
First the background. This pub has had a roller-coaster reputation of being a big-hitter in the area, to one of a succession of operators who, for whatever reason, can’t seem to recapture its former magic.
Whether it be a stronghold for the magpie faithful, or those who love to watch “drag shows/lucky spinning wheels etc’, not too many ideas haven’t been explored to resurrect it.
Don’t know Allison’s surname, but I know her mentors, Peter and Hayley Giemza.
Peter had had a midas touch with pubs, taking them from basket cases, and turning them into profitable, well-run businesses. From the Blarney Stone in Port Melbourne to St.Kilda (The Newmarket), Palmerston Sth Melbourne, to name but a few, somehow he makes them work.
Now it is a protégé’s turn and it is high risk. Lease, rent, running costs are one thing; working from virtually a nil customer base is another.
The pub itself remains faithful to years past. Cosy front bar, large dining room, fireplace, TAB (no pokies), and the first thing to hang the hat on is affordable, value for money food.
Proudly, the Stingo champions ten for a tenner. Ten, fully plated, proper bar meals (no nachos, satays etc) in either dining room or front bar.
Spicy meat balls, bangers/mash, arancini, pie of the day (chicken and vegetable was the offer), curry of the day. Call it a throwback to an era past, but you know you are getting a bargain. For sure, it won’t appear in Gourmet Traveller or Epicure, but you will be satisfied with the purchase.
Top of the board is the 300g porterhouse, vegetables or C&S with a sauce for $19.90
Beer is excellent, clean finish, which I know sounds easy, but doesn’t always materialise. She has learned the basics well.
Tried was;
• Tuna Patties, mash, and vegetables - $10. Knocked over easily, popular too with some of the other diners given the plates going out,
• Beef vindaloo, rice, pappadam - $10. Had a neat kick, not overly brutal , but a nice hummm. Very fair price for a bar meal,
• Vasse Felix Classic Dry White @ $29. A staple of the oz wine industry, without an outrageous mark-up (have seen it at $44 in a pub this year). Again a reflection of what she is trying to achieve.
Anyway the fairytale is that she turns the business into a thriving centre of the community and soon after years of toil she gets an offer she can’t refuse.
If only it was that easy. To be fair, there is a way to go. Long, long hours and after 12 months, the build –up is slow, but at least it is on an upward scale.
And it will continue so, with a generosity of spirit and an old fashioned welcome. I hope she is gunning it in 12 months time.
3AW Pub Of The Week 2009
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