Second Quarter Pub Awards 2010
May’s Best: Montague Hotel, Sth Melbourne:
Unlike its cousin in North Melbourne, the always wonderful Court House, I hadn’t embraced the Montague in Sth Melbourne. Can’t say for sure why, except that I found the front bar rather cold and more a place to eat high end, cleverly cooked superior pub grub than sit around a bar and muse about the day’s events.
Simplicity in pubs works. A warmer colour used on the walls (deeper red), new bar top and some papers/magazines carefully arranged and a natty mix of pub favourites - corned beef, mash, cabbage, mustard for $20 – means that the Montague is all things to all people now. Duck breast, Japanese pancake in the restaurant goes to the next level.
Top rater – real contender or this year’s best pub
Read the review by clicking the corresponding image below.
June’s Best: Royal Saxon Hotel, Richmond:
Please read their intro on the internet – PLEASE. They didn’t intend it to be so funny, but it is thigh-slapper. But the pub itself? The renovation is stunning, the food is good pub grub Italian and although I felt the wine prices a touch heavy, the food is a decent bang for the buck. The spaghetti mussels was a beauty.
I know I am not really the target market – young, professional PYT’s, at night, cash to splash is– but once it is striped back, the beer’s good and it is easy to find your own piece of turf. Night time’s noise will be a problem.
It will be interesting to see how the RSH holds the crowd, now approaching its 1st birthday. I think it has a real substance and should be around for a big player for a while yet.
Read the review by clicking the corresponding image below.
July’s Best: O’Meara’s Elgin Inn, Hawthorn:
OK, this wasn’t the top rater for the month (The metropolitan was, and is a former pub of the year), but it is an owner/operator in the ‘burbs not prepared to join the dots and make an offer that extends itself.
Food is good pub grub, generous and very fairly priced – the Bangers and mash - but it the package of helpful staff and being an unabashed champion of the locals that wins me.
The beer/rooftop garden is a winner, small TAB no pokies allows for a flutter and doesn’t intrude. And it has a weekly meat tray. Say no more.
Read the review by clicking the corresponding image below.
August’s Best: North Fitzroy Arms, Nth Fitzroy:
In 16 years of talking pubs with Neil, August 2010 is the most competitive on record. The ‘new’ Yorkshire in Abbotsford, the ever consistent Kent in Carlton and the POTM – North Fitzroy Arms (aka Haskins) all provide that edge in pub life with Melbourne so envied.
The NFA gets the narrow nod. Why? The pub does a generous line of Hungarian/Slovenian offerings; Kassler, S’Kraut, bread dumplings the highlight. But it hasn’t forgotten its Fitzroy heritage with maroon and gold tables with a lion motif, a picture of Kevin Murray and a WEG poster of the 1959 Night GF win.
It’s a ripper – just GO.
Read the review by clicking the corresponding image below.
Review: Montague Hotel
Review: If you are thinking posh pub, hold the horses there; It’s not. My criticism of the Montague three years ago was that the front bar felt sterile. In essence, come in, have a beer and let’s gets you into the bistro. Not now. Read the full review.
Review: Royal Saxon Hotel
Review: The Royal Saxon, across the road from Bryant and May is the hottest new spot on the Melbourne pub scene, certainly grabbing all of Melbourne’s PYT’s late in the week. Read the full review.
Review: O'Meara's Elgin Inn
Review: Some pubs chug away quietly, away from the glare and gaze of critics, and build up a fiercely loyal following. I have bored long time readers sideways about the innate virtues of hospitality but once you bottle that fickle mistress the rest usually follows suit.
Reviw: North Fitzroy Arms Hotel
REVIEW: There are pubs that Irish/English, pubs that are sports bars, parma havens, have 70 beers on tap but there isn’t one like the North Fitzroy Arms.
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