43 Victoria Street
Footscray
VIC 3011
Although we visited the old Harts Hotel a few times we were happy to see a change and a move on from the TAB and pokies dominated vibe. The new Victoria Hotel is quite different with a new central bar dominating the main space along with some high tables and booths. There is a seperate dining area and a small courtyard with more tables outside.
The menu features some Aussie pub classics with a few other options. We ended up paying a couple of visits with family over the last couple of weeks and got to check out several dishes.
Stu was expecting Black Pudding with a Pork Scotch Egg, but got a Scotch Egg featuring an egg coated in minced Black Pudding and Pork, served with water cress and apple chutney. He was pretty happy with the result and combination of meats had that distinctive black pudding flavour.
The Scallop and Prawn ravioli with cauliflower, burnt butter and bottarga got high praise.
The steak was ordered medium rare and came slightly under by our estimation, but was otherwise a success.
I reverted to type and had the beer battered Blue Grenadier and triple cooked fries with salad and tartar sauce. The batter on the fish was a little dark and I was a little worried it was over cooked, but it tasted good and was appropriately crunchy and surrounded a moist piece of fish. The chips and salad were fine too.
The double cheese burger looked a little small but was packed with kimchi mayonnaise, burger relish and came with triple cooked fries.
On our second visit we shared the Garlic Bread which was a substantial looking loaf and came dripping with butter with the strong flavours from the garlic along with tarragon, chervil and parsley.
The fish pie was on the specials list for this visit, which had changed in the interim, we were warned it would mean a 25 minute wait. The mashed potato and cheese topping was nicely browned, below was a melange of fish and a light creamy sauce packed with flavour.
I nervously ordered the tandoori spiced and roasted cauliflower being concerned about how substantial it would be. As I was assured when I ordered, the half head of cauliflower along with the brown lentils, mango chutney and coriander was a good sized dish. The combination of flavours, especially those from the chutney was great.
The spectacular salt and vinegar onion rings stole the visual show atop the bangers and mash with red wine jus. The sausages themselves were heavily packed with meat, the rings crunchy and light.
The service from the bar and wait staff was all friendly and the meals came out at a good pace. On both a weekend and weekday evenings the place was pretty full with limited tables remaining and a decent buzz around. The meals were good, perhaps the only gripe were that the prices for teh overall meals seemed a tad high in comparison with other similar options locally, with four of us and a couple of drinks the bill was $180ish, for three with a drink each just over $100. As we live just down the road I'm sure we will continue to drop in from time to time, and more often than the once every year or two pre-reno!
Footscray
VIC 3011
Although we visited the old Harts Hotel a few times we were happy to see a change and a move on from the TAB and pokies dominated vibe. The new Victoria Hotel is quite different with a new central bar dominating the main space along with some high tables and booths. There is a seperate dining area and a small courtyard with more tables outside.
The menu features some Aussie pub classics with a few other options. We ended up paying a couple of visits with family over the last couple of weeks and got to check out several dishes.
Stu was expecting Black Pudding with a Pork Scotch Egg, but got a Scotch Egg featuring an egg coated in minced Black Pudding and Pork, served with water cress and apple chutney. He was pretty happy with the result and combination of meats had that distinctive black pudding flavour.
The Scallop and Prawn ravioli with cauliflower, burnt butter and bottarga got high praise.
The steak was ordered medium rare and came slightly under by our estimation, but was otherwise a success.
I reverted to type and had the beer battered Blue Grenadier and triple cooked fries with salad and tartar sauce. The batter on the fish was a little dark and I was a little worried it was over cooked, but it tasted good and was appropriately crunchy and surrounded a moist piece of fish. The chips and salad were fine too.
The double cheese burger looked a little small but was packed with kimchi mayonnaise, burger relish and came with triple cooked fries.
On our second visit we shared the Garlic Bread which was a substantial looking loaf and came dripping with butter with the strong flavours from the garlic along with tarragon, chervil and parsley.
The fish pie was on the specials list for this visit, which had changed in the interim, we were warned it would mean a 25 minute wait. The mashed potato and cheese topping was nicely browned, below was a melange of fish and a light creamy sauce packed with flavour.
I nervously ordered the tandoori spiced and roasted cauliflower being concerned about how substantial it would be. As I was assured when I ordered, the half head of cauliflower along with the brown lentils, mango chutney and coriander was a good sized dish. The combination of flavours, especially those from the chutney was great.
The spectacular salt and vinegar onion rings stole the visual show atop the bangers and mash with red wine jus. The sausages themselves were heavily packed with meat, the rings crunchy and light.
The service from the bar and wait staff was all friendly and the meals came out at a good pace. On both a weekend and weekday evenings the place was pretty full with limited tables remaining and a decent buzz around. The meals were good, perhaps the only gripe were that the prices for teh overall meals seemed a tad high in comparison with other similar options locally, with four of us and a couple of drinks the bill was $180ish, for three with a drink each just over $100. As we live just down the road I'm sure we will continue to drop in from time to time, and more often than the once every year or two pre-reno!
