East Beach Fish and Chips, Port Fairy

146 Griffith Street
Port Fairy
Victoria 3284

Tucked away on Griffiths street near the beach, opposite the Gardens Caravan Park and across the Moyne river from the center of Port Fairy, East Beach Fish and Chips is easily missed.

The menu covers the basics with aussie style burgers and souvas on offer too. 

We tried it out on a family camping trip over Easter and unsurprisingly it was busy when we arrived to collect the order we'd put in by phone. We didn't have to wait too long to have our number called out, and we were soon back at our site ready to dine alfresco.

I'd gone with the Blue Grenadier which was great covered in fantastic crisp batter, the choips wree good too.

With an amazing sunset to watch, it turned out to be a perfect meal!

Royal Oak Hotel

9 Bank Street
Port Fairy
VIC 3284
(03) 5568 1018

The Royal Oak has plenty of character and charm, but unmistakably a country pub.

The bistro out the back had a bit of an 80's feel but it was busy with people who mostly seemed to be having a good time! The menu combined some pub favourites with plenty of fish and seafood and all meals included a visit to the salad bar or my case the veggie bar, where I selected some roast pumpkin and zucchini.

I managed to loose the picture of the mushrooms with a trio of pesto and feta, which we shared to start. Each large field mushroom was topped with red and green pestos and some crumbled feta, the flavours combining well..

The specials included flat head with chips,our waitress mentioned it was her favourite and it was certainly well prepared and did justice to the fish.

I went for the seafood plate, which came stacked with 3 rather than the advertised two pieces of battered fish, 3 prawn twizzlers, a skewer of garlic scallops, peppered calamari and of course chips. I would have probably preferred the prawns to be prepared more simply, but everything was good, the calamari was very tender and the scallops had seen glenty of garlic. The fish was as good as it was plentiful!

The food came to around the $60 mark and the all staff we met were friendly and very relaxed. There are plenty of pubs to eat at in small area in Port Fairy, and this is certainly a good option for quality and value.

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Victoria Hotel, Port Fairy

42 Bank Street
Port Fairy
VIC
3284 5568 2891

The Victoria Hotel is probably the most extensively modernised of the pubs in Port Fairy, these shots were taken before our visit on a showery autumn evening, when things were a bit darker and less condusive to outdoor photography.

With several different areas including a quiet front bar where we ended up eating, a sports bar with outdoor area and a high roofed glass walled dining area, which was packed during our visit. The front lounge bar area is in the original section of the building and was much quieter.

The casual dining menu is available all day and there is dinner menu available in the main dining area after 6pm, but we weren't able to try that as the tables were all packed.

We started with the Share plate which featured a couple of lovely natural oysters, plenty of well grilled saganaki and two arancini balls, which crunchy on the outside and creamy if a little bland inside. The house made dips veared away from the standard offerings, with a satayish offering that was a little on the sweet side and an interesting pea based purée, unfortunately the bbq'ed leader prawns hadreplaced by a fish cake, which we'd both ended up ordering for our main.

I've always been a big fan of fish cakes, I'm not sure if it's an English thing... The lemon and dill patties on offer here had plenty of salon inside but I didn't notice the herb of citrous flavours. The chips were a little too much in the shoestring style for me, but weren't bad. The salad was fine and fresh, the mayo could have happily been served on the side.





The bar staff were all friendly, and given how busy the place was out meals came quickly, I also enjoyed ny Flying Horse brewery 'Dirty Angel' beers from down the road in Warrnambool. Our food bill came to $56.8, which was pretty good value and I'd be interested to try the more extensive menu in the main dining area.

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Wisharts

29 Gipps Street
Port Fairy
VIC
3284
(03)5568 1884

We'd eaten at "Wisharts at the Wharf" a few years ago and enjoyed our meal so headed back on a recent visit to Port Fairy. As the name suggests, it is right next to the water, on the Moyne river a few hundred meters down stream from where it enters the ocean. There are a few fishing boats amongst the pleasure craft on the river and Wisharts feels like it is part of the quayside community.

It may have got its name from Captain Wishart who named the town after his cutter the 'Fairy'. On one end of the building is a classic fish and chip shop which seemed pretty popular all day, in the rest of the building there is a restaurant which we went to on a blustery showery evening.

We got a spot by the window and even though it was dark, it was nice to be able to see the ripples on the black water.Inside things are fairly basic, but certainly clean and tidy.

I went for the basic fish and chips, the bubbly batter was crisp and the fish certainly fresh and moist, the chips were good too! The salad was basic but fine.

The barramundi was grilled and finished in an oven and was flavoursome and perfectly cooked.

Wisharts certainly provides great basic fish and seafood options in a great location. The takeaway option probably offers better value, the restaurant prices are around the $25 mark for a main. The service is friendly and basic, it's somewhere we'd go back to again when we next visit.




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