In our Easternmost state, our proud drinking culture’s counterpart – solid pub food – finds itself enshrined in the Sydney Morning Herald’s newest eating bible – The Good Pub Food Guide, 2011. ‘There’s a certain sort of ambience to [the pub] that nothing else quite captures.’ Says editor of the guide, Keith Austin. ‘It’s that welcoming, warming, home-away-from home feeling that bars and clubs cannot begin to even approach.’ And while serving up a healthy slathering of that salty, crunchy, meaty, slow-cooked, deep fried or grilled pub menu we laud fondly with beer or wine in-hand, the guide also visits watering holes boasting contemporary twists on international cuisines; from The Bank Hotels’ eggplant and mushroom with chilli and basil, to the Sawtell Hotel’s spotted mackerel with caramelised onion, aioli, pineapple salsa, crushed potato and herb salad – the variety of venue on review is impressive.
The Guide presents pubs in neat, column-long synopses, proffering mouth-watering tasting spoons for us to lick. The back of the book provides an index, to ensure that when we’re slipping through a town yearning for a bite, or wanting to try a new menu close to home, readers can run their fingers down an alphabetised list of locations in New South Wales and find a nearby bar stool. This tidy publication also highlights the variety of pubs available to its readership: the trendy urban plate, the heavier country table, the cosmopolitanised inland joints in image-renovated rural townships, and the infamously reliable local. Furthermore, the Guide provides a shortlist of the best sausages, pizzas, locations, desserts, and hands the reader maps of every area referred to, with the location of each pub reviewed pinpointed to ensure an easy find. I tested the recommended pub eats, and while most in my area were given a reasonable 12 out of 20 – the lowest score provided by the Guide – I’ll admit I’d expected a little more than the standard steak slapped atop a soggy haystack of chips, with an inexplicably salty salad. Having said this, a trip to one of the pubs marked 18.5 – the highest score provided in the guide – certainly vouched for both the sound advice within the guide, as well as the existence of pubs without seedy carpets and oily platters, (though I admit Australia wouldn’t have much of a pub kulcha without those beer-stained venues.) As the pub continues to develop its reputation as a social mecca, Keith believes people will ‘realise that the pub isn’t just sticking a soggy pie in the warmer any more – they really are trying to raise the bar in the food stakes.’
But be warned, in the Guide’s search for the perfect pub meal, some venues may have been left out. If your outstanding local is missing from the impressive list of places to grab a drink and a solid meal, don’t hesitate to drop Keith a line, or post your suggestions in the comments box below. As yet, Keith is yet to discover any missing vital organs, ‘I’ve had a couple of suggestions from readers which we will follow up next year but nothing that would make me go ‘Christ, how did we miss that?’’ Having reviewed over five hundred pubs, and whittled the venues down to the three hundred published in the guide, I’ll vouch for the Good Pub Food Guide’s thorough investigation into our infamous, and delectable, pub culture.