The Pub With Two Names adds to Ballarat’s dining boom
WITH cool cocktails and a hot Argentinian grill and a dining room decked out in artist David Bromley’s signature whimsy, this new venue is yet another win for Ballarat, writes Dan Stock.
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FIRST things first.
The Pub With Two Names isn’t actually a pub.
While for almost all of the past 140 years it’s been pouring cold frothies for Ballarat’s workers – first as the Royal Highlander (1878-1962) and then as the Peter Lalor Hotel (1962-2014) - it’s no longer a pub, but now rather a “contemporary bar and grill”.
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I’m sure you could pull up one of the white stools by that bar and one of the young staff will happily pour you a $12 pint of Furphy, but nearly all the 100-seat space is given over to dining.
And David Bromley’s artworks.
That’s the second thing to know.
Left lifeless for years after last drinks were called, artist David and wife Yuge took the keys and spent 18 months transforming the old boozer into a whimsical kaleidoscope of pastels and bronze, with David’s distinctive artworks covering every wall, door and surface, his idiosyncratic sculptures of rabbits, horses and kids standing sentry.
It’s an OTT riot of fun, breezy colour though how you feel dining in what amounts to a Bromley gallery depends entirely on your take on his take on consumable art for the masses.
I like it.
The main dining room with its wallpaper collage of muses – Yoko Ono, Pablo Picasso, Debbie Harry, Lou Reed – is especially fun.
Beautiful reclaimed timber tables are set with thick calico napkins and glassware, with surprisingly comfortable brown leather-and-metal old school chairs surrounding.
The lights are moody, the soundtrack unobtrusive, the branded ceramics hefty, the staff keen and well-briefed.
Such touches herald the experience of the team behind the food and drink here.
Donatello Pietrantuono and Iain Gunn have added TPWTN to Carboni’s Italian Kitchen down the road, with “Dona” also fulfilling exec chef duties at the Ballarat Mercure.
Here, he’s taken a broad South American brush to the menu that features, as its mainstay, 10 proteins from the parrilla – the Argentinian char grill – that range from 280g of eye fillet ($46) through the monster 1.3kg tomahawk ($98).
The beef ribs are roll-up-your-sleeves hefty, full of charry, gnawingly good pink meat that’s properly chewy (the ribs are cut across, not along the bone), a couple of bits of corn cooked on the grill add to a plate of primal pleasure ($35).
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It’s not just meat the kitchen’s cooking well.
Though not my first choice of fish, the barramundi was beautifully treated, the skin-side cooked in butter until crunchy, the flesh firm and clean-tasting.
A pot of nicely sharp tartare, good skin-on chips and a bright, parsley rich chimichurri finish this twist on a pub classic with class ($26).
You’ll find the expected hits – burgers, bangers, a half roasted chook – are augmented with more exotic fare that includes a Brazilian “pirao” style pumpkin soup that’s sweet and heady with ginger warmth, fat “ravioli” dumplings generously filled with prawn meat floating atop.
It gets a big tick ($15).
So, too, the spiced potato and pea mix that fills three flaky and light empanadas served with more of that herby chimichurri ($16).
All told, it’s an impressive, keenly priced offering well executed, with the Euro-centric wine list as eclectic as the room.
A good showing of Italians and malbec from Mendoza anchor the list of interesting varietals where $50 will buy you a bottle of good drinking, with such drops as a Chilean pinot noir and Spanish verdejo offered by the sub-$10 glass.
Cocktails are a focus, and with creations including the coconut, spiced rum and espresso “coco-cobana martini” you may want to just drink dessert ($19), but then you’d miss out on creations that provide a fittingly OTT full stop.
On this cold midweek night the OMG, with its whole baked apple and cinnamon caramel sauce, ginger-almond biscuit rubble and steamed soft orange sponge was the warming, comforting pick over the Bora Bora, a pretty orb filled with cheesecake mouse somewhat ridiculously surrounded by meringue stick candles.
For $16 a pop, though, they’re complex plates that punch above their weight.
Yet another venue adding to the critical mass of Ballarat’s burgeoning food-destination status, there’s lots to like about Peter Lalor’s new incarnation.
Just don’t call it a pub.
Fast facts
The Pub With Two Names
Where: Cnr Mair and Doveton St, Ballarat
Phone: 4373 2432
Open: Daily from 11.30am
Go-to dish: Pirao soup with prawn ravioli
Score: 14/20
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