Great Western Hotel review: Ballan’s new pub has wow-factor with retro vibes, great food

A retro-inspired country pub serving the classics, local beers and great-value kids meals is worth packing the car and hitting the road this weekend.

Dan Stock

@dantonstock

3 min read

April 30, 2021 - 12:08PM

Food

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There are little dolls in large glass cubes on tables surrounded by cushion-strewn plump emerald Chesterfields and velour barrel chairs covered in a fetching jungle motif.

There’s an arresting orange glass chandelier that’s aflame with colour and retro cool and feature walls of royal blue peacock wallpaper, while in the dining room timber veneer is teamed with a forest of living greenery and blue-and-white striped chairs and strings of multi-coloured bulbs that bring a touch of Copacabana summer into the space.

It’s a riot of ’70s colour and textures that wouldn’t look out of place in the heart of hipsterville but is even more surprising here in the tiny town of Ballan, about 80km out of town.

BBQ pork sliders and the classic prawn cocktail. Picture: Supplied.

Owner Mitch Duncan says he designed the space so locals would go, “wow” upon entering the Great Western Hotel, and those who remember it as Hudsons Hotel will certainly do that.

Duncan took the keys to the hotel a couple of years back and after a year of renos had the place ready to go just as lockdown hit last March and so it was November before the first beers were poured.

But judging by the full house this Sunday lunch it’s clear locals have given its wow-factor the tick of approval.

Duncan also owns Daylesford’s Farmer’s Arms up the road so knows a thing or two about pubs and says he was keen to give new life to the hotel without “renovating the heart out of it”.

“Pubs are about laughter and joy and tears and beers and we wanted to leave them in,” he says.

Spaghetti aglio e olio with prawns. Picture: Supplied.

To that end, the lampshades in the front bar are funky repurposed cutglass decanters, there’s also footy on the big screen and 7oz glasses of Carlton Draught on tap.

There’s also a nice line in local crafties, including and XPA and IPA from Beechworth’s Bridge Road Brewery, a couple of ales from Castlemaine’s Shedshaker and a cider from Harcourt.

The cellar is similarly considered, with more than a dozen drops offered by the glass with a good showing of locals, including a vermentino from Heathcote and a Macedon Ranges gruner vertliner priced around the $12 mark, with lots of good drinking available by the $60 bottle.

In the kitchen is Chris Timmins (who also looks after the Farmer’s Arms fare) and along with a plate-hugging parma ($29) and beer battered gummy and chunky chips ($29), you’ll find fun nods to the retro theme, with takes on ’70s dinner party classics including a prawn cocktail ($20) and a terrifically tasty vol-au-vent filled with roasted chicken and topped with Swiss cheese ($15).

There are also generous BBQ pork sliders ($16) and vegan rice paper rolls ($17) to open the account.

Cauliflower steak. Picture: Supplied.

In between are mains ranging from a classic steak sandwich through to shwarma-spiced cauliflower steak served with ancient grains ($25) and a $55 Cape Grim filet mignon.

That steak sandwich is hefty and hearty, the fillet tender and tasty, the bacon smoky, the beetroot relish more-ish and the chips fluffy, crunchy and salty.

Though I’d prefer it served on better bread than the fleetingly char-marked Turkish loaf it came on, it makes for a pretty satisfying lunch ($24).

Spaghetti aglio e olio — garlic and oil — is a classic Neapolitan pasta dish that here comes generously strewn with sweet, meaty prawns and is a simple, tasty plate though it would’ve shone with more garlic heat and properly peppery olive oil (and an offer of fresh chopped chilli wouldn’t have gone astray, $32).

I admit to a bit of plate envy when spying the barramundi on the table next door, for the thick pan-fried crumbed fillet sitting on a bed of green beans and red cabbage looked the goods ($36).

Great Western Hotel, Ballan Lemon crusted barramundi with beans and red cabbage Supplied pic

Kids are well taken care of with $20 meal deals of a dish, drink and dessert, while vegetarians can look to that spiced cauliflower steak ($25) and crunchy falafels with fattoush ($24).

And if you are yet to experience the magic of aquafaba — the liquid in canned chickpeas — transforming into meringue, the vegan lemon meringue pie shows how effortlessly it subs in for egg whites, but though pleasingly citrus-sharp, the lemon filling it covered had an odd grainy texture ($14).

More retro pleasures are found in the sticky date pud ($14) and banana split ($14).

With a soundtrack of classic hits that might swing from AC/DC to John Denver, friendly young staff who keep the beer flowing and the room humming and with equally stylish motel accommodation to open by year’s end, the Great Western backs up its good looks with the heart and soul of a pub classic. Wow, indeed.