The Graham Port Melbourne review: Posh pub’s beaut beer snack

All airy-crisp batter with taste-of-the-sea plump centres, this snack is a sure thing with a beer at Port Melbourne’s posh new pub.

Kara Monssen

2 min read

August 3, 2021 - 11:00AM

Food

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Like taxes and death, deep-fried things tasting deliciou s are another of life’s certainties.

Swipe any chip, wing or wedge in something saucy and you’re bound to enjoy.

Enter beer-battered mussels.

All airy-crisp batter with taste-of-the-sea plump centres, they are a sure thing with a beer at the Graham Hotel.

This new-look Port Melbourne pub is the ultimate hybrid between posh and pared-back dining.

A real jeans and heels combo, button shirt without the suit jacket. You get my drift.

It’s where you can enjoy fancy-looking food with French wine as much as a parma, pot and sport on the telly.

The beer battered mussels. Picture: Mark Stewart

The seaside local looks the goods and joins a long list of similar bayside venues to get schmick, million-dollar makeovers, including Albert Park Hotel, The Prince and The Espy.

No doubt it was needed after 150 years of pint pouring and schnitty serving as a sports bar, Chinese restaurant (complete with live seafood tanks) and white tableclothed fine diner.

Now, it’s what I’ll call a good pub on the way to becoming great.

If I’m honest, I wasn’t too sure of The Graham on my first visit.

It paints a fine image before that first beer-battered bite with black leather-bound menus, grey linen napkins, polished marble tables and two crackling fireplaces in the dining room.

Warm crusty bread to dab in olive oil on arrival, wide-grinned service from friendly staff and

a pour of Curlewis chardonnay served at a perfect temperature impress in the opening minutes.

The Graham looks the part and appears quite fancy, but the food at times misses the mark.

Head chef Sam Hiroki (European, The Point, Circa) does well balancing traditional pub tucker alongside more refined plates of mod-Aus, Asian-leaning food.

But what I find, on both occasions that I visit, is something not quite right on some of the plates we order.

Firstly, the portioning is hit and miss.

The Masterstock pork belly. Picture: Mark Stewart

The Masterstock pork belly ($23) snack, wallows in a pool of tad-too-salty broth and should be larger for its price, but packs tenderness and crunch where it counts.

Brace for bigger-than-your-head mains, such as the ginormous wagyu rump schnitzel ($38), which is a little OTT in size and price, and the lamb pie ($36) which sees puff pastry encasing slow-cooked shoulder meat, with a side of roasted vegetables.

The lamb pie. Picture: Mark Stewart

This is a good plate of food but needs that robust red wine sauce strewn through those tender meat tresses and not clumsily served on the side. Nor should you have to ask for extra in a jug.

Even the peanut butter cup dessert doesn’t quite work ($16), as it’s too decadent to finish in its jam jar-size portion and crowned with far too much fairy floss.

Though, I did enjoy digging for that Coco Pop crunch at the bottom.

Whole baby snapper. Picture: Mark Stewart

There are some wins. Those moreish mussels ($15), a must with one of eight cold ones on tap swiped in a tangy stout and malt mayo.

The market fish of the day can be comfortably shared between two, which on this occasion is a whole baby snapper ($45) of supple flesh, fine crisp skin that’s studded collar to fin in baby capers, in a pool of buttery remoulade.