The Mighty in Moonee Ponds the perfect modern pub

The Mighty in Moonee Ponds is the perfect modern pub. It might not have VB or sticky carpet, but there are plenty of craft beers and a knockout schnitzel.

The sign of any great pub — the schnitzel is an absolute knockout. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

I think I’ve found the perfect modern pub.

OK. There’s no VB, TAB and trots on TV, and you won’t stick to the carpet when you go to pee.

So old-school pub purists may not agree with me.

But if what froths your frosty pot is great booze and food and spot-on service, all wrapped in a welcoming package that offers top value, then The Mighty might just be your perfect pub, too.

What once was a sports hotel on a prominent corner site on Mt Alexander Rd has been artfully transformed into a light, bright and airy three-level space where loads of greenery add oxygen and life to areas that include a streetside veranda, casual bistro, bar and takeaway bottle shop and, in a few weeks’ time, a Hemmingway in Havana-channelling cocktail bar and retractable-roofed terrace.

In time, there’ll be room for 500; for now, it’s QR-check in and sanitise on arrival and bookings-essential 100-minute slots for lunch and dinner across multiple sittings.

The barramundi was perfectly cooked.

A Smooth FM-style soundtrack (Marvin Gaye, The Supremes, I Wanna Dance With Somebody-era Whitney) suits the multigenerational crowd this Friday evening, where those in for an early dinner like us make way for cocktail drinking 20-somethings later on.

And there’s great cocktail drinking to be done, for this is the vertically integrated home of the independent brands that fall under The Mighty Craft umbrella.

An ASX-listed “craft beverage accelerator” Mighty Craft brands include Richmond distillery Brogan’s Way, Kangaroo Island spirits, Jetty Road Brewery from the Mornington Peninsula and the Torquay Beverage Company.

Thus your negroni is made from barrel aged Brogan’s gin ($18) and a yuzu-flavoured spritz is amped with Kangaroo Island spirit ($16), with sample flights on offer to sample the ranges ($18), with bottles available to grab a fave for home.

Across three levels, The Mighty has room for many. Pictures: Jake Nowakowski

Beer flights, too, are available, with taps pouring lagers, sours and XPAs from Dromana’s Jetty Road and Brisbane’s Slipstream Brewing Co – but there’s also Carlton Draught by the pot and pint for those who know what they like and are sticking with it, thanks very much.

And while the menu keeps pretty faithfully to the trad pub script – there’s a chicken schnitzel and beef burger, steak with chips and fish of the day – it’s conceived and executed by chef Adrian Corigliano, who spent five years working in Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck and Dinner kitchens.

That means that schnitzel is an absolute knockout; buttermilk tender and with perfect panko crumb crunch, it’s as good a piece of chicken you’ll eat in a pub. It comes with a bowl of fluffy-crisp rosemary-scented fries and a creamy-mustard dressed salad making it $25 very well spent.

The burger, too, is everything you want when you want a burger: the patty is pink and juicy, well-seasoned with a caramelised crust, it’s topped with melted smoked cheddar, thin slices of pickle and an onion jam for sweetness that plays with the bun’s grill char smokiness ($21).

But for those who aren’t just hooked on classics, the chef’s high-end smarts shine through such elegant plates as beetroot with ricotta, where roasted beets’ sweetness is countered with slivers of pickled sharpness, a cloud of whipped ricotta tying the lot together ($14).

Roasted and pickled beetroot with ricotta shows the chef’s fine-dining training.

Snapper ceviche is a classy opening act, where jalpeno adds a tickle of heat to the coconut dressing, the finest dice of capsicum and red onion showing knife skills rarely seen in a pub ($16). Likewise, today’s barramundi which was, simply, best in class and far superior to those I’ve eaten served from seafood-specialty kitchens.

With crisp skin hiding gelatinous, just-firm flesh, the tricky-to-perfect fish is served with warrigal greens and crisp salt bush and a bright lemon myrtle butter that’s lick the plate clean good. A clever nod to native ingredients without it feeling forced, the dish was faultless ($32).

We didn’t need to order the grilled cos lettuce, but with a seeded mustard and anchovy dressing and draped in whisper thin guanciale (cured pork jowl), I’m very glad we did ($10).

The sharp, all Oz, Vic-focused wine list is filled with interesting varietals and producers at very fair mark-ups. Thanks to Dennis Ferreira, who has more than 25 years’ experience in our finest dining rooms (Attica, Vue de monde among them), service is perfectly pitched; casual but switched on.

A flight of gins to taste is a good match with the strawberries and cream dessert.

Dessert, too, is superb. A take on strawberries and cream, the fruit comes many ways – in sorbet, freshly sliced, compote and coulis form – on a custard tart with a cracklingly crisp pastry shell. Perfectly poised, it’s a sweet-sharp technically clever finale that belies its humble surrounds ($16). Even the coffee to finish was spot on.

Open just a couple of weeks, The Mighty is already making its mark.

It might not be traditional, but with its kitchen delivering punch-above-weight value, a focus on independent craft makers and staff who care, it’s a vision of a modern suburban pub that looks mighty right.

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