Author: Alex

The Victoria Hotel

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date of visit: Sunday 28 August 2011

Writing a review of a pub can be tricky. If the pub fashions itself as trendy or cutting edge, with a more interesting than average menu then the review is relatively easy – either things have worked or they haven’t. But sometimes, a pub is … just a pub.

The Victoria Hotel, at O’Halloran Hill, is one of those pubs. It’s part of the Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group – a behemoth owning 286 licensed venues across Australia. And this means, as you’d expect, that the menu is standard pub fare, at standard pub prices. As with so many pubs, you do need to have the right attitude as you walk in the door.

We visited on a Sunday evening, small child in tow. The Vic sits on Main South Road almost directly atop O’Halloran Hill. The dining room makes the most of this, its huge windows looking out across Sturt Gorge towards the foothills. The dining area is also massive: it’s divided into two sections and there’s plenty of space around the tables.

Early on a Sunday evening things in the bistro were quiet. We were able to settle ourselves and the baby in without any hassle (spotlessly clean high chair provided by the pub’s friendly staff). Having been to the Vic once before we didn’t need to spend too much time looking at the menu. As well as the usual pub staples, the Vic also offers wood oven pizzas. As you might have guessed, I ordered a chicken parmi and Andy ordered the Ocean Catch which he’d also ordered on our previous visit. The catch is a collection of seafood goodies – a beer battered fillet of fish, crumbed prawns and salt and pepper squid.

In both our cases, I’m sure our dinners went from freezer to deep fat fryer and to the table. But that’s almost exactly what I’d expect. Service was super fast which is what I want when having a pub schnittie.

And both our dinners were completely adequate. Personally, I’d prefer that the salad dressing be served on the side (so I could avoid it) and I do think that the pub could do a LOT better with its bread rolls (sad, tiny, anaemic, doughy in a bad way), but in terms of meeting expectations the Victoria hit the nail on the head.  The schnitzel had a crunchy crumbed exterior without being burnt and the meat was moist.  The topping was the usual ham, tomato based sauce and cheese.  Absolutely nothing to complain about.

A chicken parmi will set you back $17.90 (plain $15.90, with choice of the usual sauces) which is more or less standard. However, Tuesday night is schnitzel night and then a plain schnitzel is only $10.90.

If you want a pub meal with better than average views then you can do a lot worse than the Vic.

Osso Buco

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osso buco

I thought I’d make the most of what I hoped was the last of the cooler weather and cook up an osso buco. Our butcher sells the pieces of shank quite cheaply and I figured that the leftovers would make a good freezer standby.

I started to look around for recipes and turned first to The Silver Spoon, the Bible of Italian cooking.

This is a very practical book: the recipes are usually brief (sometimes to the point of appearing boring) and I view it as much more of a reference manual than a step by step instruction guide. In this case, it offered two variations on a theme: Milanese osso buco and veal osso buco with peas. Well, no chance of me making anything with peas!

I ended up combining the two recipes to come up with my own version.

Melt some butter and olive oil in a large pan and sauté off a finely chopped onion, two diced carrots and one large clove of garlic (also finely chopped). With the heat medium high, add three pieces of shank (around 1kg worth), dredged in flour, and fry until they start to take on some colour.

Pour in a generous splash of red wine and continue to cook until the wine all but evaporates. Then add 150mL of good quality beef stock, a 400g tin of crushed tomatoes and large slices on the rind of half a lemon.

Reduce the heat, cover with a lid and cook slowly until the meat begins too fall apart (let’s say a good hour or two – this is not a dish for those in a hurry). Once the meat is tender, you may wish to cook for a little longer with the lid off to thicken the gravy.

When you’re ready to serve, stir through a simple gremolata made from the grated rind of half a lemon and a generous half cup or so of chopped parsley.

Serve with your favourite starchy side … we had polenta, made with cream, butter and parmesan cheese (what was in the fridge), but mashed potatoes, risotto or even pasta would do just as well.

Easy AND delicious!

Hendricks Gin

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Disclaimer: Hendricks‘ PR people invited me along to the Courtship Clinic and I received a Hendricks gift bag. I didn’t plan to post about this but had such fun, I couldn’t not!

Over the weekend Hendricks Gin held its final “Refined Courtship Clinic” here in Adelaide. The pop-up clinic had already visited Melbourne, Sydney and Perth and couldn’t have chosen a better weekend to open its doors at the end of Rundle Street.

Pop ups don’t seem to be such a big thing in Adelaide (or is that even Australia?) but Hendricks used this as a very natty piece of promotion. Patrons were lured in with the promise of a complimentary G&T (really, what’s not to like?) and if you were so inclined you could participate in a session where you could learn the language of fans and other hints on etiquette and courting from the Victorian age.

I, however, was quite happy to sit on the lovely red sofa, enjoy my G&T (served in a tea cup, no less – this is a gem of an idea which I plan to exploit in future!) and have a chat with a couple of other patrons.

Hendricks gin is lovely (I am an enthusiastic gin drinker in warm weather). It’s only been available in Australia this year but I had it quite a few times when I lived in England. I don’t want to get too technical, but gin is flavoured by a mix of what is known as ‘botanicals’ (that’s plants and herbs, to you and me). However, for it to be gin, it must be juniper dominant. Hendricks adds the twist of including cucumber and rose in the mix, making it more floral than other gins. At the clinic, the G&T was served with a slice of cucumber and crushed ice (another idea I’ll be appropriating – so much more civilised than cubes!).

Unfortunately, the clinic has finished its journey around Australia. This means you will have to check out Hendricks at your favourite bar, or dive in and splash out on a whole bottle.