The Melbourne Hotel is one of those places which tries to be all things to many and pulls it off pretty well. Just off the main drag of West End's Boundary St, it has more of a corporate, white (& sometimes blue) collared vibe than the more bohemian bars on the main strip. Physically it's a massive space with pool tables, cavernous booth seating and a stack of flat screen TVs for watching the game on (someone once told me the place is a tax write-off for WOW Sight & Sound, but in West End people son't always let the truth get in the way of a good story...).
In addition to being a solid pub where you can get a cold beer or cocktail if you're feeling refined, they also boast a respectable modern Australian menu. The emphasis on quality food is evidenced by the quote emblazoned on their signage (and I'm paraphrasing) "One of life's true pleasures is that we sit down to eat three times a day".
Not being one to be able to resist a call to action rationalised by a quotation, I recently went on a Tuesday with a couple of friends to take advantage of their $15 steak special. It was quite busy but the service was impressive, with a waitress showing us to a table promptly and being generally quite helpful. She recommended the 'Confit garlic & buffalo mozzarella bread' for starters, citing its popularity.
I enjoyed the 'confit garlic' part of it (they used whole cloves which become deliciously mushy with slow-roasting) but overall thought it could have benefited from a sauce of some kind, perhaps a pizza sugo.
My chosen steak was a hefty 300g rib fillet -- definitely good value for the $15 -- and I was happy with their approximation of 'rare', with there being a noticible core of pink flesh in the centre of the cut. The presentation was very good too, with a balsamic reduction drizzled in orbit around the centrepiece. My only gripe with that though is that it interfered with the taste of my chosen 'pepper jus' sauce, causing a discordant clash of flavours. But it was a minor issue; overall, I left satisfied and happy with paying about half the price as you would for such a serious steak at most fine dining establishments. read more