Listen back to Tony’s full review

Spread Eagle Hotel 

372 Bridge Road, Richmond

Phone: (03) 9428 6895

VENUE:

In ever commercially competitive Richmond, the Spread Eagle remains as bankable as any hotel in the postcode, delivering, as trite as it may sound, a proper pub offer with good old hospitality. Outside, half height sandy tiles from the footpath up are a feature, glistening on another cold wet day.

Washed lemon is the predominant colour covering the pub above the tiles, with wrought iron cuttings outside each of the windows peering down on Bridge and Coppin. Old school. The pub is unfailingly neat.

Here’s the winner though. Walk into a pub and experience all the fireplaces going 15 to the dozen. Importantly and immediately, you are at ease: the feel good factor is impossible to measure (walk into pubs when it is cold to see dormant, unlit, dirty fireplaces: how do you feel?)

The squat, smallish front bar allows room to stand (closer to Bridge and near a fireplace) while the larger part of the ground floor is complete with tables and chairs to dine, all supported by table service. Glassware suspended over the bar. It looks good.

Hospitality 101. Proximity to the G means the footy runs day and night on the unobtrusive TV screens.

Pokies: No
Tab: No

Upstairs for functions in one of three rooms – Corner, Board, Coppin, all suitably sized for any occasion.

Banging meal deals during the week; 300g Porterhouse , full plated, $23, Wednesday night, all day fully plated parmas, Sundays, $20, along with trivia during the arvo.

The long time owner operators really know their stuff, and in many respects pub trailblazers with another of theirs – Cornish Arms in Sydney Rd – being one of the very first to embrace plant-based foods overwhelmingly in their menus.

Food and drink offers comfortable, established choices. Carlton Draught, beautifully poured is $7.20 from the tap. Stone & Wood, Balter, Great Northern, support. Wine is $13 per glass and $60 per bottle an extensive choice, but Pewsey Vale Riesling is as consistent as any. Never misses.

The food is smart pub grub, priced around the mean (say $14e/$30m/$15e). Some standouts were;

● Prawn/Chicken Spring Rolls, nuoc cham sauce two for $8. This was good buying. Two long tubes, fresh produce, distinct flavours with a beautiful balanced sweet/sour dipper. Go on, find another $4 for one more.

● Herbed Veal Schnitzel, with mash, pickled cabbage, green beans, topped with red wine jus, $32. An underrated feature of any schnitzel is how long the coating remains attached to the meat. Here, to the very last bite, this big snitty held its taste and shape. Great beans and mash, no surprise this is the longest standing item on the menu.

And a trip down memory lane before it all started. Would I like a poppy seed dinner roll? Free. Not being offered that in ages, I was stumped for an answer. I mumbled yes, to a quizzical look from the excellent wait staff. Small gesture most appreciated.

As the Spread Eagle already enjoys a strong reputation, its main focus is not to let hard won love slip.

To that end from a fireplace to a bread roll to a lovely pot to table service. It all works.

This pub gets it right. Worth the trip, Spread Eagle, Richmond.

SCORE: 15.3 

Image: Google Maps