Pub Of The Week: Petrel, Geelong West
81 Pakington St, Geelong West
5229 1151
When?: 19 April 2024
SUMMARY
Now this was a total surprise packet, and for once, the jungle drums were spot on about a quiet revolution at the Petrel Hotel, in the main drag of Geelong West at the Melbourne end of the street.
Brand new eyes have turned a sturdy old boozer into a sharp pub, doing modern pub food at very fair prices given the quality.
The outside of the Petrel doesn’t offer much. A facade reminiscent of the away guernsey of the Brisbane bears, circa 1988, Gold/Maroon, could pass as any drab pub in any street anywhere.
Ah, but the surprise is in side. Long gone is the Kiosk TAB (although everyday there’s the obligatory questions of where is it/why did you get rid of it?), replaced by sharp polished floorboards, neat prints, wonderful front bar with taps aplenty, footy going in the background with sporting memorabilia adorning the walls but overall a warm space that screams, ”Let’s meet there”.
Pokies: No
TAB: No
The majority of the action takes place in the bar and through to a snappy modern dining room, banquette seating, its own bar, fireplace, banging out great food with table service provided by keen staff.
The pub has been opened up since a last visit 10 years ago with a removal of a wall so access is easy from one part to the other: Comfortable and practical. Above all, the new chums are already seasoned pub veterans with this crew being the custodians of a Melbourne favorite, Royal Oak, in Nicholson Street, North Fitzroy.
The entrees read so well, with neat tricks everywhere e.g, potato, leek and parmesan croquettes (4/$12), and grilled prawns, kohlrabi and nam jim (3/$18), a fine BBQ taste supporting but not overpowering, the stars of the plate. glazed beef skewers, almond cream, pickled cucumber again make up a list of 8 or so entrees.
New and old make up a similarly numerical list of mains. The Petrel cheeseburger and chips (26) is a pub staple, the confit duck leg with white bean cassoulet and radicchio (34) may tempt you to try different. A wonderful, thick chicken snitty, garlic butter, coleslaw, chips, ($28), would be as good as you would find anywhere.
A couple of highlights were;
- Bangers/Mash, onion gravy, mustard. $26. Two thick bangers with a mix of beef, worcestershire & black pepper are packed tight; mash and gravy support brilliantly and its old school with this main. It amazes me why more pubs don’t have great snags.
- Sunday roast. $30. This one: Braised lamb shoulder, thick tile, cheesy polenta, watercress. Arrives perfectly cooked, thick, rendered properly, moist. This is how Lamb is done.
Guinness $7/pot, offers a real alternative, as does Geelong West Bitter, and Stomping Ground Pale. Carlton D remains steadfast as a highlight tap ($6.5).
Wines are well chosen from a smallish list; Mount Duneed Pinot the preferred at $13pg while Gaelic Cemetery (Clare) provides a nevermiss Riesling at $11.
And so the Petrel has shed its reputation as a pub that colleague Jimmy Bartel described as being one of the toughest in the district; where arguments were settled in the Woolies carpark at the rear. Often.
Like its across the road neighbour, The Telegraph, (DeBortoli Pub of the Year 2022), this end of Pakington is really moving. Congratulations to the team involved in rejuvenating this pub, retaining the right balance of traditional modern.
The Petrel was well worth the visit.
SCORE: 15.5