Pub Of The Week: Tony Leonard reviews the Inverleigh Hotel

Inverleigh Hotel

1 High Street, Inverleigh.
5265 1720
www.inverleighhotel.com.au

When? November 18, 2022.

VENUE

Pretty as a picture just off the Geelong – Hamilton road, the Inverleigh hotel is one impressive sight, some 20 minutes west of Geelong. (Make sure you take the Newtown/Hamilton exit other wise you’ll be catching the waves at Torquay before you know it!).

Surrounded by peppercorn trees, the double storey bluestone pub has traded for 170 years. Old style front bar with some sporting paraphernalia dotting the walls, though to the equally quaint dining room (seats around 30), reminiscent of some beautiful old Tea Rooms you may have been taken to years ago.

On the outside, two neat dining areas surround the pub, and on a rare warmish November 2022 day, was well patronised.

Owner/operator run, it appears a family and friends  affair, with everyone going flat out to provide the best hospitality knowing full well that it draws on a large area for patronage.

Pub sensibly trades Wednesday — Sunday (Inverleigh population 1800) and is backed up with a fine range of pub favourites, fairly priced on its menu with  an interesting  mix of local wines on a short punchy list.

All parts working well, The Inverleigh is another example of a good country pub within 90 minutes of town.

FOOD/DRINK

Clever menu, well priced, and happy to promote local producers/suppliers.

Entrees are limited to a few choices – Duo of Dips, house made, flat bread , $14, or Smokey Chicken Wings, house made sauce (16) but the expansive mains promise much and similarly deliver.

Butter Chicken Curry, bread, raita, $27, Guinness Braised Beef Cheek, fully plated $33, and while all pubs will offer Fish/Chips, the Inverleigh’s this day was Gurnard. $26 and looked a treat.

And a couple of desserts embrace Shankys Whip for the sauce/topping (Waffle, ice cream $13):  a delicious mix of Irish Whiskey and Vanilla with a most subtle and satisfying taste.

Beer is well served from familiar CUB  taps, but in keeping with the pubs push to use local, the excellent Prickly Moses for the Otways is offered and never misses. 6/7 wines of Red /White varietals from a small menu, locally One Day Estate from Curlewis (Pinot noir, 11pg/47/btle), was selected and a fine drop it was.

• Entrees: $13
• Mains: $28 ( steak $36, fully plated)
• Desserts: $13

Tried was;

• Southern Fried Cauliflower. $12. Various shapes and sizes of this veg arrive in a plastic basket, thick coating of chick pea, lightly spiced, tomato relish and this version stood up well against many tried this year, without knocking it out of the park from a flavour profile. Expect to see more Cauliflower  presented like this on pub menus in 2023.
• Roast pork belly, chat potatoes, cumin carrots, veg. $30. Two thick rolled pieces, well cooked were plentiful, rich and crunchy, faint taste of cumin in carrots with some ok veg completed the plate. Western Plains provides the Pork, a reputation well deserved, and can always be confidently bought.
• Pork and Fennel Sausages, mash, peas, caramelised onion, RWJ. $28. Sourced through another Western districts provider, SaltKitchen, these bangers are wonderful. Taut, tasty with the fennel in a perfect supporting role, this generous plate had great mash, a lovely jus, and was thoroughly enjoyable eating. Not sure why, but good snags on pub menus are a rarity nowadays.

Summary 

All things ticking over well here, my only mere criticism was that the dishes were a little rushed  to the table,  meaning the 2 courses were completed in under 25 minutes. No faults but just needed a bit of time between them.

But when you have the lovely looking pub in pretty surroundings, any issues are easily brushed aside as it is pubs like the Inverleigh that you want to trade, as it is now, for years to come. When the warmer weather arrives, it will be a tough choice to dine inside or out.

The Inverleigh is a pub with a generous heart. You see it with the staff fussing over you at your table with a ‘nothings too much trouble attitude’.

Like so many pubs of this type in a smaller country towns, you unashamedly barrack for continued success.  The Inverleigh is no exception.

SCORE: 13.9/20