"If you were lucky and lived in Port Melbourne, it might even be your local"
Matt Preston - The Age, Epicure
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Prince Alfred ReviewsThe Age – Cheap Eats 2008Being all things to all people can be a tough business, but PA’s skillfully walks the line between DJ rockin, nightspot and old fashioned corner boozer with a footy tipping comp. And the mod pub grub’s a cracker. The blackboard menu stars skewered scallops on a mango salsa, hunger-busting burgers on toasted pide with house-made relish and a pile of perfect chips, and a plump rosemary-and-honey sausages on smooth buttery mash. Wait-staff can be hard to pick from punters when it’s busy, but snag one to order dessert: broad hunks of New York cheesecake or choc moussed cake defy anyone to leave hungry.Melbourne Pubs WebsitePopular large pub that's neither grungy nor upmarket - just that spot on, in between feel. The Prince Alfred Hotel is a large square room, with a central square bar. The layout does well, maximising bar area for all. A restaurant area features, and a DJ fires the place up on the prime nights. Our tip: Port Melbourne on the weekend? Prince Alfred for the music. Your Restaurants WebsiteWeathered on the outside but with a snug, modern interior, this hotel serves up a typical selection of bistro-style food. The space is decked with a maroon lounge area, dark timber seating and even an old chalkboard menu. Daily specials and classic Aussie pub grub give the Prince Alfred Hotel the feel of a true local. www.yourrestaurants.com.au/guide/?action=venue&venue_url=prince_alfred_hotel Urbanspoon WebsiteThe food has always been great here, well priced and the service prompt and friendly. Been here many times and will def be back! - Rob www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/761535/restaurant/Melbourne/Prince-Alfred-Hotel-Port-Melbourne Citysearch WebsiteRoughly translated, a pub is an establishment for the sale and consumption of beverages, predominantly beer, often also serving food. A gastropub is a pub that concentrates heavily on gastronomy; the creation of good, and some might say artistic, food. Somewhere in the middle of the two is the Prince Alfred Hotel. Situated in beautiful Port Melbourne on the popular shopping and dining strip, calling the Prince Alfred Hotel a pub would appear to underrate it, while adding gastro to the title would be giving a false impression. Expect instead a hotel that serves traditional Aussie pub grub in unpretentious yet modern surroundings with live entertainment thrown into the mix. The Prince Alfred in Port Melbourne is the perfect mix of casual, relaxed ambience without forgetting the important touches. The food is so much better than "pub grub" and the Dj and live band afterwards were lots of fun! melbourne.citysearch.com.au/restaurants/1137462865187/Prince+Alfred+Hotel Get a Life WebsiteSo good, that even as I was leaving I snuck back in because the band started playing one of the best songs from Pet Shop Boys! I couldn't resist and totally loved it. www.getalife.com.au/ViewActivity.aspx?Activity_Id=15554&siteref=homepage Matt Preston: The Age, Epicure, Tuesday 21st June 2004Think of a real pub. One with a high bar for leaning on, a footy tipping comp, a couple of pool tables and a sense of history. It's about this time of the year, when the wind starts to bite and a chilled glass of rose starts to lose its attraction, that my thoughts turn to the pub. But not one of those shiny, modern places that looks like it's stepped from the pages of a fashion mag, all dolled up with groovy light fittings and elegant, organically shaped banquettes in suedette. No, I'm thinking of a real pub with a wide, high bar for leaning on, a footy tipping comp and perhaps a couple of pool tables, the green baize faded from a thousand doubles into the centre pocket. During the week it might be quiet, but when the pay packet arrives it's good if there's a dodgy local band or a DJ to distract the rest of the hotel from your antics It is nice, too, if there is a veneer of permanence, a sense of history. Perhaps a Weg caricature on one wall and a picture of the pub's footy team on another. This should be from a time back when blokes wore trilby hats and flat caps and had the required wing-nut ears to hold them up. And finally, it would probably have a name that tells you it's been here since the days of horses rather than horsepower. Something like the Prince Alfred. It should also have regulars keen enough on its success to bombard someone like me with emails singing its praises in the sort of orchestrated campaign usually reserved for elections. There should be a suitable range of CUB and Tooheys beers - and some quaffable bottles of red, like the T'Gallant pinot, Dalwhinnie Cabernet and Cravens Heathcote shiraz, that'll see off the winter chill. And decent bar staff who aren't worried about where their Equity card is coming from would be another plus. There's not much else I want, other than enough space to stand around the pool tables and enough tables so you can sit and eat from a menu that costs less than the 20 gaspers you'll smoke before you go home. This menu should be hearty, unthreatening and the perfect match to a night celebrating the brewer's art. Spring rolls, burgers, steak sangas, bangers and mash, fish and chips, wedges with sour cream, perhaps dips and definitely a fat slab of cakey sticky date pudding with lashings of cream and butterscotch sauce. There obviously needs to be a parma - maybe a chook one with cheese and napoli sauce or a veal one with a crumb crust dark from a fryer that's obviously seeing some action. And then something for the chardonnay drinkers, like ribbons of lemon-peppered, battered calamari on a big mound of dressed leaves. If you were very lucky - and lived in Port Melbourne - it might even be your local pub. |