Earlier this week, BotF popped into a couple of new pubs. Both pubs – the Lounge Room and the Waterside Hotel are allegedly owned by Matthew Richardson. If that’s the case they vary like Richo’s career did from weeke to week.
Firstly the Waterside Hotel has been lovingly restored and retains a great old pub feel. At-the-bar drinking, bar stool and high tables and lounges provide plenty of options. There’s also plenty of good pub grub. I think that I would make plans next time I’m in Melbourne to check out the Long Parmy night – $16.50 for a Chicken Parmagiana and a Long Neck of Melbourne Bitter. There’s also a top floor bar, which I didn’t get to check out, that looks very promising for summer. This is a very good bar.
I also visited the Lounge Room, which actually had big raps on it. It could have been the weather, but this place didn’t give me the slightest buzz. It is very antispetic and feels like a cookie cutter bar that sits at the bottom of any apartment block (which is exactly where the Lounge Room sits). The web-site paints a view from the front door which is far from what we experienced. The bar is smart enough, and nothing is out of place – and I think that is this bar’s problem. It would probably go off like a cracker in summer or as people stroll the Promenade and load up before a game at Docklands in warmer weather.
At least we got to witness one amusing episode. In the photo, you should be able to spy an older gentleman with a Bob Hawke coif and a navy blue suit. At closer inspection, he was a throwback to The Club and had a John Mellion nose that had plenty of time and effort put into it. He was nursing a pot of Carlton and looked like he had been considering the events at the Carlton Committee meeting for around 6 hours. About 15 minutes after we got their, we heard the clatter of a stool and turned around to see JM prostrate on the tiled floor. Despite taking a tumble, JM had kept a firm grip on his pot and not a drop was spilt. He was eased to his feet, and shuffled slowly out the door. Something makes me think he would have felt more at home at the Waterside.
back of the ferry 