Profiled by deGroots MediaYou won’t stumble across the Victory Hotel by accident. It will be a determined journey to Sellicks Beach fuelled by curiosity from all the rave reviews this place gets. Gourmet Traveller named the wine list one of the world’s top 45. But don’t judge this book by its cover. It may appear to be an outback watering hole where the house specialty is old-school pub grub – but looks can be deceiving. One scope of the menu here and you can rest assured that your long journey will be rewarded with some fine food and wine.
The view outside is better by a country mile – literally. The vista of Gulf St Vincent stretches far and wide, best enjoyed from one of the plastic chairs on the veranda. Seek out a treasure from the famed cellar and order the free-range chicken liver pate with port wine jelly and warm buttered brioche while you plot the course of your meal. An entree of sumac spiced Silver Sands squid with garlic aioli or Goolwa cockles woven through spaghetti with garlic, wine and tomato, will see you on track. These local coastal inhabitants make a delicious relocation from beach to bowl. Stay on a seafood roll with a main of chilli salt soft-shell crab or Kangaroo Island King George Whiting, beer-battered in South Australia’s hallowed Cooper’s amber liquid. Desserts are as divine as the rest of the menu; a Greek honey and pine nut tart with fresh figs and Alexandrina cream shows that the proof is in the pudding.
Roz Taylor