Hotel Spencer

LOCATION
Where Spencer Street meets light industrial and residential West Melbourne, five minutes’ walk from Telstra Dome.

PROFILED BY DE GROOTS MEDIA
Any way you look at it, Hotel Spencer is in a great location. It’s on that part of Spencer Street where the CBD slides into light industrial and residential West Melbourne, and it’s only a few minutes’ walk from Telstra Dome. The front bar is a comfortable drinking spot with some tables sprawling towards the restaurant. The dining room is all soft green walls and timber dadoes, with solid timber chairs and polished tables with linen napkins. The message: this is the place for a good meal, but it’s not intimidating. The menu is the same throughout the venue, so the only difference is the level of service. Your order is taken at the table in the restaurant; bread and oil as a standard, but it’s a more casual and relaxed affair in the front bar.

The food is an engaging mix of modern Australian and traditional pub fare. Yes, there are all the pub standards – schnitzel, parma, fish and chips, pie – and they are distinguished by quality ingredients and careful cooking techniques. An entree of seafood broth with fresh scallops, prawns and fish is balanced and delightful . There might be corned beef, elegantly presented with a mustard cream sauce, or – if you’re lucky – a trio of lamb, roasted, braised and confit, with pea & ricotta beignet and ratatouille. Now gaining a reputation for house aged Sutton Grange beef, the cuts change daily and come cooked to perfection. The mood is friendly, the wine list is largely Australian and fairly priced, and there are some great Victorian and interstate craft beers on tap.

Rita Erlich