hookturns.com

While Griffs Wine Pub served good food at reasonable prices, somehow it didn’t manage to attract enough business to survive. Hopefully the folks behind the Town Hall Hotel (166 Johnston St, Fitzroy), which now occupies the former site of Griffs, is more successful.

This new eatery follows a similar formula, with upscale pub food, although probably aims a little higher. Even though we were sitting in the bar, we were able to order from a bar menu or restaurant menu. Both offer small, medium and large dishes.

On this occasion I chose a simple risotto of prawns with preserved lemon and basil from the primarily Italian menu, and it was cooked extremely well. The rice was a good texture, and the preserved lemon provided the right level of richness.

My girlfriend had the gorgonzola and honeyed pear risotto, was slightly heavier, but not as rich as the ingredients suggest, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. A side of green beans with dried ricotta was executed perfectly, and complemented both dishes.

There were a couple of interesting beers from Pure South on tap, including a very tasty pilsner, and I expect that they might rotate the beer selection.

It wasn’t very busy on the Thursday we visited, while The Commoner up the road was heaving. However, based on this first visit, the Town Hall Hotel is doing all the right moves, and deserves to be successful.

For a quick, reasonably priced lunch in Fitzroy, I don’t think you can beat Brunswick Street Alimentari (251 Brunswick St, Fitzroy). I could happily eat nearly anything on they serve up, but my favourites are the chicken schnitzel wraps and meatball wraps.

The chicken schnitzel wraps are pieces of pita bread wrapped around sliced pieces of schnitzel, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise. While this which might not sound particularly special, thanks to the quality of individual components, the whole thing tastes amazing.

Equally delicious are the meatball wraps, which are a cross between a standard wrap and a piadina. The meatballs are nicely moist, and complemented by leafy greens, tomato, cheese, and a hit of lemon juice.

Although I rarely pass up the wraps, there’s are generally two or three salads to choose from, which look and taste fantastic.

The quality of the food is matched by the staff, who are some of the most helpful and genuinely friendly around.

I do wish they made better coffee, as I have yet to get a genuinely good one there. The only other negative is that they often sell out of the wraps, so get in by 1pm to be sure of getting one.

I remembered reading Fitzroyalty’s very positive review of Juanita’s, so decided to drop in for lunch.

I only wish I’d re-read his post, or that of Where’s the Beef before visiting, because I could have ordered a lot better. Had I re-read either of these posts, I would have definitely ordered the Huevos Rancheros, which not only look awesome, but filling too.

Instead I ordered a sort of Chilean steak sandwich. It was tasty, but was very small for a steak sandwich, and at $15.50 didn’t represent very good value. Other cafes would have charged around $10 for a serving of this size.

My girlfriend chose the kidney bean gratin, which was delicious. We shared a delicious vanilla slice for ‘dessert’.

It took around half an hour for our meals to arrive (far too long), but I’d still give Juanita’s another shot.

Despite meals at the Rochester Castle (202 Johnston St, Fitzroy) costing just $9, or even less if you take advantage of one of the specials, they’re not particularly great value. Not bad value, just not great value. The servings are quite small, particularly the salads, and there weren’t even many chips with my fish and chips. This would be fine if the meals were of a high quality, but they’re merely ‘okay’.

Given that the Rochester also offers cheap jug deals, I suspect that none of this is really going to matter to who I assume are the Rochester’s target clientele, uni students.