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14/20

The Rover

Updated ,first published

Hot smoked sardines, lamb sausage roll, fried oysters and pork rillettes.
1 / 8Hot smoked sardines, lamb sausage roll, fried oysters and pork rillettes.Edwina Pickles
Seafood plate.
2 / 8Seafood plate.Jennifer Soo
Whole flathead, clams and garlic.
3 / 8Whole flathead, clams and garlic.Dominic Loneragan
Fisherman’s pie.
4 / 8Fisherman’s pie.Jennifer Soo
Lamb sausage roll.
5 / 8Lamb sausage roll.Edwina Pickles
Eel pate with horseradish jelly and glazed crumpet.
6 / 8Eel pate with horseradish jelly and glazed crumpet.Jennifer Soo
Southern style fried oysters.
7 / 8Southern style fried oysters. Edwina Pickles
The dining room.
8 / 8The dining room.Jennifer Soo
14/20

The Rover

Seafood$$

Buzzy cocktail bar boasts a unique dining combo.

It can be tricky to get your head around The Rover. The bold tartan carpet says “British pub roasts”, but then the menu is oysters and burgers. Those burgers say “craft beer please”, but this is a cocktail bar with an extensive wine list.

Our advice? Don’t overthink it, and instead dive into a dozen of those oysters, paired with a bone-dry sparkling Chablis. Nice. Move, then, to The Gidley burger, care of The Rover’s sister establishment in the CBD. A double beef patty is engulfed with American cheese and comes with hunky pickles on the side; the chips are thin and crisp.

You could spend your entire night at cosied up in a booth or balanced on a bar stool, but the place is perhaps best for pre- or post-dining, for oysters and sparkling to kick the night off (or a very well made Old Fashioned), and a whisky – neat – to wind it down.

Best for: Pre-dinner snacks or post-meal whisky.

Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.

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