Pub of the Year: North Fitzroy Arms
An award recognising a quintessential pub – new or old – that’s embedded in its community, offers food and drink that’s a cut above, and is welcoming to all.
Fitzroy North
When the Carlton Draught sign flickered back on last year, there were doubts about whether this corner pub would still have its old soul, nurtured for nearly a decade by ex-footballer Percy Jones and symbolised in the Fitzroy Football Club memorabilia gracing every surface, even tabletops.
Sure, the bistro is now candle-lit and dressed with white linen. The wine list by sommelier Hayley McCarthy (ex-Ides) is as strong as many restaurants’. But in the front bar, mates draped in scarves watch footy, families pile in for bowls of chips in the afternoon, and the Fitzroy Lions tables remain.
Uniting these two tribes is food that’s the right side of kitsch: pie floaters, Sunday roasts, sausage rolls, plus one of the year’s most-photographed dishes, the egg and anchovy-topped schnitzel Holstein.
Draught’s still on tap, and house wine starts at $13. To visit the Arms is to see Melbourne’s pub-naissance in full swing.
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