The Old Fitzroy Hotel

THE TAVERN ONCE known for dishing up steaming bowls of laksa is now pushing the boundaries of pub grub. Business partners Jaime Wirth, Michael Delany and Joel Amos have brought their brand of vigour and good times – a proven success at the Duke of Enmore and the George Hotel in Waterloo – to this famous corner of Woolloomooloo. The upstairs level has had a facelift, with country English estate-esque portraits of ladies, hounds and landscapes adorning crimson walls. The ground floor remains mostly untouched with groups of old friends and couples relaxing into newly upholstered chairs adding to the room’s inviting vibe, courtesy of a welcoming front bar and fireplace. Also fuelling that welcome is chef Nicholas Hill’s take on traditional English pub fare. He’s manned the pans at Sepia and Quay as well as the Ledbury in London, and now he’s applying that fine-dining level of finesse to the plates here. Marvel at tangy globe artichoke, for instance, leaves pleasingly smacking of bay leaf vinegar, asking to be pulled apart and dipped into a moreish parmesan sauce. Red deer and ox tongue terrine, wrapped in radicchio, comes with a tart black grape mustard that cuts through the intermingling chunks of tender meat. The pie reveals a rich, stringy pork and molten cheddar filling beneath a golden, flaky top marked with a blackened yet sweet onion heart. Then there’s the schnitzel. Coated in a thin and crisp crumb, this $25 beauty is matched with salty, rosemary-sprinkled potatoes that would more than suffice as a standalone snack. Vanilla custard treacle tart, a slick column with a burnished brown top in a pool of molasses-rich sauce, recalls the nostalgia of crème caramel. It’s hearty, flavourpacked, well-priced and impressive stuff to enjoy. The new Old Fitz draws and pleases everyone, but the old guard remains: the theatre out back still stands and an eager audience can be found waiting for the clanging bell that signals the performance’s imminent start. With the fire roaring, craft beers on regular rotation (the Grifter, Yulli’s and Young Henrys are all on tap) and a wine list heavy on the natural stuff, proceedings are relaxed and jovial – even a Beatles song playing starts a singalong. The invigorated Old Fitz reasserts its Sydney pub institution status.