On the last night of our stay in
Ocean Grove when there were just a few of us left in the holiday house, we decided to eat out at the Ocean Grove Hotel. This was a traditional seaside pub with lots of seats, lots of entertainment for the kids and good honest pub grub. Because sometimes when you are at the beach, you just want to relax and let someone else cook for you.
My dad had a quite look at the pub late in the afternoon and they advised him to book. It looked pretty quiet but when we got back at about 6pm it was bursting at the seams. We were lucky the nice waitress found us a table. Next time we will make a reservation.
We started with drinks. I had a soda, lime and bitters which I often order. I have never seen it in a glass like this (and did you see the wee man in my drink)!
Sylvia and Dash couldn't wait to go outside to the play area. They would have loved to bounce on the trampolines (built into the ground) but there were too many kids on them. The climbing frame and slides were entertainment enough for them. If the weather had been nicer we would have all enjoyed eating outside. At least it wasn't cold enough to need the wood fired stove!
My dad enjoyed watching the cricket but my seat faced these historic black and white photos. I love a good historic photo but these gave me the urge to straighten them. When I wasn't thinking about the pictures looking awry I contemplated what they told me about the history of the place but didn't come up with many answers. Not even when brainstorming with my family.
Choosing Sylvia's dinner was easy. She had the margherita pizza (above). Tomato and cheese is one of the few combinations I know Sylvia will eat on pizza. It didn't go down so well with green stuff on it. She ate around the green stuff as much as possible.
I spent time carefully considering the vegetarian options. No pizza because I make good pizza at home. I felt like I had eaten a few salads at the holiday house so I didn't go for the Vietnamese noodle salad or the pumpkin and beetroot salad. And I really wanted Turkish bread so I would have the dips and olives platter. However that was off the menu so I made a snap decision to order the vegetarian pizza with spinach, ricotta and roasted Mediterranean vegetables (top photo). It was a nice pizza with lots of vegies. I didn't manage to finish it as it was very filling.
We all enjoyed our food. My sister was impressed that they had half serves of some of the mains. Sometimes you don't want the huge plate of food. She and my mum had the fish and chips while my dad had the ribs (I think).
I quite fancied the desserts: sticky toffee pudding, New York cheesecake and mud cake. The kids were amused that the desserts not only included frog in a pond (chocolate frog in a jelly pond) but also snake in the snow (lolly snake in a bowl of ice cream I assume). However we decided we had been eating enough cake for
my mum's birthday and left without desserts.
Ocean Grove Hotel
175 Bonnyvale Road
Ocean Grove, Victoria
http://oceangrovehotel.com.au/
Snake in the snow? How have I not thought of that?...that's brilliant! Clearly I need to think outside the dessert square a little bit more.
ReplyDeleteThanks Bridie - snake in the snow really amused me and I was a little sad not to stay and see the kids order one to see how they served it
DeleteI like the sound of the half serves! They need that at Cornish Arms. When I lived overseas there were half loaves sold everywhere and I thought it was brilliant!
ReplyDeleteThanks Veganopoulous - the Cornish Arms meals look huge and in need of half sizes - I have always liked the bakers delight has some smaller loaves.
DeleteThis looks like an above average hotel - a great selection of veggie dishes by the sounds of your possible choices and an excellent playground! Your pizza looks lovely.
ReplyDeleteThe crooked pictures would have annoyed me too ;)
Thanks Kari - it was a nice pub - having good service makes a difference and it was really busy so I guess that others are happy to eat there too.
DeleteJohanna, I just noticed that you have added me to your Lovely Blogs section!! Thank you so much, I'm very much honoured. :)
ReplyDeleteThis post was also great, as pubs are my favourite places to hang around and like reading about good ones around the world.
Thanks VegHog - our pubs in Australia lack the cosiness of the British ones but the seaside ones have a particular holiday vibe that is lots of fun. And looking forward to seeing a few more of your posts
DeleteI do love it when restaurants have a play area for kids. I also love to order a soda lime and bitters. That pizza looks really good xx
ReplyDeleteThanks Charlie - so much easier to relax at a pub when the kids have something to keep them amused :-)
DeleteLooks like a great place to eat. The pizza looks delicious (especially with green stuff on it haha).
ReplyDelete"When I wasn't thinking about the pictures looking awry..."
Do you think they did it on purpose to annoy people with OCD? That would drive me batty to look at ;p
I enjoy the pubs in Melbourne, cozy, relaxing and great atmosphere! I did see the wee man in your drink, haha, that was a weird looking glass, but the color is nice! Speaking of the cricket, we went to our first cricket game, it was pretty interesting except for the loud Indians! I tried to go to Cornish Arms and emailed them about it, they said they require a reservation, is that true?
ReplyDelete