This place Rocks

My co-judge at the Australian Gin Awards, Mikey Enright, has opened a fabulous new pub in The Rocks and I was invited there for dinner last night.

The Observer Hotel has been reimagined as a classic English pub. First established in 1848 as the Observer Tavern, the venue closed down before the pandemic, becoming one of Sydney’s shuttered ‘ghost” pubs.

My office is in The Rocks and I love it there, it’s such an atmospheric part of Sydney, filled with so much history.

Mikey and Julian Train (both pictured main), his partner at Barrelhouse Group (The Duke of Clarence, The Barber Shop and Hickson House Distilling Co.) have spent the past three-and-a-half years transforming the heritage-listed venue on George Street.

The result is a pub that aims to evoke memories of a quintessential drinking house of years gone by, filled with lived-in charm, scotch eggs, whisky-drenched steaks, cask ale and Irish coffee cocktails.

Yum! How good does all that sound?

It’s early days for the venue, which only opened its doors last week, but it’s been packed from day one.

The owners were busy last night serving meals and drinks themselves while they get their staffing sorted, but they did an awesome job of making everyone feel welcome. I loved the place.

Let me start with first impressions. Located through the doors of the building’s original, multi-storey facade, the grand oak public bar was a gorgeous first stop.

I gave Mikey a hug and we had a quick natter about his hectic first week as a publican before he had to rush off to work the floor.

I asked the bartender for his cocktail recommendation and he mixed me The Berry Merchant, with Hickson House Classic Dry, cherry heering, Lustau Fino Sherry, lemon peel and mixed berries. Loved it.

My next stop was the spacious dining room, decked out with an eclectic mix of furnishings sourced from the United Kingdom.

When my friend Kel arrived, Mikey poured us glasses of a sparkling wine from Pommery made with English grapes, as you do when toasting a British boozer.

We clinked glasses in the pub’s lovely glass conservatory and perused the menu.

The head chef is Sam Bull (ex-Icebergs) who is putting his own spin on classic dishes. These include Hunter Valley scotch eggs, flaky Berkshire pork sausage rolls, Byron Bay gammon steaks finished with pineapple and whisky glaze and a retro prawn cocktail.

The pub also serves a roast with all the trimmings every day of the week, while on Sundays they’ve gone all out with four different options.

I’d never tried a Scotch egg, so Kel and I shared one to start, which was very tasty.

The menu item that caught my eye among the mains was the whisky-infused dry-aged ribeye – a nod to Enright and Train’s spirits background. Sadly, the steaks haven’t been dry aged long enough yet, so I’ll need to go back for one.