Casual pub with a menu that riffs on English classics.
The Flying Fox
Pub dining$$
From the team behind St Kilda’s Lion & Wombat, this two-level venue feels like it’s been in place for decades. There’s plush English carpet in red swirls, a tufted leather banquette, an old church pew, and a handsome bar custom-crafted from Tasmanian oak by a carpenter who has built bars in Britain. The walls were painted five times to come up with the right sepia tone and artfully worn texture; they’re hung with old-timey prints and signs.
Downstairs, service is at the bar, where there’s Guinness on tap as well as local craft brews. High tables and a pool table run down the centre of the room. The upstairs bistro has timber floors, 50 seats, table service and its own oak bar. The same menu runs across both levels.
It’s more of a place to drop in for a drink after work or on the way to the footy, but executive chef Nathan Babos has still developed an appealing menu that riffs on English classics.
Welsh rarebit is refashioned as a doughnut oozing with cheese. House-made rye crumpet is served with pipis in ginger sauce. Scotch egg has smoked pork hock through its meat mixture and comes with sour cherry ketchup. Delicate dory fillet is smothered in peppercorn sauce. Sunday roast is a feature here, too: beef rump, chicken, porchetta and cauliflower will be served with all the trimmings.
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