Australian Heritage Hotel, The Rocks

100 Cumberland Street, Sydney

Reviewers present: Burger Bot, Joe Blogs

Time of review: The Long Lunch

Too busy drinking beer to take a decent photo

"It's good but, struth, how good?"

The Australian Heritage Hotel is a good pub. However, coming to a conclusion on this one has been hard - some really rate it, others don't. Is it a great pub? Not quite.

Situated in the quieter corner of The Rocks, and still pulling in a number of punters, the pub stands wedged on an acute corner with its Australian flags and baby-poo orange paint-job. Opening in 1824 and originally built on the busier Rocks strip of George Street (next door to where MCA now stands) the Australian claims to be "the oldest continuously licensed pub in the City of Sydney." Along with many other buildings in the area, the original Australian was demolished around 1900 when the plague hit Sydney.

Inside the hotel today (the existing building built in 1913) there are two bars built on split levels around the two sides of the building. There's a bunch of artwork and old beer memorabilia along the walls, which helps to give the place its character, and many of the original 1913 bar features remain.

Joe Blogs' thoughts

The Australian Heritage is a tops summer sun pub with a good (read "different") range of beers on tap and plenty to choose from in the bottle. If you can get a seat on the footpath in summer, take it and enjoy the vibe. Later in the afternoon, the bench seats and tables are removed to make way for standing patrons drinking in the late afternoon sun. You don't find a lot of pubs these days, particularly in the city, where you can drink on the footpath area. Beauty.

Extra points are given for the Australian's "Beer Festival", which is held around October each year. The hotel has the side street closed off for punters to sample many beers from around the country. It's an event worth checking out at least once.

As far as beers on offer go, lots of rippa tasty stuff here. On this occasion we were enjoying the Illawarra Amber Ale and Scharer's Bock by the jug and it was going down a treat. Lovely. The price? Don't know, sorry, with thanks to the firm. Same for a Carlton Draught, who knows. Check it out for yourself, lazy!
 
The food is okay but I wouldn't go there for it specifically. They put on a reasonable sounding pizza menu and load 'em up with toppings like kangaroo, crocodile, duck, spicy chorizo, etc, but the problem is they are overpriced and becoming smaller on each visit. The bases are a real let down too. Bland brought-in discs of cardboard. Shame.

The Bot's lot
I'm on the fence about this one... Be it at the bar or in the sun The Australian is great for a beer. The vast collection of animals on pizza isn't the draw card for me, but hey, if you're an Aussie pub doing the pizza thing, keep it simple and nail it. All they'd have to do is quarter the menu and make a decent base! That'd be true blue dinky-di bonza, mate. On a side note, are the JBT tunes and Aussie flag t-shirts just for the tourists' benefit? Not sure. Over doing it? Maybe.

Back on the beer note, it's good to see the Illawarra stuff - I quite like it. Try it out if you haven't already. There's a bunch more beers on tap and they know how to pour 'em and keep 'em coming. Love a bit of delicious liquid gold around my business and in my gut.

In conclusion, mate
We at Sydney Pub List don't mind it but not totally sold. Definitely good for the beers. Personally, we would prefer to go pre or post lunch rush to avoid the packed factor. The Australian Heritage Hotel is in Australia. It has some heritage and it certainly is a hotel. With a name like the Australian it has a lot to live up to. Check it out and you be the judge.

Website: www.australianheritagehotel.com/