The Court House

Ph: 9329 5394; The Court House Hotel, 86 Errol St, NORTH MELBOURNE 3051 www.thecourthouse.net

Modern European, $$ +, ** for Food
Open Mon-Sat noon-3pm 6-10pm bar 11.30am-midnight; Licensed; AE DC MC V EFT
Chef Jocelyn Riviere (5-12-08) Owner Scott Thomas (5-12-08)

Mietta's Review
Unusually this pub manages to provide classy food in the bar as well as the dining room. Tim Saffery's dishes don't sound over the top but they have genuine refinement. There's no condescending to the workers here as the bar also serves great food. In the dining room the well judged professional service is a major plus. This is a comfortable, recommended, situation. Excellent value two course lunch and glass of wine.

Other published opinions

Age Good Food Guide 2009 Score: 15/20 "It's fitting that The Court House's elegant ArtDeco curves are constructed from honest blond brick, for inside this stately hotel lies a dining room that delivers haute cuisine refinement with gastropub modesty"

Gourmet Traveller 2009 Australian Restaurant Guide Score: * "The Court House has built a mighty reputation over the last few years for high-concept, mostly French fare that has kept the revamped Art Deco pub-turned-diner on the gourmet map"

The Age Cheap Eats 2008 "Thank God for front bars in gastropubs. Were it not for these outposts of affordability, the city's pub revival would be beyond many"

Age Good Food Guide 2008 Score: 15.5/20, One Hat "The Court House retains its yellow brick exterior, bar, poolroom and Art Deco pub ambience, and with its polished timber floors and hard edges, the simple wood-panelled dining room can be noisy"

Gourmet Traveller 2008 Australian Restaurant Guide "From outside it resembles the working man's pub of old, but this is no battle-scarred relic of the six clock swill"

Herald Sun Dining Out, Stephen Downes, 5-06-07 Score: 19/20 "Nowhere else in Melbourne is such fine and sophisticated cooking available at such a price. You will eat much worse in several more expensive, alleged top restaurants. The wine list, which features many drops from France, Italy and Spain, is extensive and expensive. Four table whites and five reds are sold by the glass."

The Age Cheap Eats 2007 "Errol Street's most genteel pub, with its dark timber interior, polite staff and boutique tap beer, is a world away from the old North Melbourne bloodhouses."

Herald Sun Eat, Bob Hart, 24-6-06 "it is one of our finest gastro pubs: art deco outside, English cosiness within, and food that leaves most Melbourne haunts in its price range for dead. This week, I settled into the deliciously compact dining room with my wife - a former chef and a hard marker who now loves the place as much as I do."

The Age Cheap Eats 2006 today it's a prize-winning gastropub. Cheap Eaters should head straight for the bar, where a great range of drinking snacks ... The magnificent mains take a traditional route - think fish 'n' chips, pork and pinenut sausages with mash

The Age Good Food Guide 2006 score 15/20 1 Hat "From the plain, blond-brick exterior of this Art Deco pub, you may think that cheap beer and sticky carpets are all that lie in store. But inside, you'll find one of Melbourne's best gastropub dining experiences - from pork-and-apple sausages and a pilsener in the public bar to more serious propositions in the intimate, timber-clad dining room beyond."

Gourmet Traveller 2006 Australian Restaurant Guide * "A gastropub has been described as a "hotel that specialises in high-quality food a step above traditional pub grub". But for a better understanding of the genre, head for The Court House, a blond-brick Deco hotel in North Melbourne."

Gourmet Traveller 2006 Australian Restaurant Guide Best pub dining "The Court House stands tall as one of the best pub dining rooms in Melbourne. Talented young chef Tim Saffery keeps it real in the kitchen"

The Age (melbourne) Magazine May 05 Gastro Pubs John Lethlean "A backbone of refined cooking underpins the dining room here"

The Age Good Food Guide 2005 "AFTER dabbling with two tiers of dining (counter meals in the front bar, more refined dishes in the posh rear dining room), this former working-class pub has melded both menus into a single all-purpose document."

The Age Cheap Eats 2004 "WHEN was the last time you pulled up a stool at a pub and ordered green and white asparagus with poached egg and parmesan curls? Or plonked your elbows on a bar and knocked back a glass of Gosset champagne?"

The Foodies' Guide 2004,Allan Campion & Michelle Curtis,'Chef-owner Scott Thomas is mighty busy churning out pub grub like the classic portherhouse steak and chicken parmigiana in the bar.But the real magic happens in the dining room,where the food bar is raised several notches by dishes such as the braised pork cheek with orange,fennel and hazelnuts.'

AGFG 2004, score 14/20

Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide Australia 2004,'The style of this restaurant is cosy English pub, but the food is a world away from pork pies and chip butties.The seasonal fare is clean and uncluttered...quick service...an above-average range of beers and wines, the inventive menu does justice in The Court House.'

Herald Sun, Sunday Magazine, 2004, Graham Pearce, Score 8/10,'Pub-style dining for the 21st century.Get used to it...A pub attached to a dining room'

Herald Sun, citystyle, 23/12/03, Stephen Downes, Score 18/20

The Age, Sunday Life, 30/11/03, Roslyn Grundy

Age, Epicure, Restaurants, John Lethlean, 8/7/03, Score 14.5/20

Herald Sun, weekend, eat, 28/6/03, Bob Hart

Herald Sun, Sunday Magazine, 17/8/03, Lyall Corless, Score 6.5/10