February 28, 2011: The Pinnacle Hotel

Our pub-club continues apace - exploring the inner north for veg-friendly pubs open on Monday nights. This time around: North Fitzroy's Pinnacle Hotel. Occupying the narrow wedge between St Georges Rd and Taplin St, The Pinnacle was once a Post Office and is now an oddly shaped but cosy looking pub.

One of the bonuses of Monday night pub-club (the other being the general lack of pub crowds) is that a handful of pubs offer discount meals. The Pinnacle, for example, had a blackboard menu of $12 Monday specials. Two of the six options were vego: risotto cakes and eggplant parma. For once Cindy and I didn't mix things up, we both had our hearts set on parma.

Credit has to go to the Pinnacle for making a bit of effort on their parma sides - the skinny, crisp potato wedges were to die for and the sesame-dressed beans and greens salad was a touch classier than I was expecting. The parma itself was pretty well done - a few bits of slightly tough eggplant but a rich and cheesy topping on a couple of very generous slices. Impressive.

Despite the cheap meals, The Pinnacle had plenty of space for our group of seven on this Monday night. It's a nice pub and definitely worth a revisit.

While I'm at it - if anyone out there has any pub suggestions, let me know - pub-club is starting to run out of new places to sample (for a complete list of places we've visited, check out the blue markers on this map).

The Pinnacle hasn't had a lot of blog love: Brian at Fitzroyalty gave it the thumbs up and Melbourne Booze Hag and The Happiest Hour are also fans.

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The Pinnacle Hotel
251 St Georges Road, Fitzroy North
9489 3884
Licensed
veg mains $12 (on Mondays, usually $15-$18)
http://www.fitzroypinnacle.com.au/

Accessibility: You'll need to get up a couple of small steps to get into The Pinnacle but things are pretty flat and spacious once you're inside. All ordering and payment happens at the bar. We didn't visit the bathrooms to suss them out.