Monday, December 23, 2013

The Fox Hotel VII

December 16, 2013


The Fox Hotel is my favourite pub in Melbourne (especially with the recent sad closure of The Gasometer). It combines an old-school charm with an excellent (and rotating) beer selection, decent music, friendly staff and a fantastically veg-friendly menu. Oh, and possibly the best rooftop in town. So with summer finally joining us, The Fox was the perfect place to hold our final pubclub for 2013. 

We settled in on one of the corner tables on the rooftop, rejigging our seating arrangements to minimise glare while maximising sunshine. The Fox has a wide array of vego dishes to choose from, including their long-standing staple dishes (e.g. the mushroom, quinoa and pine-nut burger, the veggie burrito) and some newer menu additions (e.g. pan fried sesame tofu tossed with rice noddles, mushrooms, broccoli, Vietnamese mint and peanuts).

Cindy and I both ordered new dishes, hence the blog post. For me, it was impossible to go past the pulled tempeh roll with cheese, coleslaw, pickle and chipotle sauce with chips ($19, can be made vegan and gluten-free).


I was very happy with this - the chipotle sauce had a nice smokey heat, the pulled tempeh was plentiful and delicious, and the array of condiments kept everything tangy and saucy. It was impossibly messy to eat of course - I gave up and went straight for a knife and fork. Added bonus: it comes with chips (a key criteria in my pub-meal decision making process).

Cindy was lured in by the promise of tempura and ordered the teriyaki tofu with tempura veggies, steamed rice, sesame, wasabi mayo and a ginger sauce ($19, vegan and can be made gluten-free).


This was another success - silken tofu with teriyaki sauce, pots of wasabi mayo and soy sauce and an array of tempura veggies.  The tempura was quite thick and crispy, with the sweet potato in particular winning Cindy's admiration.

It's almost impossible for me to be objective about The Fox at this point - it's hard to think of a better way to spend a summer evening than parked on the rooftop devouring the excellent food they're serving up.

____________

Read about our previous visits to The Fox: one, two, three, four, five and six. Since our last trip, there have been positive reviews from veg-bloggers I Spy Plum Pie and The Lentil Institution.
____________

The Fox Hotel
351 Wellington St, Collingwood
9416 4957
fully licensed
veg entrees $5-15, veg mains $18-19

Accessibility: There's a small step at entry level. Several of the indoor rooms (and probably the ground level outdoor space) have widely spaced tables; the beer garden is up a narrow staircase with rail. All orders are taken and paid for at the high bar. Toilets are at ground level.

No comments:

Post a Comment