September 13, 2025
When the weather forecast is warm on a day in September, we want to make the most of it! Michael suggested that we find somewhere local for dinner outdoors. This pub and its beer garden used to be a fave, though less so in recent years. We knew it first as the Sporting Club Hotel through the early 2010s and visited many, many times in the latter years that it was known as the Charles Weston Hotel.
The food went downhill after the pandemic hit, and then it closed for a long while for secretive renovations, only to reopen under that past name, the Sporting Club Hotel. The opening menu included wagyu beef doughnuts, and the once rambling courtyard looked uniform and sterile - I wasn't impressed. It was Michael who loyally checked what they're now serving and persuaded me to give it another try.
Happily there are now a decent number of well-marked vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options across the menu, though they're still going for an upscale vibe: you'll spot oysters, celeriac cakes and tuna ceviche long before you can confirm further down the page that chips are available.
We got started with reputation-saving plate of fried Brussels sprouts ($16, pictured top). They're served atop a rich cheddar sauce, tumbled together with croutons, onion and parsley.
Our sunny night was rapidly cooling, and Michael drew some comfort from the deceptively filling lasagne alla norma ($32), layers of eggplant, pasta, pesto and ricotta that were perfect for the season.
I tried the vegetarian version of the pasta fazool ($30) - casarecce with braised beans, broccoli and a sprinkling of parmesan but no pancetta. It's the kind of dish we love making at home.
I'm still not over the loss of this pub's back garden, but those Brussels sprouts are bringing me around. You might see more of the Sporting Club Hotel on this blog yet.
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You can read about one, two, three of our visits to the 2010s Sporting Club Hotel, and our first of many visits to its interim life as the Charles Weston.
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Sporting Club Hotel
27 Weston St, Brunswick
9996 1869
Accessibility: The Sporting Club Hotel has a flat standard-width entry, an even wider flat entry directly to the beer garden, and plenty of space inside. Ordering and payment takes place at the bar, which in our experience can be very loud. It's been a while since we visited the toilets; back then they were easy to get to but were just ordinary sized cubicles for men and women.
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