Hotel Lincoln

You may not always bank on fine dining in a pub, but this historic hotel provides options. Large group for a business lunch? The sleek, black glass and carpeted rear dining room is for you. Something less stuffy? Try the brighter, parquetry-floored section. More casual still? Prop at the grand Art Deco front bar. Regardless of where you eat, the pay-off is simple, generous, southern European food. Start, perhaps, with four delicately seared Hervey Bay scallops paired with cauliflower, white sauce and capers; or deconstructed lasagne layered with discs of bitey pasta and tender quail. The hotel dry-ages its own beef, so expect to find half a dozen cuts, or opt for free-range pork, perhaps roasted belly and prosciutto-wrapped fillet, served with a potato skin 'nest' of creamed cabbage and black pudding. Twice-cooked banana souffle is a knockout finish, sitting in vanilla custard with a side of salted peanut caramel sauce.