Kootingal Hotel

Sunday perfection is a sunny beer garden beside a willowy creek. Children play on the jungle gym, adults laugh and drink ice-cold schooners and the service is efficient and smiling. The menu is a hits list of popular pub fare: schnitzels, fish and chips, steaks and burgers. The only real surprise is the Thai beef salad which, like everything on the menu, comes out quickly and is fresh, perfectly prepared and completely down-to-earth. The front bar is a throwback to the 1970s with a dingy pokies room and TVs blaring football, but the back area is all picnic tables and sociability.