North Melbourne’s new-look The Courthouse Hotel is all class, but does the menu revive its gastropub glory days?

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I do not envy the modern publican. Unless your venue has a loyal clientele, built up over years, the question of a smart offering can be confounding. What does the neighbourhood want and need? An old-school watering hole with parmas and burgers? A more refined room with ambitious food and well-made cocktails along with beers? Something in between? All of the above?

Of course, one of the magical things about the best pubs is that they can be many things to many people. But pulling that off, from the operations side of things, is much harder in practice than it is in theory.

It was this difficulty that occupied my thoughts during my meals at the newly renovated Courthouse Hotel in North Melbourne, a venue that has seen days in which its restaurant held two hats, and days in which it had become a run-down neighbourhood pub with no real ambition.

New owners Ryan Moses, Rusty Sturrock, and Ryan and Laura Berry, who also run Naughtons Hotel in Parkville, have signed a 30-year lease on the pub. The Courthouse reopened on May 19.

The fitout of the blond brick art moderne building is truly lovely, with pale timber wainscotting, creamy stucco walls, pebbled glass partitions, and quirky but classy artwork throughout, including a framed profile of a mulleted child from the 1800s and floral still-life paintings, and plenty of plants in brass pots.

The dining room sports an open fireplace and beautiful deco lamps and sconces, and the front bar is all brass, brown marble and carved wooden stools, and is blessedly free from televisions or other distractions. The place is all class.

There are no parmas here, but there is a fat wiener schnitzel made from Otways pork with chips and red cabbage.

The new owners are aiming for class on the drinks list, with a great wine selection and well-made cocktails in beautiful glassware, and on the menu as well, with Sturrock acting as head chef.

The food is probably best described as gastropub fare: there are no parmas here, but there is a fat wiener schnitzel ($29) made from Otways pork with chips and red cabbage. There’s also an elevated take on bangers, albeit without the mash: pork and fennel sausages ($32) with braised lentils and caramelised apples. (If the sausage gods demand it, you can buy a side of mash for $11.)

There’s part of me that wonders whether the food here would be a little more successful if that ambition were dialled down just a smidge.

It’s nice to have the option of ordering a beautiful piece of black kingfish (cobia) with piquillo pepper ($42) at your local pub, but the experience is sullied a bit when the Israeli couscous that comes under the fish is badly overcooked.

I have no idea what was going on with the “gravy” that came alongside the wiener schnitzel, but it was barely more than warm brown water, like what you’d get when rinsing the gravy pot out at the end of the night.

And there are functions of a pub that aren’t really met with a menu like this. I stopped by late one afternoon for a schooner of hand-cranked ale and a snack, and couldn’t find the right dish to scratch the pub-nibbles itch. The closest things were a serving of chips ($11) and some chicken croquettes ($18), which hit all the salty and crispy notes.

But if I’d arrived wanting something akin to a counter meal, I’d have come away hungry, or having spent $47 on a 300g porterhouse. (There is sometimes a pie on the specials list; I’d encourage it to find its way to the regular menu. I never had it, but the photos I saw looked fantastic.)

The best thing I ate at the Courthouse was a coq au vin for two ($70), its flesh thoroughly imbued with wine, sitting over silky mustard mash with pancetta and soft balsamic-laden onions. It was hearty, yet elegant – everything you’d want from a warming pub meal that’s aiming higher than your standard neighbourhood local.

And their chocolate tart ($15), in buttery pastry and served with stout ice-cream, would be happily at home on just about any upscale restaurant menu.

Again, what this crew is trying to achieve is an extremely difficult balancing act. In terms of the service – which is fantastic – the fitout, and the general vibe of the place, they’ve done a stellar job. I think the food offering still needs tweaking: perhaps a few more casual dishes; perhaps someone overseeing the more ambitious cooking a little more closely.

But even as it stands right now, this gorgeous building offers one of the loveliest classic pub experiences in the city, while staying entirely true to the bones of the original. It’s obvious a tonne of heart and thought and love have gone into every element. And aren’t those things what we truly want from our pubs, above all else?