Railway Hotel, 35 Anderson Street, Yarraville. Phone: 9687 2034
Sunday roast lunches at pubs – $10, $15, $20, $25?
Do you get what you pay for?
As far as we know, the Spottiswoode Hotel continues to offer a grand $10 deal on Sundays.
Others we know of in the inner deliver offer $20+ offerings.
This Sunday, Bennie gives up on his desire for Vietnamese tomato rice in the face of his dad’s determination to go roast.
We first head for a certain Williamstown pub we believe now has $15 roast lunches on the menu, but on arrival we discover they will not start until the following weekend.
Plan B is return home, park the car and walk to our local, the Railway Hotel, which has been advertising $18.50 Sunday roasts – sort of a middle ground price-wise , with two kinds of meat on offer.
Will it be worth the extra dollars?
We pay, get our number and wait.
Bennie chooses the pork.
I try a mouthful.
Perhaps unsurprisingly it’s dry but – good stuff – tender enough.
But it IS full of strong, good piggy flavour.
The crackling is a tad salty but all of it is crisp and a joy to eat.
One pub manager has told me it’s simply impossible in regards to power bills to serve roast veggies at these sorts of prices.
That I don’t mind.
The spud is roasted and herbed and very good.
The beans, broccoli and carrots may be steamed but they are wonderful – cooked more than al dente and perfect.
I select the roast beef (top photograph).
It’s fabulous.
It appears to be smothered in good gravy.
But as it turns out there is just enough gravy – and only just enough – to support the meat.
I am served three slices that are just shy of half an inch thick.
The meat is tender and tastes grand.
It breaks apart in strands that I more familiar with from dining on brisket at BBQ joints.
This is new and wonderful territory for me when it comes to roast beef.
There is so much of it, I keep offering Bennie hefty chunks even as I close in on the final slice.
“I can’t eat it all, mate!”
“That’s because you aren’t manly enough …”
I am on a serious food high as we skip down the street for some sugar and spice from our fave ice-cream joint.
The Railway Hotel Sunday roasts have convinced me that sometimes, at least, you do get what you pay for.
And it’s still a bargain.
consider the sauce 
I’m sorry, I find that a poor excuse for delivering up steamed vegs. I have cooked Sunday roasts in local hotels & the basic plates were: roast meat, roast potatoes, pumpkin, onion & carrot, cauli & cheese sauce, peas, gravy & French bread & butter. The potatoes take longer to cook than the carrot & pumpkin, so what is the ‘power cost’?
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Hi Diana! That’s just what one pub manager told me. As I hope I made clear, I don’t mind steamed veggies in this context – especially if they’re done as well as these ones were. Do you know a pub in the western suburbs who does a roast as you describe? We’d be keen to check it out!
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The 2 I cooked in are gone. Buckingham & Charlie Suttons [can’t remember real name] cnr Eleanor & Essex. I haven’t found a ‘real roast’ in the last few years, sorry. I, too, would be interested.
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Intriguing to read your positive comments about the Sunday roast at Yarraville’s Railway hotel.
Your review of the Sunday roast is a stark contrast with most Urbanspoon reviewrs who almost without exception not only “bag” the quality and cost of the food , but also the staff and even the cost of a beer i,e. Urbanspoon reviewers largely are unhappy with most aspects of the Railway Hotel.
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Hi there! The above review is solely about the roast lunches we had. We have also tried – and enjoyed – the $15 Tuesday parmas. Apart from that, we haven’t tried anything else – including the beer – so cannot comment. It’s far from unusual for the reviews on blogs – including this one – to differ from the general thrust of comments on Urbanspoon.
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