Public Inn: Corner Barker & Mostyn Streets, Castlemaine, 5472 3568
My score: 3.5/5
For an ambitious restaurant to succeed in Castlemaine it needs to play to the town’s country core, plus the Northcote-of-the-north treechangers, and the gourmet grazers who know their heirloom tomatoes and microherbs. If ever there was a man to please these different, demanding clientele, it’s Hayden Winch, a local boy who managed Daylesford’s standard-setting Lake House before he worked in Asia and the Middle East managing large-scale hospitality ventures. A few years ago, his kids looked fit to burst out of their Hong Kong apartment so he brought the family home. A venture in Bendigo was short-lived; his six-month-old Public Inn looks the goods to stick around.
Winch swears it’s a restaurant not a gastropub but there is a long bar, a lounge with Chesterfields and high benches, and a proper dining area. But pubs rarely feel as light and stylish as this place: everything from the reclaimed mango-wood rush chairs to the elegant light fittings is bespoke and pleasingly textural. The wine offering shrewdly melds high concept and low prices: barrels are mounted in a wall, filled with wine from local producers, which is then served in 250ml or 500ml science lab bottles. The food-miles angle is covered and packaging-free direct acquisition keeps prices down. I drank a terrific Yandoit rose at $9 for 250mls. Laughing.
The food is smart too, modern European with the largest debts to Britain and France. I loved the rillettes, potted braised pork and rabbit meat, bound with its own fat and tarragon: not fancy but very tasty. Also lovely was the sardine escabeche, touched by the pan, then pickled in saffron-infused liquor. Most main courses ply a straightforward meat and veg path, but they’re all competent, whether it’s grilled porterhouse, crisp-skinned sherry-glazed duck breast, or roast chook that’s fancier than it sounds. Moist, tender Marylands are deboned and rolled with tarragon, pancetta and preserved lemon then roasted to crisp the skin. They’re sliced into pretty cylinders and served with smashed potato, onion and bacon to create a plate both elegant and homely. Desserts are simple with a twist: try honey pannacotta with green tea jelly cubes and apple compote. The chocolate fondant elicited pantomime oohs when it spilled across the plate.
Service is relaxed in attitude but rigorous in detail, the perfect combination for a country restaurant that’s dancing happily at the intersection of comfortable and professional.
First Published in The Age, February 6, 2011
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