Cathedral Hotel

I was headed back from Bakery on O'Connell and Brougham Park when I espied this hotel from across the way. I am not a local for indeed I am on holiday here from Geelong. It captivated my eye. My eye lead to imaginings of a raspberry or a sneaky 11am beer. As it turned out, only the corner section was open which is a cafe. Fine, that's fine indeed. Opportunity and chance can combine to be a benefit to you. As in, while waiting with no idea what to order, I saw sparkling waters and -and!- rye bread rolls. Jackpot. I had no belly room after filling up at Bakery on O'Connell BUT tomorrow I am needing premade and convenient food for a long, long bus ride. That rye roll with sweet potato and haloumi will be a thoroughly benficient option. The sparkling water was mere hydration with the light delight of orange and mango. Thank you for wrapping that roll into clong wrap to preserve it for the time! Edit: update, 28.11.23. I had that rye roll and the first half was better and tastier than I had hoped... Haloumi, pumpkin, lettuce, roasted capsicum. The second half... pumpkin seeds. Not pepitas nor even roasted/dried, just seeds. I imagined that the pumpkin was not deseeded when roasted. Or were they deliberate? They were all clumped in one lump. I gag when food is texturally incongruous; thats not something you can control, obviously, but my point is that it is weird, weird as, to roast a pumpkin with the seeds in - then plonk it in a sanger. I picked them out and soldiered because, for all my misgivings it was still delicious. If the seeds are deliberate, my bad, I wouldn't have ordered had I known. But yeh the flavours and all other textures were on the money.

Decent pub food, probably reasonable priced given the serving sizes for most meals (the salmon was quite light on - about a 120g fillet with pickled onions, a smear of hummus and a scattering of coriander and parsley as the 'herb salad'. Also the pistachio crust was so light that I forgot it was there until right near the end - couldn't taste it) Burger was tasty and chips/wedges quite good (preferred the wedges).

Classic Australian pub meal regarding the style and decorations. In this particular one, I felt left alone and ignored by the staff. I’m not saying they were impolite neither rude, just a bit not interested … I went there on a Monday around 7 pm, it was just me and another customer. The food was edible enough just to do the job, that’s all, but I didn’t like the gravy sauce, too artificial and dumped on top of the schnitzel covering all the rest, a bit messy. The pub does the job if it’s only about killing the hunger and you’re ravenous, but the quality/service is not that good. I hope it changes in the future, as the building where it’s located is a traditional historic building, pretty cute.