Queenscliff Is Serving Up Her Old Charm Again
The Age
Monday September 30, 1996
HISTORY, when it hankers to repeat itself, is often tardy, fickle and unpredictable. Queenscliff, which has known lush times and lean, has waited a long time for history to return with a smile of good fortune. Slowly but surely, it's on its way.
It was once Victoria's most exclusive, then most fashionable seaside holiday resort and a haven for flourishing fishing fleets. Governor La Trobe had a holiday cottage there. People whose wealth was founded on gold or grazing came to spend their summers.
Queenscliff blossomed during the land boom of the 1880s. Four new grand hotels, each a striking symbol of style and confidence, set the tone. In the high season, up to 2000 Melburnians a day made the excursion by paddle steamer across Port Phillip Bay. Many more came by the new rail link from Geelong.
Now visitors come in growing numbers by road (90 minutes' drive from Melbourne) or the new catamaran car ferry shuttling every two hours during the day from Sorrento. And presiding over this revival, all freshly restored or renovated, are the stately, towered hotels of Queenscliff, vying with each other to offer high-quality food, wine and accommodation.
The names are redolent of another era: the Vue Grand, the Ozone, the Royal and the Queenscliff. All were built within a few years of each other but each has its own particular charms and attractions.
The Queenscliff Hotel and the Vue Grand are the dowager duchesses of this hospitality aristocracy, run with remarkable professionalism and offering some of the best food to be found in provincial Victoria. Friendly cooperation prevails, to the extent of advertising joint "stay at one, eat at both" package deals.
THE Queenscliff Hotel is the youngest of the four sisters. Built in 1887, it was the first to be reclaimed, in 1978, and restored from run-down pub status to its former glory. It is perhaps better known as Mietta's Queenscliff Hotel, although Mietta O'Donnell, a former doyenne among Melbourne restaurateurs, is no longer a partner. Mietta's elder sister, Patricia O'Donnell, is the chatelaine here.
Inside and out, it is arguably the prettiest of the hotels, and the most European in ambience. The red-brick structure has such eclectic architectural features as a coned tower, Dutch gables, extensive verandas and lots of cast-iron lacework. Inside is a profusion of rich timbers, stained glass and, in the lovely Victorian dining room, oriental art. Masses of flowers wherever you look and the cosy little sitting rooms with open fires and masses of good reading matter suggest a feminine influence and concern for homely comfort.
If there is a downside, it is that none of the 22 bedrooms upstairs have private bathrooms. Ms O'Donnell makes no apologies for having restored rather than modernised the hotel, and is justly proud of her achievements. The bedrooms are small but comfortably furnished. Bathrobes are provided for trips to the bathrooms.
Food, wine and service are the key inducements for those for whom nostalgia for a gracious bygone age is not enough. Stylish food is served in all three dining areas: the fixed-price feasts at $59 a head in the wonderful Victorian dining room, the contemporary a la carte fare (mains mostly $19.50) in the T-shaped conservatory bistro with the view to the garden courtyard at the back, and the simpler, inexpensive cafe dishes available (along with superb coffee and cake) available at the bar.
Chef Xavier Robinson combines his grounding in classical technique with a modern touch, presenting food that is never stereotyped or unduly challenging, but generous in quantity, clear-cut in flavors and attractive in presentation. Many of the bistro dishes may be ordered in large or small sizes.
Sunday lunch is particularly popular (the courtyard is filled as well in good weather), and it is wise to book. I lunched on beer-battered harpuka fillets with anchovy mayonnaise, braised pork neck on mash with double-peeled broad beans and a light tarragon jus, and rhubarb icecream with rhubarb compote and meringue.
The formal dining room menu offers more complex dishes with such extras as an appetiser, a small salad after the first course, perhaps a chilled pear before dessert, or cheese, and chocolate truffles with espresso coffee. The wine list is exceptional, with an emphasis on Mornington and Bellarine Peninsula wines, and a good choice by the glass. (On quieter nights, a combined menu is offered in the dining room and bistro; the latter is open daily for lunch and dinner)
For coffee, a glass of wine and a delightful little snack during the day, do drop in to Mietta's Shop and Bar fronting Hesse Street through a pebbled herb garden. You will find lots of goodies to take home, too.
THE Vue Grand, more formal in design and more masculine in feeling, was said to be the handsomest and best-appointed hotel in the colony when it opened in 1881. From its central position, it provided magnificent views over the Bay and ocean. Its domed ballroom, almost as grand as the Windsor's in Melbourne, drew high society in its best finery to its dinner dances.
A fire in 1927 reduced the hotel's impressive size to two levels. The edifice was little more than a sad shell when local businessmen Michael McNamara and Daryl Davidson rescued, restored and renovated it from 1983 to 1988 at a cost of more than $2 million.
The Vue Grand has retained its Victorian ambience but all its 32 bedrooms are fully en suite, some with spa baths and balconies. A well-equipped conference wing, heated swimming pool and gymnasium are among its amenities.
The restaurant in the heritage-restored ballroom, complete with a grand piano, is also open to the public; now that the Windsor's Grand Dining Room is reserved for special occasions and Mietta's has closed, the Vue Grand offers a gracious, old-world dining experience no longer found in Melbourne.
General manager Vladimir Hradil, a veteran of top international hotels, and young French chef Stephane Le Grand, a gifted protege of Paul Bocuse, are a formidable duo; the former ever striving to raise already high standards, the latter dedicated to original, quality cuisine.
At this time of year, the top-drawer menu is served only on Friday and Saturday nights. I tried two outstanding dishes: a witty tower of duck and pheasant terrine ringed by young asparagus spears and crowned with a fresh morel cap, and a duo of spiced quail and ostrich. The boned quail was stuffed with a delicate spiced chicken, duck and mushroom farce, the ostrich fillets were roasted medium-rare for tenderness and served on essence of Indian wood and honeyed vinegar sauce with purple cong potato.
For lunch daily and dinner on other nights, the menu offers simpler dishes at much lower prices ($11.50 to $17.50 for mains, instead of around $25.50), such as a seasonal fisherman's platter, free-range chicken filled with marinated Timboon fetta, or fettuccine with calamari and smoked salmon in a creamy saffron sauce. The kitchen now also bakes its own delicious range of French breads, and the desserts are a delight. The wine list runs to some distinguished reds of decent cellar age.
Don't forget your bathers for a dip in the pool and spa before pre-dinner drinks or before the generous buffet breakfast included in the room price.
UP THE hill from the Queenscliff Hotel and linked by ownership with the Vue Grand is the square-towered, three-storied Ozone Hotel, painted in heritage amber with a blue trim and iron-lace-work balconies.
If this were the only hotel in town, it would be revered as a gem. But in spite of being eclipsed in culinary excellence by its grander sisters, it has been quietly climbing the social scale since Daryl Davidson took charge in 1990, and has the potential to achieve similar status.
Built for the Baillieu family as a grandiose foreshore mansion in 1881, it became a hotel a year later and was renamed the Ozone in 1886. Apart from the vivacious Karen Thornton as manager, it has two enviable assets. All 20 bedrooms are en suite, and its spacious, balconied Baillieu suite (the best in town) and the front rooms on the top floor offer unrivalled sea views.
The Ozone's ornate Grand Baillieu dining room, a smaller version of the Vue Grand's, opens only on Saturday nights for formal dining but offers the same menu as the more casual Boat Bar restaurant, which looks out on to a courtyard garden.
The menu has broken from its fairly conventional boundaries with such creations as Bay scallops with emu and kangaroo sausage on red pepper pesto and marinated lamb with Arabic chermoula, chardonnay jelly and grilled eggplant. Having found the dishes I tried for lunch a little heavy-handed in their seasoning, I feel there is scope for a touch more finesse in the kitchen. Simpler, cheaper, family-style fare is available in the front bar, which has more of a cafe than a pub feel to it.
ALL pristine in white, the Royal Hotel is the first you see as you drive into Queenscliff. It aims at a lower market than the others, and still has a public bar, but former policeman Steve Wilson is working hard to lift its standards and image.
Queenscliff's original hotel opened here in 1854 but the present building, smaller and less ornate than its rivals, dates to 1882-83. It operated as a pub until 1969, lost its licence and closed, reopening with a tourist facility licence (meaning that it can't sell packaged liquor) in 1988.
There are only 12 bedrooms, with only one en suite. But the public rooms, especially the Victorian dining room, have an unpretentious charm. Chefs recruited from the highly rated Sunnybrae and Geelong's Botticelli have raised the quality of the bistro-style menu well above that of normal pub fare.
As well as landscaping the adjoining gardens for the summer trade, Steve Wilson - inspired by the shining example of Stefano's subterranean cantina in Mildura - plans to convert the hotel's arched brick cellars into a weekend wine bar and Mediterranean-style eatery.
Like the Ozone, this is a place to watch as Queenscliff begins to relive its glorious past as an enchanting seaside resort.
DETAILS
(Mietta's) Queenscliff Hotel, 16 Gellibrand St, Queenscliff. Tel. (052) 58 1066. Licensed. Open daily. Double dinner, bed and breakfast packages from $200 weekdays, $310-$340 Saturday. Range of two to four-day packages available. Fixed-price dinner menu $118 for two, plus drinks; bistro lunch or dinner, about $84 for two (three courses and coffee), plus drinks; less for bar meals. Cards: AE BC DC MC V.
Vue Grand, 46 Hesse St, Queenscliff. Tel. (052) 58 1544. Licensed. Open daily. Fri-Sat double dinner, bed and breakfast $315; Sun-Thurs $265; weekend package $510; balcony rooms $10 and spa rooms $20 per person per night extra. Fri-Sat dinner about $115 for two (three courses and coffee), plus drinks; Daily lunch and Sun-Thurs dinner about $72 for two, plus drinks.
Ozone Hotel, 42 Gellibrand St, Queenscliff. Tel. (052) 58 1011. Licensed. Open daily. Sun-Fri double bed and breakfast $120-$180; Sat double dinner, bed and breakfast $245-$360; weekend packages from $355 double, two days midweek from $310. Lunch or dinner, about $78 for two (three courses and coffee), plus drinks; less in bar. No smoking in dining room; non-smoking area in bistro. Cards: AE BC DC MC V
Royal Hotel, 34-38 King St, Queenscliff. Tel. (052) 58 1669. Licensed. Open daily. Double bed and breakfast $60-$90. Lunch and dinner, about $64 for two (three courses and coffee), plus drinks; less in bar.
For Saturday or Sunday lunch, I can also recommend Harry's (tel. 052 58 3750 - it's wise to book) in the foreshore park opposite the Queenscliff Hotel, and for a light lunch or morning or afternoon teas, Hobsons Choice gallery and tearooms at 2 Hobson Street.
© 1996 The Age
