\nWho\u2019s behind it?<\/p>\n
Hankering after a Sunday roast in Hamilton? Head straight to this great new spot fashioned from the remains of the city\u2019s oldest hotel.<\/p>\n
What is it?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s like an old-fashioned hotel pub but it\u2019s actually a flash bar, newly fashioned from the remains of Hamilton\u2019s oldest hotel. In a mercifully straightforward bit of branding, it\u2019s called the Hamilton Hotel Public Bar & Bistro. No surprise then that walking in the elaborately tiled front door presents you with just two options: a right turn into the bistro or a left turn into the public bar. On Sundays the swanky bistro is closed and they do a roast in the public bar, which is what drew me in. Who doesn\u2019t love a single-option, no-swapsies Sunday roast?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Where is it?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s at 170 Victoria Street, occupying most of the streetfront of the long-awaited BNZ Theatre.\u00a0 Kirikiriroa needed a new theatre after Founders Theatre closed in 2016 and it\u2019s finally arrived, bringing with it four new hospo venues: in addition to Hamilton Hotel there\u2019s also Four Daughters (sandos, natural wine, beers), Birdman (a cosy upstairs cocktail haunt), and a relocated version of the universally adored bar Wonder Horse.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s new about it?<\/p>\n
Not the neoclassical facade, for a start; that\u2019s been there since 1923. Hamilton Hotel\u2019s tagline is \u201cWaiting on you since 1865\u201d \u2013 there\u2019s been a hotel on this spot since then, but the first one burned down and the second one did too. The third incarnation \u2013 built in stone and brick in 1923 \u2013 nearly burned down during a production of Hamlet in 1992, but it was saved by the two actors playing the gravediggers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Only the facade was retained in this current redevelopment but the Hamilton Hotel\u2019s design pays sensitive homage to some sweet details that recall the building\u2019s long history. Nowadays you get to the Public Bar via the very public streetfront entrance labelled \u201cprivate entrance\u201d.<\/p>\n
The very public \u2018private entrance\u2019, and Waikato Draught swappas along the top of the bar (Photos: Amy Stewart)
\nWho\u2019s behind it?<\/p>\n
The same r\u014dp\u016b we have to thank for much of what\u2019s good to eat and drink in Kirikiriroa these days: local lads John Moughan, Alex Hudson and Matt Pedley, and their partner and general manager Jonathan Knapp. This isn\u2019t the first old building they\u2019ve dreamed up a new use for: Last Place, housed in a 1970s ex-mechanics and spare parts shop on Collingwood Street, remains one of my favourite places in the country for a burger and a show. You really have to appreciate places like this that are so good because they\u2019re made by people who actually do things like eat burgers and go to shows.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What are the vibes?<\/p>\n
Being a Sunday at noon it was quiet when we walked in, but grew steadily busier as the afternoon went on. It\u2019s a beautiful room \u2013 the smartly updated old-school grandeur makes you wish there were actually rooms upstairs. The fit-out is all cobalt banquettes and chartreuse loveseats, somewhat startlingly punctuated by TV screens playing whatever\u2019s on internationally: baseball and rugby when we were in.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The owners cite Parisian bistros and New York steakhouses as inspiration. You certainly feel the bistro and the steakhouse, but it also feels comfortable and warm and easy like a classic New Zealand country pub. The bar is well-stocked and I am always delighted to see neat ranks of Waikato Draught swappas along the top of the bar. Hamilton Hotel cannily plays on that tired old remark that Hamilton isn\u2019t so much a city as a big farming town, and if you\u2019re incredulous at the thought that you can eat well beside the Waikato just as you can beside the Seine or the Hudson, then you\u2019ve not been dining out enough in this city.<\/p>\n
The Sunday roast: porchetta with cannellini bean puree and a mustardy jus with lentils, and the beautiful interior. (Photos: Amy Stewart)
\nWhat should I order?<\/p>\n
Well, the roast. Like the place itself, it\u2019s a smartened up version of a Sunday roast, so you won\u2019t need a lie down afterwards (handy, as they told me they\u2019re going to keep the Sunday roast going through summer). It changes weekly and on the day we went it was porchetta with a cannellini bean puree and a beautiful, mustardy jus with lentils. If you want a Henry VIII-type situation<\/a> you won\u2019t get it \u2013 the serving size of the potatoes only felt mean because they were so delicious.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s just the roast that\u2019s no-swapsies: the whole rest of the bar menu is also available, and it\u2019s stacked with classics: oysters, eggplant parm, fish and chips (with mushy peas!), bangers and mash. I had a bite of the Caesar salad with delicious dressing so thick it would pass the meringue held-over-the-head test.\u00a0<\/p>\n What\u2019ll it set me back?<\/p>\n The roast was $35, which is steep-ish but not unjustified in this economy (not least because it was so delicious). There are interesting beers on tap \u2013 I had the Karamu Barrelworks Tank 4 Saison for $14, but as a gauge a bottle of Steinlager will set you back $10. The wine list is extensive and runs from $12 to $30 for a glass, and you can get a bloody Mary (and many other cocktails) for $22.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hamilton Hotel Public Bar & Bistro<\/p>\n 170 Victoria Street, Hamilton<\/p>\n Tues-Sun 12-late (bar), bistro lunch 12-3pm, dinner 5pm-late. Roast available all day Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hankering after a Sunday roast in Hamilton? Head straight to this great new spot fashioned from the remains…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609526,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[138,6288,141,232273,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-609525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-hamilton","tag-kai","tag-new-and-approved","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}