Melbourne's Waterside Hotel Has Relaunched as a Three-Storey Multi-Space Pub and Rooftop Bar

The CBD's historic Waterside Hotel has entered a new phase of life, relaunching last week at the hands of prominent pub group Sand Hill Road, who are behind the relaunches of Melbourne's Garden State, Prahran and Bridge hotels.

Building on the bones of the impressive three-storey building, the new owners have reimagined the pub as a multifaceted drinking and dining destination that nods to the past. A considered array of antiques, art and furniture sourced from across Europe lends plenty of personality.

This place is huge and houses five separate spaces. Gracing the largest of the ground floor spaces is the Ale House, a sprawling public bar where the focus is on crafty American beers. It sits alongside the Doghouse, a US-inspired dive bar slinging hot dogs, tinnies and bottled cocktails, and an old-world dining space dubbed the Chophouse. In the kitchen here, Head Chef Stuart Munro (ex-QT Melbourne, Cumulus Inc. and the now-closed Merricote) is delivering a tidy selection of seafood, vegetarian plates and quality meat cuts, including a 1.2-kilogram Rangers Valley black onyx Angus tomahawk that feeds four.

One floor up, the Bubblehouse features a dedicated cocktail and Champagne lounge, with a drinks selection curated by Kevin Peters — he a former Eau De Vie bar manager and responsible for that stellar cocktail lineup at Garden State Hotel.

The Waterside's crowning glory is a rooftop bar known simply as the Roof, boasting sprawling CBD views and serving a streamlined version of the menus offered below. That corner of the city is a little bereft of quality drinking dens, so the pub's bars are sure to get some serious uptake.

The Waterside Hotel sits on the corner of Flinders and King streets, Melbourne, and is open daily. For more info, visit watersidehotel.com.au. 

Images: Brook James.