Healesville Hotel

Ph: 5962 4002; 256 Maroondah Hwy, Healesville 3777 www.healesvillehotel.com.au

Modern Australian, $$ +, ** for Ambience
Open Lunch 7 days noon-3pm Dinner 7 days 6pm-9pm; Licensed; DC MC V EFT
Chef Neil Cunningham (7-11-07) Owner Michael Kennedy & Kylie Baiharrie (7-11-07)

Mietta's Review
The Healesville Hotel is genuinely sophisticated in its changes. They took what was described as "a shocking old place", and cleaned it up completely. False ceilings were removed to reveal the originals. Part of the old pub that was sublet to an antique shop, was restored as a function room. The central dining room, which has a modern style long banquette seat and regular tables for about eighty, leads out onto a vast and enticing beer garden. The menu focuses on Yarra Valley produce and Yarra Valley wines, which makes good sense and great eating and drinking. A growing percentage of clientele are locals, who, originally sceptical, are now enjoying the fine produce of their area. For a special night out in the dining room, main courses are between $19 and $29.50 or you can get a terrific value bar meal for much less. The market pitch is somewhere between the expensive wineries back in the Yarra Valley and a country pub. The recipe was pretty right as it's become another Healesville sanctuary, and a destination point for the young Melbourne escape trade, at the end of a trip to the Yarra Valley.

Other published opinions

Gourmet Traveller 2009 Australian Restaurant Guide Score: * "It's the archetypal country hotel that inspires dreams of swapping the rat race for a bucolic life - the Healesville's allure is based on the assumption that country living could be this consistently good"

Age Good Food Guide 2008 Score: 15/20, One Hat "First impressions count for plenty, and this grand old dining room scores highly with its soaring pressed-tin ceilings, generously spaced tables, open fire and dark-timber floors"

Gourmet Traveller 2008 Australian Restaurant Guide "A little foodie empire has sprung up along Healesville's main street, courtesy of the town's eponymous hotel"

The Age Cheap Eats 2007 "An offshoot of the advancing Healesville Hotel empire, this produce store and cafe is a onestop shop for gourmet manna from heaven, where foodies stock up on treats like verjuice, mint chutney, dolmades and local wine."

The Age Good Food Guide 2006 score 16/20, 2 Hats "This high-ceilinged, low-lit dining room is a seasoned charmer. Tunes crackling on the turntable, freshly snipped roses and tables set for two are all signs that Healesville Hotel has become an occasion location. And fabulous staff drive proceedings with charm."

The Age (melbournemagazine) Hot John Lethlean Oct 05 "pull up in Healesville for the inevitable coffee at the Healesville Hotel, you might be forgiven for thinking you'd never left St Kilda. The food, the crowd, the pungent espresso and wine there is a decidedly City of Port Phillip atmosphere to the whole place these days."

The Age Epicure Necia Wilden February 1, 2005 SCORE: 15/20 "The Healesville's proprietors, Michael Kennedy and Kylie Balharrie, are also city transplants, ex-St Kilda. They and their staff run the place with the sort of easy professionalism you take for granted in town and are pleasantly surprised to find elsewhere."

The Age Good Food Guide 2005 "The restaurant is powering on under the practised hand of chef Richard Hauptmann, who draws upon a fine roster of local produce to craft his classy comfort food."

Gourmet Traveller 2005 Restaurant Guide "In any wine-growing region like the Yarra Valley, it pays to see where the winemakers eat, and the Healesville Hotel is deservedly first choice for many. Eighty minutes east of Melbourne, it offers technique and quality while trumpeting the cause of local produce."

The Foodies' Guide 2004, Allan Campion & Michele Curtis,'The relaxed setting in the pub's dining room can be the stage for an informal lunch,or a more serious dinner affair with good food and service lifting the bar.Classic dishes are worked to produce excellent modern food'

The Age, A2, 5/7/04, John Weldon,'There's hearty,rustic tucker from chef Richard Hauptmann,four open fireplaces and a great Yarra Valley dominated wine list...Three courses here and you'll never go home'

The Age Good Food Guide Awards 2004 1 hat, score 15/20, excellent wine list, excellent bar, accomodation available

Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide Australia 2004, Excellent wine list, 1 Black star,'a spacious dining room, heated in winter by a splendid open fire and, in summer, opening onto a grassy, sunny backyard...The menu changes seasonally, with an emphasis on Mediterranean and sometimes Asian-flavoured dishes.'

The Age, Sunday Life, 16/11/03, Roslyn Grundy

The Herald Sun, Food&wine, Stephen Downes, 3/9/02, Score 17/20.

The Age, Sunday life, Eat Streets, 21.4.02

The Age, 25.09.01, John Lethlean review Score: 15 out of 20."

The Herald Sun 25/7/2000 Michael Harden

The Sunday Age, 24.10.99, Jane Faulkner Score: one star."