My Favourite Pub In Sydney
Sydney is my city. It is where my friends, family and footy team are and given the immense success of two of those things, it will likely be where I am for many years to come. So when I tell you that I have a favourite pub in Sydney what I am saying is that it should be illegal for you to visit my town and not go to this place.
Visiting this gorgeous old pub takes you through the historic Rocks precinct and if you arrive via Circular Quay station you’ll pass by the Opera House and Harbour Bridge on your way there. Living in Sydney for six and a half years, this walk became somewhat of a Sunday routine for my partner and I, never tiring of the beautiful Sydney Harbour and the pub at the end of the walk; the Lord Nelson Hotel.
Image via Wikipedia.
Being 180 odd years old has given the Lord Nelson ample time to perfect the pub experience, perhaps an unfair advantage to the other pubs. The walls are built of hand-hewed sandstone decorated with black and white photos of long gone bearded whalers, nautical flags that hang from the ceiling and a roofed wooden bar girt with bronze placards dedicated to locals of new and old.
One of the reasons I love this place is that all the beers are their own, some brewed on site and some brewed under contract in Sydney. A few beers, such as Three Sheets Pale Ale, sell in tins and bottles nationwide but there is no greater context to enjoy them in than here at the pub. My personal favourite is the Victory Bitter, a caramel and earthy English bitter that goes delightfully well with a suitably British pork pie.
Just my little picture of heaven.
However, if you’re feeling hungrier than that you’re also in the right place. The hotel menu is well curated but offers a real range; curry, pizza and pub classics such as fish and chips. For me though, the ultimate Sunday dinner to cap off a weekend well spent is their surf and turf pie, a beef pie with mash, mushy peas and gravy topped with a delightfully light and flaky piece of fried fish. Trust me, it’s a delicacy.
One Sunday afternoon Katie and I were polishing off some Victory Bitter and surf & turf pie when this balding, curly white-haired fella told me to get a haircut while I was heading back to my seat. He then told me he was joking but I refused to shake his hand while saying nothing which drove him to the point where he looked at me and said “Why don’t you fuck off then?” Security moved him and while researching this story I found out that guy is 100% the owner of the Lord Nelson. I can get service like that and still recommend the place, that’s how good it is.
The owner, craft beer pioneer and occasional recommender of haircuts has been wanting to sell Lord Nelson since 2021 but there are no updates so far. Very little in the bar has changed and hopefully when a change of hands happens they maintain the same beer, culinary and atmospheric conditions that make the Lord Nelson my favourite pub in Sydney.
