The Alfred Hotel Camperdown offers a great pub feed at a very good price. The food is prepared from scratch, using fresh seasonal ingredients. The Alfred Hotel is in a prime location next to the Prince Alfred Hospital, close to Sydney Uni and the happening suburb of Newtown.

The Pub has a nice deco facade and is neatly presented from the exterior. The interior looks like most other pubs with the bar front and centre, there is a courtyard and a sports bar making it an ideal place to watch some sport, have a few ales and enjoy a meal. The Alfred has new owners, having already made inprovements by employing Chef Jamie and have not stopped there, they have added an ever changing boutique beer and cider selection and there are plans for renovations which is sure to make this pub a must visit destination.

The bistro here truly stands out. The menu contains a bunch of pub favourites prepared to an exceptional standard by Chef Jamie, who cut his teeth at Glass Brasserie. The food here is extremely good value, considering the quality. There are $12 daily specials and most mains priced under $20.

We visited in a group and sampled a number of items on the menu. The Fried Chicken drumstick starter was pretty impressive, it was salted, confit, coated three times in flower with tebasco sauce and vinegar for a sweet and sour flavour. The batter was tasty, the meat nicely cooked and it was not greasy. This is also served with a rich blue cheese sauce, the stuff heart attacks are made of, but damn tasty.

All of the mains were quality comfort food including fish and chips made from whole potato and produced in house served with a chunky tartare sauce. The fish pie, made with fresh fish sourced from the markets, a rich bechemel and topped with a crunchy Crouton crumb. If a schnitty is your thing, they do a great pork schnitzel with a fried egg and spicy apple sauce.

The chef is taking the pub food to another level with the herb and parmesan Gnocchi which combined nicely with charred corn, kale chips, sauced with brown butter and sage. The Alfred Hotel’s version of surf and turf was a welcome adjustment on an old favourite, with House BBQ sauces brisket topped with crumbed prawns. The brisket falling apart at the sight of the fork. A pub bistro and a Sunday roast go hand in hand. The roast is only served on Sunday and regularly changing to provide variety. The beef was particularly good and the Yorkshire pudding was superb and worthy of a visit for alone.

We finished the meal with the beetroot brownie with salted caramel ice cream. A classic dessert with the beetroot adding a bit of a twist keeping the brownie moist. There was also a cheese board, which is not usually something you see on a pub menu. But the Alfred should be considered a gastro pub and the cheese platter was certainly welcome at our table. With a sampling of Australian cheese including a blue and a cheddar, this was served with a selection of red wine poached apple, toasted nuts and a house made chutney.

Add this to your list of Sydney pub feed destinations. Great value and a top notch feed with everything prepared in house using seasonal ingredients. Throw in stocked bar, a coutyard and a sports bar and you have everything you need.

thealfredhotel.com.au