A proper pub done right, but it’s much more than that, with a formidable collection of wine to complement the beer and burgers – there’s chargrilled local chook and braised lamb, too. In the tradition of the Exeter and Victory hotels, this is a classic in the making.
There are few finer places in the Hills to have a drink in summer than the Stanley’s beer garden.
Opened 1853 (current ownership 2016)
Function spaces: 35 guests
The pub was bought by Adelaide Hills pub barons Ed Peter (Crafers Hotel) and Brett Mathews (Stirling Hotel), and they cut local hospitality lord Frank Hannan Tan (Amalfi and Mother Vine) and wine expert Pablo Theodoros (Mother Vine) into the business as operating partners. They cleverly resisted the temptation to renovate to a ubiquitous pub style that already existed nearby, instead settling into their stride by improving the offering as it stood before making any moves.
They opened up a large outdoor terrace behind the pub, and this quickly filled with visitors to the region on weekends, while the traditional customers of the front bar stayed loyal and remain there to this very day. That bar serves a great beer all year round, and the cosy fire in the winter months has been warming the locals for over 150 years.
The wine list now feeds from a new bottle shop that has allowed them to up the ante of what’s on offer throughout the pub. This includes a wide selection of Hills producers as well as the best further afield in Australia, while a decent amount of real estate is also devoted to the best of France and Italy.
Local winemaker’ s wares are stocked and sold through the pub to wine-savvy locals and visitors, while those very makers flock like moths to a lamp for the highlights of Burgundy and Barolo’s best producers. And with the food always in a very tasty fancy-pub-fare zone, it’s a great combination for a regional venue that’s still only a short drive from the city.
Desirable drinking and eating spaces provide a central plank in the urban renewal of Bowden, to transform a former manufacturing plant on the western fringe of Adelaide into a chic apartment precinct. Bowden Cellars, occupying an airy, light-filled and whitewashed post-industrial space located in the big Plant 3 building, is integral to this transformation with…
La Buvette could not proclaim its Frenchness any more emphatically, with the retro-Parisian exterior a striking blue that could have been lifted straight from the Tricolore, and name and purpose stated in classic script font and oh-so Gallic drop shadow. Yes, it’s immediately clear what you’re in for at La Buvette. Well, to a degree….
This cosy wine shop/bar is a buzzing lo-fi wine mecca that spills into the much larger outdoor area, with coffee and pastries in the morning, and simple wine-friendly snacks from where they leave off.
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