Hands down the best pub in Castlemaine area (worth the short drive or gorgeous bush walk from…read moretown). Great ingredients, top noch chef, awesome front of house Scottish hospitality. The locals in Chewton are a tough bunch to please and they're happy! Front bar has classy grub and some hearty AF classics like the pub chips - with gravy & cheese! Treat yo self.

This place looks so inviting and quaint from the outside but inside it's totally different. The…read morelocals stopped and stared as soon as we walked in, mind you, we only live 5 minutes away from here. And it's as though the barman was going out of his way to NOT serve us, serving everyone around us. Oh no! Outsiders? A female? People with tattoos? I don't know, but it was strange. Finally he decided to take our orders but the whole process was confusing. Do we order food from the bar or from around the corner? And there were a couple of different menus for different sized meals. Once we made our order we decided to sit in the beer garden away from everyone glaring at us. We waited ages for our food to come while people who'd arrived after us received their meals - and it certainly wasn't busy. We overheard 2 different tables of people complaining that they'd received the wrong meals. When the food finally came out it was pretty average. I mean, you kind of expect them to step up their game if you're going to wait forever for it but it definitely wasn't worth the wait. After we had finished our meal a waitress actually brought out our meals AGAIN. Somebody in the kitchen was obviously very confused and unorganised. I wouldn't recommend stopping for this pub but if you're in Chewton for some reason maybe just stand out the front for a quick drink and move along.

The Peppermill. I've been here quite a few times over the years and have have not good and bad…read morefeeds. We went to a 21st for the most recent time and the food was pretty good for a pub meal. The place has grown substantially over the years and has heaps of separate areas to congregate in. There's even a kids play room for the little ones to burn off some energy. We had the bruschetta, garlic pizza, mixed grill a chicken schnitzel and a couple of kids meals. The bruschetta was a decent size and could've easily been enough for a main. I got the mixed grill as I haven't had one for years. It was big and had a nice piece of pork belly on it also. The garlic pizza was good nice and salty with a light dough, it hit the spot for our starter as we were getting hungry. The place was packed and thought the wait time for the meal would be long but was surprised at how quick it was. The food is pretty good and not over priced. The meals are a decent size and the staff were all nice and helpful. Will go back here again one day with out a doubt it's a good place for a work dinner or a few beers with the guys for the Xmas breakup.

Very tasty food with good portion size at a reasonable price. Even though the plan was packed we…read morewere served and food arrived in a timely manor

The Elpho, as it's affectionately know, is my local for another week or so. It's off the beaten…read moretrack, so to speak, so it's definitely a 'locals' pub. There aren't too many passers-by out this way unless there's an event on. Staff are very friendly and know everyone by name. The current owners reopened the pub almost a year ago after a kitchen fire that saw the Elpho closed for about 3 years. They remodeled the interior so it's fresher but still retains that country pub feel. The kitchen is open Wednesday through to Sunday and offers up your average pub menu and the food is tasty and pretty well priced. A burger with chips & salad or a parma will set you back around $15 or something like crumbed lamb cutlets are $20 (and I can vouch for them being freakin' delicious!). Downfall being that it's hard to pick when they're going to have a quiet or busy night. It's always safest to call up and book a table just in case because we have been denied meals in the past due to unexpected busy nights. We held an event here in August and they were very accomodating, admitting that they wouldn't be able to cater for the number of people we were expecting so they organised a woodfired pizza van to set up out front for our hungry attendees. When a few hundred people turned up (many more than we expected) and drank them out of kegs and stubbies the owner drove into town to purachse more alcohol for everyone. Now that's a commitment to customer service! They have a huge beer garden out back and stock local brews from Harcourt. They even have their own pale ale on tap. It'll be sad to leave this local behind but we're hoping to use them for another event in the future.

If there's one thing I love, it's an Old Man pub. You know what I mean - cold beers, a friendly…read morebarmaid, packets of chips and stains of beer everywhere. Maybe even a joke or three on the wall. So when I saw the Strathmerton pub while on a trip up north, I knew it was simply *essential* to drop in. But I was let down. The Strathy was a vast, empty pub. Two TV screens on but no sound playing. A couple of chairs haphazardly placed around and only Carlton Draught and Bulmers cider available to drink. Don't get me wrong! I am not expecting craft beers from inner Melbourne to be available, but I think some slight variety wouldn't go astray. There seemed to be a dining area also available however we weren't brazen enough to try the food... or to stick around longer than our pot of beer. If you're staying out in Strathmerton and are in desperate need of a beer, the Strathy hotel is your only option... So I hope you like Carlton Draught.

Typical country pub, full of friendly locals (and local information) and the food is fantastic!…read moreFully trained chef rather than the usual pub cook

Excellent food, good table service, friendly but professional staff, lovely atmosphere and local…read morewines, this is also a great place to enjoy a drink in the bar.

Okay, this is the first pub that you hit when you enter Kyneton from the railway station side, so…read moreit was not surprising that as I was dragging my suitcase into town that this was the first place that I ended up stopping at (even if only for a drink). Well, it turned out that I was going to stay here for a lot longer that I expected because even though it was going to take a little time for my meal to be cooked, as soon as I sat down I heard my name called out and sure enough, sitting at a table around the corner, were a group of friends. The steak was okay, but not really the best that I have, but the friendliness and helpfulness of the staff certainly made up for that. I also have to admit that it was a pretty nice pub, with a typical country atmosphere, and while they did have a craft beer on tap, it happen to be James Squire, so I tend not to consider that to be a member of the craft beer family.

The food is always good here. The staff are friendly and attentive. Try and get a seat near the…read morefire in winter. It makes for a very romantic occasion.

Look, this pub really wasn't all that great, except for one thing, and that was the awesome mural…read morethat happened to be in the beer garden. In fact it was this mural that basically gave the pub the charm that it had. Other than that though, I didn't find it all that great. The tap beer selection was somewhat limited, and the service was passable, but not really all that great. However, as I mentioned, the mural certainly did add some character to it.

YES. Yes it is worth the 3 hour drive from Melbourne to go to this place…read more Two things affect how a steak tastes: the quality of the steak, and the way it is cooked. Here, the good quality steak is cooked on a hot rock. They sear the edges, and serve to you to let you cook it as long or as short as you want (unless you asked them to cook it for you). The taste is amazing, like no other steak I've had. This cooking process really seals in the flavours like no other steak I've had (yes I've had 9+ Wagyu with a 3 digit price tag in Crown Melbourne. Also great service. Had a (two) really amazing glasses of red wine. Wasn't sure which of their two ports to have with desert, so the owner poured me generous amounts of both so I could decide, and we talked for about 20 minutes about the world of wine.