National Hotel — Restaurant in Victoria

Visited Clunes, as I do often, on Sunday - it was a gorgeous day to get on the Suzuki. It was Market Day and the main street was closed, yet everyone was already packing up at 1pm? There was no food left at any of the market vendors, and venturing into the two cafes in the southern end of the street yielded being ignored for 5 minutes in one, and only cake and coffee on offer in another. The Bakery at the other end of the street was closed. Also, the Clunes Top Shop is no longer - once a home to an awesome burger or steak sandwich. I love books, and there were many stores selling a wide array, but you can't eat them. My plan was to take away and keep riding, but when I entered the National and was greeted with a friendly gidday and a 'no worries' to a request for a burger, in spite of how busy they were, I decided to eat at the bar. What a great pub! Friendly staff, good menu and delicious food - a decent mix of bevvies on tap and excellent, old school (no heads up arses) country pub. My burger was very tasty, the drinks cold and staff attentive and interested in their customers. Loved it. I will be...

Honestly, if you’re keen on a friendly local pub that caters to ‘the locals’ then look no further. I had the chicken Parma which had shredded processed ham and a decent serving of chips, not horrible but average. Kids had a rather insipid watery mound of pasta which wasn’t the pleasant to be honest. Compared to the emerging pubs around the area like Creswick, the food is pretty average quality. It’s definitely quantity over quality but I guess the clientele don’t mind it so there is no reason or need for that matter to change it. If you’re looking for pubs that are using contemporary twists using seasonal produce to traditional pub classics, this isn’t your place. I love a traditional pub meal, but c’mon guys up your game with using fresh quality produce where you can and get someone skilful in the kitchen that will make your pub a drawcard in the Clunes region. So...

Our first time at the National Hotel for a Sunday pub meal and we were pleasantly surprised. The hotel itself is what I'd call a good old fashioned country pub. The dining room was full, yet our meals were served to us in a reasonably quick manner. Staff were friendly and helpful and our meal sizes were very generous. The chicken parmies were cooked well and were succulent, and the chicken carbonara pasta tasted as good as it smelt and the flathead tails were not overdone with the batter. Oh, and the house wine was also generous in its serving size... All in all, we had a...