Three To Try: New and Revamped Pubs for Chicken Parma and Steak Nights

There’s nothing quite like a good old-fashioned pub. These three new and revamped venues prove it, offering everything from $25 pot-and-parma nights to dry-aged tomahawks and hidden Japanese listening bars.

Kent Hotel, Carlton North

In April last year, Chris Gray (co-owner of Hardimans Hotel in Kensington) took over Kent Hotel on the corner of Curtain and Rathdowne streets with chef Thomas Payne, Michael Thiele and Mark White. The four co-owners lightly renovated the heritage-listed Victorian-era venue to make it feel, in Gray’s words, more like “an old traditional pub”. 

At the revamped Kent Hotel, which opened at the end of 2025, the dining room sits at the back of the venue; at the front, there’s now a public bar complete with TVs and high-top tables. There’s also a new, peach-coloured outdoor terrace on the second floor with room for around 35. 

Steak is centrestage here. Meat is dry-aged on-site, with nine cuts available including club steak, rib eye and a 1.2-kilogram tomahawk. Each is served with handcut chips and a choice of pepper sauce, bearnaise, red wine jus, cafe de Paris butter, or chimichurri. In addition, Payne’s menu features pub classics such as beer-battered fish’n’chips, roast chicken, and a cheeseburger and chips with CWA-style tomato relish. Dessert includes hot apple pie with ice-cream, and a coconut sorbet with finger lime and pineapple-and-spiced-rum compote.

To drink, there are 10 beers on tap and a 400-bottle wine list that leans local, with some old-world drops rounding out the offering. 

The Pinnacle, Fitzroy North

Beloved live music spot the Fitzroy Pinnacle closed on January 31. But the pointy corner pub’s last call wasn’t the end after all. Michael Bascetta – co-founder of Bar Liberty, Falco and Capitano, and currently part of the Reed House team – has taken over the building with Arnold’s chef Scott Eddington. They’ve given it a light refresh, changed the name to The Pinnacle, and reopened the venue in mid-February. 

The main changes to the building include a fresh coat of paint, the addition of some street-side tables and dining in the courtyard (previously only for smokers), plus the conversion of its small stage into a dining area. The pool table is staying put, a couple of TVs have been installed and live music fans can still get their fix, with performances now taking place in the courtyard. 

Eddington’s mains list is just six dishes long: chicken schnitzel, eggplant lasagne, a cheeseburger, grilled fish of the day, piquillo pepper rigatoni, and a caesar salad – all priced between $25 and $36. Weekly specials include $25 pot-and-parma nights on Mondays, $28 steak nights on Wednesdays, and $35 Sunday roasts. And drinks have a local focus with Carlton Draught and a tap rotation featuring Bodriggy, Stomping Ground and Molly Rose, as well as a wild-fermented beer from Tasmania’s Two Metre Tall.

Godby Hotel, South Yarra

At the very end of last year, Godby Hotel and Japanese-inspired listening bar Nightbird opened in South Yarra’s old train station, next door to the current station. The venues are the work of Julien Moussi and Only Hospitality, also known as Venues By Only, which is behind The Beehive Hotel, Hotel Collingwood and My Other Brother.

The fit-out leans into the building’s old-world feel. Grand ballroom stairs set the tone when you enter, leading into a main dining area decked out with velvet booths and wood panels. The main bar is clad with Victorian-style mosaic tiles, while modern lighting accentuates the ceiling’s art deco alcoves. Godby sports a cold bar with sashimi, ceviche and oysters, as well as a grill with three choices of steak. There’s also a menu of pub classics including chicken parmigiana and a double-patty smash burger. An extensive drinks menu covers all bases, with plenty of local and international beers, wines and spirits, plus a few signature cocktails including the standout Madame Lin with lychee soju, jasmine, saké and soda water.

Nightbird, meanwhile, is behind “secret pivoting doors that look like mirrors from the outside”, as Moussi puts it. The hidden cocktail den was inspired by one of his favourite New York 1920s speakeasy-inspired bars, Bathtub Gin. The 60-person listening bar has a DJ booth, designed to prevent low-frequency transfer into the turntables, as well as an Allen & Heath Xone:96 mixer with Martin Audio CDD15 loudspeakers and dual SX215 subwoofers.