Port Fairy Restaurants

I was looking forward to eating here as I'd read a lot about it, all good. I had the eggs and beans and was very disappointed. Both had no flavour at all and I had to cover it in salt to give some flavour, something I haven't had to do in years. My husband had the mushroom with the shaw river mozzarella which was also tasteless, with only the mozzarella redeeming it. We left feeling ripped off and very disappointed over $40 on a breakfast.

We tried 'Portofino', regarded as the best restaurant along this part of the coast (and the menu looked scrummy) but fully booked. Port Fairy is certainly not short of restaurants, so we were spoilt for choice but which one? Two hungry kids helped us make the decision - a place as close as possible to Portofino. Two minutes up the road, The Victoria Hotel sits proudly on the junction of James St and Bank St. The original building (1850s) houses the pub and The Sea Food Bar (sadly open only Monday -Thursday). The new extension houses the more informal cafe/restaurant.

It's one of those big, polished floor and metal/white pine furniture places, lots of windows and high ceilings. Tables fairly well spread out and whilst design is not really a key feature, it is welcoming in a clean, open way. There appeared to be quite a few tables outside at the back, but too cold to wonder out to dine.

***A general observation of eating out in this part of Victoria. Don't be in a hurry!!! Four cafes/restaurants tried - all kept waiting for pretty long periods. At The Victoria Hotel, this was OK as we were kept informed as we went along. See tips for Port Campbell and Warrnambool to see where it all went pear-shaped***

Favorite Dish: Realtively simple menu, fish and seafood aplenty but not exclusively (chicken, lamb and beef all feature). But the speciality of Port Fairy is fresh fish so this should be the mainstay of the meal.

Wine list is extensive and fairly pricey - few bottles (red) to chose from for less than $50. A Margaux is available at $1000 !! But this did not seem to be the environs to be drinking such a tipple , so we passed (yeah, right :)).

The Seafood Linguine special (AUD$25) was fantastic - black mussels, prawns, flake, scallops and with fresh tomato salsa.. Battered fish and chips (AUD$20), featuring two decent size pieces of fish, was excellent. Kids meals are on offer, but with one of the girls being a fan of seafood, no way she did not get the Seafood Linguine rather than the kids size portion of fish & chips (and I'm not daft - knew that there would quite a bit of the linguine left over for myself on that one! Sadly, not as much as I had hoped :). But to see a 7 year old polish off that much seafood and the linguine says a lot !

Oysters excellent too (served with a shallot vinaigrette) as starters and desert something very special - Baileys Creme Brulee not to my taste but wolfed down, home made chocolate ice cream also quickly devoured, leaving me with the delectable orange and lemon tart.

We only stopped in the cafe for coffee and a milkshake, but the service we received and the friendliness were great....we returned to the same spot 1 year later, to find the cafe was gone, and one less attractive, and a bit more 'chic' and expensive was in it's place.... pity....but the new cafe could still be good, we just didn't try it.

Favorite Dish: Staff of the former Pelican cafe were exceptionally friendly and enquired where we were from (even though it was obvious we were Aussies).
The restaurant looks very chic - brightly painted, polished floorboards, and like it would be out of our price range, and the coffee was nice. My Blue Heaven milkshake was delicious (I think these are a bit of an Oz specialty - found in most milk bars and cafes which serve milkshakes).

Unpretentious shop front with cafe room out back for old style baked goods and a cup of tea. Good bread and other baked goods. Friendly service.

Open: 7 Days, 8-5.30pm, Sat/Sun 8-2pm.; Seats Inside 35, Seats Outside 6

Favorite Dish: We bought bread for breakfast.

Our decision to buy fish and chips and take it home to eat was a good option. The Port Fairy Fish & Chip shop was run by two hilarious women... possibly called Liz & Vicky (but they could have been working under aliases). They were so friendly and out-going and had all four of us in stitches. For the comedy value alone I suggest you pop in and engage them in conversation. A great experience!!!

Favorite Dish: It's your average fish and chip shop and everything tasted just as it should

As we drove through Warrnambool, we realized there were not any restaurants on the water that were easily accessible. At that point, we figured we would keep going into the quaint town of Port Fairy.

When we went to the wharf, we noticed that it was not a large place, but Wishart's seemed to have a nice crowd.

The atmosphere was nice, and it had alot of fishing art in the place. We decided on sharing a seafood platter for 2 amongst the four of us. I would say it was enough food for a light meal with 4 people, but would be more than healthy (or unhealthy) for 2.

It was a mix of calamari, scallops, fish, shrimp, fries and salad.

Nothing to write home about, but it tasted good. If I were to recommend anything, I would skip the restaurant and just order take away. It would save you some money and service there was nothing special.

This was the restaurant associated with the hotel, very convenient and very pretty dining room.

Favorite Dish: I had beef, my friend had fish, and a really nice bottle of wine (Peter Lehmann Clancys cab/shiraz/ merlot 2001) very nice.

Now you can't get more of an Irish air in a name than this!
The building is quite old and charming.
Besides the usual breads you'd expect to find in a Bakery, they've also got several 'out of the ordinary' types of bread not found very often - such as sour doughs and other heavy breads and also several of a type they call "Whalers" which also seem to be a kind of sour dough.
Prices were quite good too.

Favorite Dish: We had a Garlic and herb Whaler which was rather nice, just eaten plain by itself.