Australian Hotel, Cumberland Street, The Rocks

Australian Hotel, Cumberland Street, The Rocks
Wednesday 12 April, 2006

Today was a great day and lunch was icing on the cake. I joined a group of work buddies at the Australian Hotel to try out their famous gourmet pizza selections.

The Australian Hotel occupies a great corner site on Cumberland St and was built in 1913 - its licence has been in continual use since the early 1800's. On this very warm day we were lucky to secure a table outside facing East in the shade - tables facing West were in direct sunlight.

You order and pay inside and we did so as a group and received one table number. Drinks are ordered at the bar. Despite ordering together our meals arrived at different times. I was keen to try something unique so shared the Salt water crocodile pizza - marinated with fresh Thai herbs and served on spicy coconut cream with Asian greens and the Spicy chorizo sausage pizza - hot salami, kalamatta olives and caramelized onions.

The staff were efficient once we all received our meals but I was really disappointed with the crocodile - it is such a bland meat and the combination of thai herbs and spicy coconut cream with asian greens did nothing for it. I actually enjoyed the crocodile meat on its own. The pizza base was overcooked making it rock hard and too crispy.

The spicy chorizo sausage pizza, on the other hand, was sensational. It was spicy, stacked high with chorizo, salami, olives and onions and tasted just right.

The Australian Hotel is great location for lunch - the tables are large with bench seats and if you are planning a function - check out their rooftop space.

Australian Hotel - 100 Cumberland Street, The Rocks - (02) 9247 2229

http://www.australianheritagehotel.com/