Campsie Hotel was opened in the early 1940s and has kept most of it's original exterior. It sits higher up on Beamish St on the corner of Hill St, where a large development is going up across the road. Campsie is on the edge of the development mania that has overtaken nearby Canterbury, so this small piece of building history is one we love to see retained.
The promise of BBQ & Grills on the front of the building.
Enter the bistro from the back door on Hill St. Inside the bistro there's a choice of tables and chairs but most coveted are the large booths that can comfortably seat a large family. It's a pub, so there are big screens showing sport, a bar nearby and you're not far from the pokies that take up most of the floor space in the front bars.
The menu is mostly Vietnamese, but there's grills, chips and more. The combination pho is a big bowl filled with all the good bits, tripe strips, meatballs, rare and cooked beef. The broth is not too sweet and you can add lemon, herbs and sprouts as you want. Hoisin and chilli sauce is available from the serve yourself counter, as well as hot tea, cutlery and condiments.
Grilled pork chop with tomato rice, $10.90. A really tasty thinly pounded pork chop grilled with lemongrass. The range of individual dishes means you can easily eat your own choice or just for one.
The main dishes menu gives you some larger meals ready to share. There's plenty of classic Aussie / Chinese restaurant dishes like honey chicken, or sauces like plum sauce, pepper, curry and salt and pepper everything. Braised fish fillet with tofu was a bit of a surprise when it came out with fried fish pieces, but there was plenty of green veg and tofu in the pot.
We'd been looking forward to the lobster mornay for a long time, it had almost become a kind of friendly dare to try it. We kinda though it would good in a bad way, or maybe bad in a good way. Turned out to be mediocre in a mediocre way. We reckon if they scooped the flesh out of the lobster then replaced him covered in mornay source it could have been a ripper. But the flesh was baked into the shell and quite a bitch to get out, and mornay sauce was just melted cheese. We love melted cheese as much as anybody but a mornay sauce would have worked better. Still, it was fun to try.
We weren't the only one's on the day getting this either, it's a popular dish. Market price determines it's value, half was about $22.
The 'Aussie' side of the menu.
The Vietnamese and Chinese side of the menu.
The Campsie Hotel is at 327 Beamish St, Campsie. Ph: 02 9789 6672.
There's a number of pubs across Sydney that also have Vietnamese bistros, including Viet Grill at the RPM in Marrickville, the Meridian in Hurstville and most recently, Bo 7 Mon Than Tam in the Mountbatten in Chinatown.
This post is brought to you by the friendly staffy at the side of the Adora Cafe on Illawarra Rd, right along the Cooks River.
We walked the river all the way to Campsie, this guy decided he would run it.
It takes about an hour or so to walk from Illawarra Rd to Beamish St. Enough to work off a mornay and a beer.
Love this combo! Last time I checked there's also Oscars Sports Hotel in Bankstown - that's if you can resist the wonderland that is Bankstown Sports Club across the road :)
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