The front-row pub on Port Phillip, still the cleanest long lunch at the tip of the Peninsula.
Known for Front-Row Port Phillip ViewsPortsea Front Beach LocationFish and ChipsPeninsula Tip Institution
Photo · Chris Olszewski (Kgbo) / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Why we’d goThe Portsea Hotel has one of the best views of any pub in Victoria and, more impressively, has mostly avoided ruining the experience.
The Portsea Hotel has one of the best views of any pub in Victoria and, more impressively, it has mostly avoided ruining the experience. The bistro runs along the front of the building looking directly across the bay, the beer garden drops down toward the front beach, and the menu is still pub-food-done-properly rather than ambitious-bistro-pretending-to-be-pub.
Order the fish and chips, a bottle from the local list, and a table outside if the wind is behaving. Summer afternoons here are a communal institution; winter Sundays are genuinely peaceful. Either way, it is the most complete single-address lunch at the tip of the Peninsula, there is nothing competing with it within ten minutes of Portsea.
Do not try to skip the queue in January. Come in April or October and you will have the view mostly to yourself.
Worth knowing
If you only do one thing
Come in April or October, same fish and chips, same view, and almost nobody else.
Works well with
Hotel Sorrento · Sorrento Gelato
Filed under Long LunchWaterfrontViewSunsetAll YearFamiliesCouplesGroupFirst TimersLocals
Not sure how to build a day around Portsea Hotel?
Ask The InsiderIn the journal
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Peninsula Insider guides that put this stop into the context of a full day or weekend.
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