latest reviews

Ahh Top Tic, it's not half bad - this should be their slogan. A regular favourite of ours out east, timely, reliable, classic pizzas. The gourmet pizzas are not the greatest around, but those places don't deliver this far out.

I certainly wouldn't pass up a hearty Top Tic pizza on a lazy Friday/Saturday night.

*Best served with beer

The distinction between various establishments serving both alcoholic beverages and food is somewhat blurred today. Pubs (an abbreviation of Public House), Taverns, Inns, Hotels, restaurants and gastropubs all may serve food and alcohol. They cannot be distinguished on criteria of level of service, elegance of facilities, range of foods or distinction of cooking.

Some pub restaurants serve better food have better appearance and provide better service than some restaurants. Indeed we find that some 'gastropubs', which endeavour to serve better quality food, are better than most restaurants. The Brandon Hotel falls into this category. Whilst the service might be a little amateurish, (To the question "Do you have a dessert menu?" the response was "Yes I will bring it out when the time comes") the place is attractive and the food excellent. It has a slightly old fashioned look with 50's style chairs. Tables have white linen clothes and napkins and good weight cutlery.

There are a variety of starters including a vegetarian option, oysters, with lime and sherry. or salmon. Mains also include a vegetarian dish, fish or chicken as well as slow cooked lamb neck and steaks. Sides of Heirloom tomatoes, crushed Kipfler potaoes or green beans with fetta are all $8.

We began with a starter of free range pork with Yarra Valley pickled pear and crispy pigs ear ($15) Chef Nigel Cunningham, late of the award winning Healesville Hotel, started here a couple of months ago. He has introduced a lot of very good Yarra Valley products and wines. The thought of pigs ear might be off putting but it was similar to something between crispy bacon and crackling. The pork, a nice size piece of pork belly was superb and the colourful sweet poached pear a very good accompaniment. The boneless quail wrapped in prosciutto with white bean puree, roasted hazelnuts and Cafe de Paris butter ($16) was a tasteful and tasty presentation and the bean puree excellent.

For mains I had the special 120 day grain fed beef steak
and Sandra the char grilled 31 day dry aged grass fed Gippsland Black Angus beef with roasted bone marrow, gratin of colcannon potato and parsley with a caper and red onion salad ($36).Both steaks were cooked as requested and were reasonably tender. There was a distinct difference in the taste of the grass fed meat and the grain fed beef but I could not say I had a taste of fresh mown grass!

There is a small choice of desserts or a cheese platter. We had a Kennedy and Wilson chocolate brownie with Alexandria cherries poached in Pedro Ximenez sherry with a dollop of cream ($16).
This was a great end to the meal for a lover of sweet things, Coffee was served with chockies.

They have a fair range of wines - there are over four dozen on their list, mostly Australian, with half a dozen reds or whites by the glass and half a dozen fortified and dessert wines. The prices are extremely reasonable running from $22 for an 08 Rothbury Estate sav. blanc to $550 for an 01 Penfolds Grange. This turned out to be a very good meal at a reasonable cost.

We are happy to recommend the Brandon.

It's been a while since I've had dinner here and WOW things seem to just get better. Originally I thought this place was great however it is better than great. I had the #4 baby spinach pizza - absolutely delicious. By the way it's not often you see a pizza place with 9 choices of vegetarian pizzas. Well done URBAN SOUL another very happy customer. I'll be back soon!!

I GIVE THIS CAFE/TAKE AWAY SHOP 5 STARS BECAUSE IT WAS VERY GOOD PRICE, EXCEPTIONAL CUSTOMER SERVICE, FOOD WAS FANTASTIC, COOKED PROPLEY, WAS VERY NEAT AND TIDY, MANY TO CHOOSE FROM WITH DRINKS, TAKEAWAY, FOOD ETC AS WELL AS THE COFFEE FANTASTIC CANT WAIT TO GO BACK

We have been there many times and have yet to have a bad meal. The value for money is excellent. Had the Veal zingara a couple of days ago and it was sensational, followed by a delicious berry pancake...berry nice! Definitely one of the best around.

Last Friday night we chose a Greek tavern at 587 Glenhuntly Road for dinner. The place had a warm and happy atmosphere with a background of Greek music. We were greeted by Costa, an ebullient and extremely friendly host who danced among the tables like a reincarnated Zorba. Apologizing for the lack of clientele on that particular night he offered us any free table we liked.

The place was simply decorated with with white and blue paper covers over linen cloths. There were a few framed scenes and objects on the walls and over the servery a net with fish and symbols of the sea.
After a short time later we had the mandatory offer of something to drink. I chose a mild and inoffensive Greek beer called Mythos ($6.50) while Sandra settled for a house white sav. blanc, which was pleasant and cheap ($5.50).

They offer two menus, a banquet ($38) which looked like very good value, and a a la carte menu with very reasonable prices. Starters included typical Greek dips such as tadziki, fried zucchini, pickled carrot, broad beans and tourmasalata and also dishes such as whitebait and saganaki , around $8 and dolmados, $2 each. Mains included whole fish, lamb, chicken and beef or combination platter.
We chose a variety of starters to get a taste of their cooking and a Greek salad to accompany a whole barramundi and a meat platter.

The starters, accompanied by a bowl of oil, they have no butter, and a basket of crisp crusty bread were all quite excellent. The saganaki
as good as we could get, and better than almost any that I've had before, the whitebait crisp and warm, the dolmaidos moist and the vine leaves tender and the dips delicious.

The meat platter was a large serve of flavorsome tender meats
accompanied by a few salad onions and a wedge of lemon. The barramundi were barbecued with a crisp skin, the only flavour in addition to the natural flavour of the fish was provided by a wedge of lemon. Neither tartar saurce nor mayonnaise were available.
We were prtty full by now and did not have desserts, which are the classical Greek baklava or halva are only $3/ serve. This is the essence of a Greek tavern.

The menu is quite limited, basically dips barbecued food. The serves are large and the prices moderate. They have a modest very inexpensive wine list and a couple of Greek beers among others.

In conclusion a very nice place to eat

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Sunset over looking Byron Bay and the light house. 4 courses for $40.00 of fresh local produce purchased from the farmers market that day (Thursdays only). Definitely the best value for money dining experience I have had in Byron this summer. The service was equally as impressive and there was not a spare seat in the house. I would highly recommend booking. A dining experience well worth sampling. Bon appetit as Che would say!

Went here tonight WORST customer service I have ever experienced, We waited 45 mins for our food, other people who ordered a long time after us were getting the exact meal we ordered before us, Only after inquiring did our meal come out incorrect and cold. Also the self serve salad bar looked about 3 days old. Go here if you wait an overpriced cold & days old meal. Would never eat here again.