The Waterside Hotel & Past/Port Dining, Melbourne CBD

MELBOURNE | Historic 170-year-old pub, The Waterside Hotel, underwent a significant renovation late last year. The heritage façade and original walls, floors, and ceilings were retained and stripped back by new owners, Sand Hill Road, but everything else is completely new. I was recently invited in to take a look.

On the ground floor, you’ll find the The Waterside Public Bar. It’s the original space, and still a classic pub featuring pub favourites on the menu, sports on the TV, and live entertainment. It’s not until you head into the central courtyard and look up, that you realise how much the space has changed. It’s an open, lush, green space that spans five levels. Level two is home to modern South-East Asian restaurant, Past/Port, level three is the restaurant’s rooftop bar, with the top two levels home to private event and dining spaces.

I enjoyed a cocktail on the rooftop, with impressive views of Southbank, the Yarra River, and the hum of trains traversing the elevated tracks out of Flinders Street Station. You can get snacks from the downstairs kitchen here, too, while listening to tunes spun live by DJs. I held off, however, as I had a dinner booking downstairs.

The Past/Port dining space is warm and welcoming, modern, with traditional South-East Asian flourishes and nick knacks. Carpet on the floor, soft furnishings, and cork on the ceilings means that volume is at a level that’s conducive to having a conversation. If you want to sit outdoors, there’s ample seating wrapped around, and overlooking, the central courtyard.

Heading up the kitchen at Past/Port is chef Sarah Chan. Sarah hails from Sarawak, Malaysia, and has created a menu that draws heavily from her Chinese-Malaysian heritage, while also drawing inspiration from the wider region. Nyonya fried ‘Inche Kabin’ wings are a great way to start, featuring a fragrant dry rub. Be sure to to grab the optional house sambal to dip them in. Also try the traditionally celebratory snack, Nyonya pie tee. It’s a classic Peranakan finger food featuring a thin, crispy deep-fried pastry cup filled with shredded jicama and wok-tossed yam bean, topped with a light aromatic spanner crab meat, smoky sriracha and salmon roe, and coriander for garnish. One bite and all of your senses are activated.

I’m also a big fan of the tom yum prawn dumplings, which capture the flavours of the dish, with the spicy coconut and zesty lime leaves playing off against each other. For larger dishes, the grilled chicken with Vietnamese greens and fresh nuoc cham is a great light option. For something on the other end, you might go for the beef rendang, or a take on Thai larb with lamb mince, fresh herbs, lettuce, cucumber, and lime. Like all of the dishes on the menu, it’s the freshness of the produce, in particular the herbs and vegetables, and the interplay between sweet and sour, salty and spicy that impresses.

For sides, be sure to grab the addictive BBQ charsiu pork fried rice with pork floss, garlic shoots, and curried egg. Also order a serve of the crispy edged roti pratha with Kapitan curry sauce. For dessert, go for Vietnamese Coffee Leche Flan topped with whipped coconut if you want a rich dessert, or the lighter yuzu & kaffir lime curd with torched meringue.

To drink, it’s your standard beers, an extensive Aussie and international wine list, and a cocktail list featuring classics and house creations. The cocktails are the most interesting part of the drinks menu, drawing from the same inspiration as the kitchen. I enjoyed a the Thai Flight Strawberry (Chivas, Aperol, Campari, Licor 43, sweet vermouth, lemon, strawberry, Thai basil) upstairs, and an Onyx Pour (Scotch, Averna, Montenegro, agave, saline, Laphroaig mist) to finish.

Past/Port is one of those places that has you leaving with the knowledge that you will be back. If you’re here for dinner, like I was, the lunch-only Sarawak-style laksa, hard to find in Melbourne, is enough to entice a return. I’ve had multiple Malaysian friends tell me that it’s one of the best versions that they’ve had away from home. And I wouldn’t mind trying a parma downstairs sometime, too. Perhaps we might see a rendang parma on the menu someday? I’d happily smash down one of those.