Middle Park Hotel

01What to order

• O'Connor's Select scotch fillet, 300 g / 11 ozPasture-fed, MB2–3+, A$72; A$35 on Thursday steak night with house salad.
• Rangers Valley bavette, 200 g / 7 ozMB5+, A$50, the one grain-fed steak on the list.
• O'Connor's Select porterhouse, 250 g / 9 ozGrass-fed, A$53; A$29 on Thursdays.
• Grass-fed rib eye, 500 g / 18 ozA$82; the menu does not name its producer.
• Steak sandwich200 g / 7 oz Wanderer Valley rostbiff on focaccia with parmesan, Swiss cheese, bacon and aioli, A$36.50.
• Steak toppersBone marrow for A$12 or prawns for A$13 on steak night.

02The beef

O'Connor's Select, the Gippsland grass-fed label, supplies the 200 g / 7 oz eye fillet (A$70), the 300 g / 11 oz scotch fillet (MB2–3+, A$72) and the 250 g / 9 oz porterhouse (A$53). Rangers Valley in New South Wales supplies the 200 g / 7 oz bavette at MB5+. The 500 g / 18 oz rib eye is listed as grass-fed without a producer. In March 2024 Boss Hunting described a 1.4 kg / 3.1 lb Rangers Valley tomahawk of pure Black Angus, 270 days on grain and then dry-aged for 150 days; it is not on the spring 2026 menu. In 2022 the kitchen used Rangers Valley brisket for its croquettes.

03The fire

The current menu and website do not name the grill. The only source is Boss Hunting in March 2020, which wrote that the tomahawk was cooked over a wood-fired grill; no source since 2024 repeats it, so Steakpedia records the wood fire as a 2020 statement.

04The story

The hotel was built in 1889, in the same land-boom years as the Grand Hotel in Albert Park, and licensed that year by John Mahon; the Record of 1905 and 1907 reported afternoon teas in the drawing room and football dinners "at Mahon's Hotel". Renovations in the 1950s removed the decorative urns and bricked up windows. In 2001, according to the house, it was renamed the Gunn Island Brew Bar and fitted with a micro-brewery; a property report of October 2007 still called it the Gunn Island Hotel when it sold after a failed auction. Julian Gerner, co-owner of the Albert Park Hotel, reopened it on Oct. 29, 2009 as the Middle Park Hotel after a restoration by Six Degrees architects, with a polished brass kick-rail around the main bar, 45 beer taps, Paul Wilson consulting in the kitchen and David Marshall as head chef; boutique accommodation followed in 2010. By February 2022 the pub was run by Australian Venue Co. The oak panelling of the dining room is said by the hotel and by Broadsheet to come from the MCC Long Room; no independent document was found.

05The practical

102 Canterbury Road, Middle Park 3206, five minutes on foot from Albert Park Lake. Monday to Thursday noon to 10 pm, Friday noon until late, Saturday 11:30 am until late, Sunday 11:30 am to 10 pm. Phone (03) 9810 0079; bookings through SevenRooms. Steak night is Thursday, with jazz, per Sitchu in August 2026 (in 2017 and 2020 it was Tuesday). Boutique rooms upstairs; a 15 per cent surcharge applies on public holidays.

Address

102 Canterbury Road, Middle Park VIC 3206

Phone

+61 3 9810 0079

Website

middleparkhotel.com.au

Directions

Google Maps ↗

06In Melbourne’s selections