Food fit for a king, at pauper's prices

Northern District Times
Food & Dining 24 Mar 11 @ 02:42pm by SCOTT HOWLETT

ROYAL Hotel Ryde’s reinvention from a blue-collar pub to a semi-white-collar, family-friendly, community-based hotel occurred three weeks ago.

Venue manager Kirk Greenland, who has extensive experience in running hotels in London, is enthusiast about his work.

He reopened the bistro bar and main bar, and put less emphasis on the hotel’s TAB facilities, making food a priority.

There is dining in the courtyard, main bar or bistro from Lucky’s Grill, which is run by chef Khan (everyone knows him only as Khan), who previously worked at Willoughby Hotel.

Patrons rave about Khan’s butter chicken ($15).

The food is very reasonably priced.

Examples include chilli bean nachos served with guacamole and sour cream ($9) or a steak sandwich with lettuce, onion jam and aioli (sauce made of garlic and olive oil) for $14.50.

Also worth a look is the stockman’s beef burger, served with bacon, cheese, tomato, lettuce, beetroot, mayonnaise and chips ($14.50).

Pure beef gourmet sausages, an old pub favourite, come into their own in the cooler months ($11).

For something lighter, there is a popular grilled chicken wrap of chicken breast, cos and tomato in a fresh tortilla and served with a salad or chips on the side ($12).

All meals from the grill are served with your choice of mashed potato and salad or steamed vegetables.

The chargrilled rump steak ($19) is popular but faces strong competition from the char-grilled 300g porterhouse ($25).

Pan-fried prawns can be added ($5).

A customer favourite is the chicken schnitzel ($14.50), which can be topped with a choice of sauces, including sliced avocado and bacon with cheese (an extra $3.50).

Friday and Saturday night were extremely popular, Greenland said. “It’s all clicking into place,” he said.

A friendly home away from home.