The Welcome, Rozelle

The Welcome in Rozelle is a postcard-perfect pub with a place in its heart warmly reserved for pooches and their craft-beer-loving humans. This pub has probably been one of Sydney’s greatest locals for the last 137 years — that’s one heck of a run. This is an old-school establishment dripping in historical charm; an intimate space crammed with polished wooden stools and well-worn leather settees to cuddle up with loved ones or spend the night waxing lyrical about the rise of the boutique brewers.

This boozer seems to be made up of two parts: the bar and beer garden, and the restaurant which offers fine Italian dining. The Welcome took out top gong at the 2014 Time Out Sydney Pub Awards as well as Best Pub Food so expectations were well and truly soaring for the Pubably crew. Unfortunately the restaurant was closed for a function so we only had the pub menu to choose from this time. We’d like to go back and try the award-winning fare of the restaurant.

Atmosphere This drinkery has gone to the dogs — in the best kind of way! This is the first Sydney pub I’ve been in where your pup can literally sit beside you at the bar; the novelty prompted a few delighted exclamations from our table. Kids are allowed inside too and with everyone packed into the cozy room chatting happily to each other, the vibe was akin to the warm embrace of a back lane boozer in the UK. A ‘What’s On’ board displayed a poster for Ping Pong Mondays where players can enjoy some friendly competition, a cheeseburger and a beer for $20. Tuesdays are for trivia and $15 schnitzels. Wednesdays offer pasta and a glass of vino for $20 while Thursdays celebrate The Welcome’s lively beer selection with pie and paddle combos for $30, and “good beer prices” are promised on Frugal Fridays. There are a couple of screens displaying sports if you want to watch a game but if you don’t the teles don’t have a dominating presence in the room.

Service The service was average. Not as welcoming as we’d expect from an establishment called The Welcome — perhaps they were just busy.
Beer Garden The BG is a lovely sunny spot with plenty of heaters ready for when the night creeps in. You can reserve a table outside and we highly recommend you do because this is a popular place and every seat was nabbed by the time we arrived at 4.30.

Grub With the restaurant closed for a function, we had to pick from a less impressive bar menu. There were two vegetarian options, no vegan options and no gluten-free indicators on the menu. I settled for a side of Crispy Kipflers with Rosemary, Olives, Chilli and Garlic which were nice enough but a little steep at $10. The boys picked the Wagyu Beef Burger with Pancetta, Tomato, Lettuce, Chutney and Fries which left them underwhelmed and our sister, Maggie had the Homemade Saffron Radiatori with Pork and Porcini Ragu and Shaved Pecorino. Maggie loved her pasta, wisely choosing an Italian dish from a crew famed for their Italian flavours. All in all the bar food is okay but it won’t knock your socks off if you’re expecting Pub Food of the Year.

Tap beers This is where The Welcome really shines. There are 15 taps, two of them reserved for ciders and 12 of them dedicated to microbreweries. All of the tap beers are Australian with Coopers and Carlton Draught sitting pretty for the old boys looking for something familiar. Otherwise this is a A Night At The Hopera homeboys; a playground for beer swillers. A spotlight is shone on the Brewery of the Month and this month it is Yulli’s Brewers with the brilliantly named Fat Nerd, Norman and Slick Rick trio taking pride of place on the pub’s top taps. Tasting paddles will get you five ponies for $20.

Kid friendly? Yep! As stated above, your tikes are welcome at The Welcome.
Canine friendly? The pub proudly states “pooch friendly since 1878” and actually owes its name to a charming story involving a friendly publican and a stowaway pooch named Winston.
Music We hear The Beatles and Queen and we hear them at the perfect volume.
Chips Like we’ve said before, there’s nothing wrong with a shoestring, aside from the fact they go cold quickly, they’re just not very exciting. These chippies get 2.5/5 spuds.
The Yard Stick A schooey of Coopers is $7.50. Top end of the price scale.

All up, this super cosy local taproom gets a 7.5 outta 10 plucky stowaway pooches.

The Henson, Marrickville

Given we are only new to this whole pub hunting caper, it’s probably a big call to say we are unlikely to find a more family-friendly taphouse than The Henson — but we’re gonna say it anyway. And The Henson doesn’t limit its efforts to ensuring a welcoming environment for the little tackers. This pub is kid-friendly; canine-friendly; vegan, vego and gluten-free-friendly too. That’s a whole lotta friendly. In fact, if this pub were a bloke Henno would be the kind of affable dude that would do anything for anyone and all your mums would love him. Not a bit of wonder this boozer’s El Capitano, Ray Reilly, won Publican of the Year Award in the 2014 Time Out Sydney Pub Awards.

During League season The Henson plays clubhouse to the Newtown Jets. The pub also established Marrickville Matters: a not-for-profit charity program that matches up the Inner West’s creatives with local community development programs like Youth Off The Streets. With polished pub grub that caters well to the restricted diet mob and a big beautiful and bright beer garden and bistro area, this is the kind of tavern that a community grows around. A couple of weekends here sipping craft beer in the sun and you’ll want to move to Marrickvillle just to be closer.

Atmosphere This is a busy, bustling boozer with a great atmosphere. It’s tough to get a table on a Saturday so I recommend you call and make a booking for lunch. The front bar hosts a pool table and dart board and they’ve swapped out the pokies for a cool little arcade room with pinball and shoot ’em ups. On Monday night you can knock some balls about in the pool comp while sipping on pints at schooner prices. Tuesday nights are for those who fancy themselves skilled at throwing darts, Wednesdays are dedicated to trivia, Thursdays are for Spinner Winner and there’s a badge draw on Fridays.
Service Like I said before: our mate Henno, he’s a friendly bugger. That goes for all of the staff too. There was no sign of the VER (vegan eye roll) when I asked about options for me at the bistro and I don’t doubt that if you pulled up a stool in the front bar, the bar tender would be happy to chat craft beers with you ’til your mates turned up.
Beer Garden The beer garden is a corker with plenty of seating, plenty of cover and heaters for the winter days and chilly evenings.

Grub The menu at The Henson is definitely offering more than your standard pub fare. They claim their food mission is “farm to table—field to fork” and they honour this by growing some of their own produce and sourcing the rest locally. Most of the menu is gluten-free, they make everything in-house and there are a whopping eight vego mains with a few vegan options within that list. They are the first Sydney pub I have come across with tempeh on the menu. Cue excited little squeal from this hungry vegan.

According to James and Eamon, the pub’s specialty the Knuckle Sandwich is “a ripper.” They reckon this is one knuckle sandwich you don’t mind copping in a pub. Wagyu brisket, fennel slaw, swiss cheese, and smokey mayo on rye — this bad boy even has its own merch! They sell Knuckle Sandwich t-shirts as part of the Marrickville Matters project.

I forwent the Tempeh Burger this time (vegans need to get it on a tortilla rather than the burger bun) for the Roast Mushroom & Refried Bean Taco. This is gluten free and vegan (no need to make adjustments) and is enormously tasty! This taco is so generous it takes two tortillas to get around its juicy, fresh and vibrant filling.
Tap beers The Henson celebrates the good stuff in a big way. There are plenty of boutique and local craft beers with a rotation of golden oldies and up and comers on the front bar’s 14 taps. There’s a Beer of the Week and if you just can’t make up your mind you can grab yourself a paddle of ponies for $12. There’s a great seasonal wine menu and an impressive list of whiskies on offer too.
Kid friendly? This is pub-loving parents mecca. The bistro has a large kid’s menu. And a garage has been transformed into a kids play club complete with ball pit and a mini rock-climbing wall that takes them up into the beer garden. The room is staffed so you can relax knowing someone is keeping a watchful eye on your mini-me.

Canine friendly? Yes! Plenty of pooches sniffing each other’s derrieres oot the back.
Music The tunes are top notch and are being played at the kind of volume that creates atmosphere while still allowing for a good natter. We had everything from Midnight Oil, Crowded House and Stevie Wonder to Empire of the Sun soundtrack our Saturday.
Chips They give their spuds some lovin’ at The Henson. They are crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, nice and fat and perfect vehicles for the GLORIOUS WALL OF CONDIMENTS you’ll find in both bars. Perched in saucy splendour along these walls you’ll find mustards, vinegars, and hot sauces to make the heart sing. There’s a delightful a’salt (wink wink) on the senses with flavoured salts like ‘rooster and rosemary’ and ‘lime and cumin.’ These chippies get 4/5 spuds.
The Yard Stick A schooey of Coopers is $6.50. Cheap — good price for a Coopers!

All up, this family-friendly watering hole gets an 8.5 outta 10 happy little rock climbing tots.