The Standard Hotel
The publican's stated method is a "continual invisible freshen up", changing the pub slowly enough that people who drank here a decade ago come back and say nothing has changed. It has.
Why go
Paul O'Bree started here as a bartender and was still running the place sixteen years later when Good Food came to write it up (Good Food). The licence dates to 1865. What that buys is a parma the city's press keeps checking on: Gemima Cody found a fat classic one in 2019, Time Out's judged parma list took it apart in 2024, and the current menu still lists the same free-range house-crumbed breast with prosciutto and a bit of feta cut into the mozzarella. Roo has been on this menu, as O'Bree puts it, longer than the meat has been fashionable. The building sits on a one-way street a block off Brunswick, which is why Concrete Playground reckons even locals miss it, and behind it is a beer garden that goes on and on under the trees.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the parma. Ask for it any way you like and it arrives on the chips, which Cody admits is the controversial call. Kangaroo fillets under a lemon myrtle and pepper crust if you want something cooked rather than crumbed. A pot, outside.
- Avoid: turning up to the beer garden on a warm Saturday without a booking. Concrete Playground's advice is to book it rather than fight for the walk-in tables, and that is right.
What locals & experts say
- Gemima Cody, Good Food, in the Icon review format that pairs a visit with the publican:
They serve a fat, classic parma (on the chips, which I confess is controversial), but also crisp-battered cauli florets with whipped tahini, and roo steaks, which have been on the menu here longer than the meat has been championed by many woke restaurants.
1 - Michael McAulay, head chef at Yiaga and previously Vue de Monde and Noma, asked by Broadsheet where he goes for a snack and a glass:
Without sounding like a philistine, can I say a pub? I spend most of my drinking time in Goldy's Tavern in Collingwood or The Standard in Fitzroy.
5 Broadsheet ran the same answer twice in June 2026, so that is one chef, counted once. - Time Out Melbourne, judging on crumb, cheese, ham and sauce, on what sets this one apart: the build is
a thick free range house-crumbed chicken breast, prosicutto, napoli, tasty cheese and even a bit of feta
, and the feta givesa tang not usually found in other parmas
.2 - Meg Watson, Concrete Playground, on the geography:
Strategically tucked away on a one-way road off Brunswick Street, The Standard Hotel seems to punch well above its weight.
3 - The limit of the evidence. Nobody independent has assessed this kitchen since 2019. The parma survives that gap because Time Out and the venue's own menu both describe the same dish, which is corroboration rather than a fresh verdict.
Good to know
- Where: 293 Fitzroy Street, Fitzroy, a block east of Brunswick Street on a one-way road.
- Timing: open into the evening, with a gigs programme running. Current hours are not published on the venue site, so check before a late plan.
- Booking: bookings are taken online and the beer garden is the part to book.
- The other Melbourne pubs Cody names in the same paragraph: The Palace, The Rainbow and The Napier. The Palace at 505 City Road is also in this database.
- Diet: the menu marks vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options, and the daily curry has run as a vegan one.
- Safety: Victoria publishes no venue hygiene rating. Safe Food Victoria keeps a register of convictions under s.53D of the Food Act 1984, each held there for twelve months; the 21 July 2026 update lists fifteen and this pub is not among them.6
Verdict
should-visit — The publican told Good Food his method is a continual invisible freshen up, changing things slowly enough that drinkers who left a decade ago come back and say it is exactly the same. It is not, and that is the trick. The parma is the proof: Gemima Cody called it fat and classic in 2019, Time Out's judged parma list picked it apart in 2024 down to the feta cut into the mozzarella, and the pub's own menu still lists it in 2026 with the same free-range breast and prosciutto. Melbourne argues about parmas the way Glasgow argues about curry, so holding a spec that long in that field is the achievement. Kangaroo fillets have been on this menu since before anyone treated roo as a statement. Michael McAulay, head chef at Yiaga and Noma before that, says this is where he does most of his drinking. The beer garden is the actual draw and it is enormous and shaded and needs booking. It holds at should-visit rather than higher because the beer list is not the reason to come and the last independent assessment of the kitchen is now seven years old.