By Tania Phillips
In the heart of the Granite Belt Wine Country is the Ballandean Tavern, which prides itself in being a nice family friendly country pub close to everything.
Run by second-generation pub licensee Naomi Day and her husband Stephen it is open for lunch and dinner seven days a week, making it the perfect place to stop in for a meal and a drink after a busy day exploring the region or just dinner close to home.
“We have a normal pub menu but then we have a really good chef who has daily specials,” Naomi Day explained.
“Meals are pretty big here and our slowly roasted lamb shanks, nice and warm for winter, a proving particularly popular. Our chef Grant Murphy works all the magic in the kitchen.”
Grant, a local to the region, did his apprenticeship and worked in hotels on the Gold Coast before returning home to bring his vast knowledge and experience and personal style to the Tavern. It is just as well too as during the lockdown the venue, like most across the country, had to rely on takeaways to survive.
But they are open again now and serving food all week – subject to social distancing laws.
Naomi and her husband Stephen have been running the pub for the past 19 months and are loving it, even though they have had to deal with drought, fire and Covid in that time.
“It was really hard during Covid but we just stayed open for takeaways, for meals and that was enough to keep us ticking over,” she said.
“But I grew up in a pub. Mum and Dad had Wallangarra when it was open.
“I take after my dad,” she added proudly.
“It’s been really busy apart from that.”
But despite their baptism of fire (Covid and drought) they are still going, still enjoying what they are doing and loving dealing with and chatting to their customers – locals and tourists alike.
“The locals here are great,” Naomi said.
While the dining room is small, visitors and locals are drawn to the spacious verandah that runs around half of the building to enjoy their meals. Outdoor heating on half the verandah allows dining to be enjoyed even in this colder weather while tucking into Grant’s gorgeous lamb shanks.
Find the friendly Ballandean Tavern, 1 St Judes Lane on the corner of Eukey Rd in Ballandean phone (07) 4684 1044 for more information.
