The Vic Bistro at Victoria Hotel, Avoca by Bureaucrat

Regular readers would know that a few weeks ago I travelled up to Mildura to eat at Stefano di Pieri's restaurant. In the 14 hour return trip, we stopped along the way to stretch our legs and to get some grub.


As we drove along the Sunraysia Hwy, we passed through the little town of Avoca. Like many regional towns, it was small, dry and dusty... with a local pub, milk bars and pie/sandwich shops that seem like they're lost in time.


Located on the main road is The Vic Bistro at Victoria Hotel. Inside, it provides a welcome break from the hot sun outside. TVB has a simple pub menu from which we ordered... 


...two steak sandwiches. This was the best dish. A nicely pan-fried minute steak with a fried egg, slice of cheese and salad.

 ...pasta carbonara. While Mr Strong said that this tasted okay (albeit a bit over salted), I thought it looked so-so. The carbonara sauce was coagulated and looked gooey, instead of being a creamy, smooth, glossy egg-cream-cheese sauce.


Having said that, the pasta looked better and tasted better than my dish - chicken schnitzel. The good points were that it was big and not dry (like many schnitzels) and the salad was pretty good. The bad points were that the crumbled crust was completely blackened underneath (though, thankfully, the burnt flavour didn't infiltrate into the chicken meat), and the onion gravy tasted like it had been made from a powdered soup mix and very salty. I scraped off all the gravy and crumble and just ate the chicken, salad and chips.

Overall 
TVB is okay. I know you can't be too picky while travelling. The food was simple and I know this ain't a gastro pub. TVB has a pretty nice beer garden out the back - I can imagine this place being a nice place to hangout during hot summer nights. The good points are that the service is friendly and the toilets (which both Mother Hen and I assumed would be icky) were immaculately clean (which is always a treat for women when travelling).

Verdict 
Food – 5.5
Service – 7
Ambience – 6.5
Price – 6.5

Address 
The Vic Bistro at Victoria Hotel
138 High St
Avoca VIC 3467
Telephone: 03 5465 3362