The Waterside Hotel is almost ready to reopen after a five-year rebuild that gutted the historic pub and added four stories of rooftop terraces and hanging gardens.

The facade is all that remains of the original pub at the corner of King and Flinders streets, which was once dubbed “the dirtiest in Melbourne”.

Chef Sarah Chan and Sand Hill Road group co-founder Matt Mullins at the Waterside Hotel, where a revamp is nearing completion. Credit: Joe Armao

The rebuild has created a seven-storey venue that can hold 1000 people. It has a ground-floor public bar and beer garden serving parmas and pies, and a three-level South-East Asian dining restaurant, Past Port, with tom yum prawn dumplings, crispy fried bebek (Balinese duck) with sambals and spanner crab pad Thai on the menu.

The Sand

See Full Page