North Sydney is fast becoming a foodie’s dream, with plenty of new cafes and eateries popping up as construction continues to shape this working hub. However, one particular favourite spot of mine and my colleagues for Friday lunch is the Greenwood Hotel aka “The Church”. Situated on top of the Greenwood Plaza, the Greenwood Hotel has plenty of outside seating to take in the fresh air, sunshine and people watch, whilst there are plenty of indoor seating opportunities and further seating out back.
As Fridays tend to get busy, it’s best to either get there early or book a table in advance. However, today we were having a late lunch, so by the time we arrived at the Greenwood Hotel after 2pm, it was a lot quieter than usual, allowing us to snag a sofa to enjoy our lunch in the sunshine!
The Greenwood Hotel has an extensive menu option with a good range of menu choices, for whatever mood you’re in. Normally, we tend to share one of their scrumptious gourmet pizzas (try out their Spicy Prawn and Sausage or the Pepperoni Pig – two of my favourites for $22) and “Aspen Fries” with truffle, parmesan, rosemary and aioli which are to die for; however today I was craving something different and their BBQ Pulled Pork Burger with slaw, pickled cucumber, apple sauce, crackling and fries immediately caught my attention (I have a soft spot when it comes to pork and crackling!) and cost $18 – a little pricey for lunch options in North Sydney, but hopefully worth it!
Other menu choices include Spiced Squid, Beer Battered Market Fish and Housemade Chicken Schnitzel as well as other burgers, pizzas and salads. If you arrive after 3pm then you can enjoy a selection of share plates ($10 each or 3 for $25) including meatballs, satay chicken skewers and field mushroom arancini. Also keep an eye out for the specials including the 2 for 1 pizza every Thursday 6pm until close.
You order your drinks and food at the bar and are given a buzzer for the food to collect this yourself from the servery counter outside. Take your pick from a good selection of drinks including wine, beer and cocktails, as well as your spirits or soft drinks including my favourite lemon, lime and bitters. It took about 10 minutes for my food to be ready and my burger looked amazing. Help yourself to the sauces from the counter including tomato sauce and American Mustard and cutlery and napkins.
I couldn’t wait to dig into my burger, but quickly remembered my recent wisdom teeth removal meant that I still couldn’t open my mouth wide enough to take a bite of this massive burger! Instead, it was a case for the knife and fork option. There was plenty of slaw inside the burger which soon overflowed when I cut into the burger; however there was plenty of pulled pork which was super soft and tender with a good essence of barbeque coming through. The pickled cucumber provided a welcome crunch and freshness to the burger and the bun was nicely toasted, topped with seeds. I’m not sure where the apple sauce was though.
The crackling, much to my relief wasn’t too crunchy, so I didn’t have to worry about breaking my teeth and was pretty tasty, but unfortunately not as good as the pork crackling you get when you cook roast pork. There were plenty of fries though and the meal as a whole was a good size for the price paid.
Built in 1878, the Greenwood Hotel was originally a church, before being used as a school and then a pub from 1992. Today, it is one of the North Shore’s most popular venues, and with the quality of food served under Executive Chef Brad Sloane, it is an ultimate winner with local residents and the North Sydney workforce.
Overall, the Greenwood Hotel is a great place to come for lunch, dinner and after work drinks. Open Monday to Friday 11am until late, Saturday 5pm until late and Sunday 1pm until late, make sure you try it for yourselves the next time you are in North Sydney.