Builders Arms Hotel

As a rule your local pub probably shouldn’t be your first port of call when you crave dumplings, but if you’re in Fitzroy it’s a whole different story. The Builder’s Arms does a serve of silky, tender pork dumplings that luxuriate in a hot and numbing chilli, soy and green onion sauce and they stand up against any high end dumplings in the business. It might look like an extreme fire danger but those dried red flakes are for flavor, not heat. They also do blistered and shatteringly crunchy chicken and prawn fried wontons that get an extra nostalgic kick from the sweet and sour sauce you spoon out of a panda cup.

This pub has always been famous for it’s kitchen – the dining room out the back used to house the famous Moon under Water restaurant, then Andrew McConnell’s Sichuan dining room, Ricky and Pinky – which these days is doing a straight line in elegant bistro fare like a ling pie, a daily rotisserie and steak. This is a classic pub all the way down to it’s mottled dijonaise coloured tiles and black top bar. It’s also a pub with an expansive range. Come here for a cheeseburger or a creamy drift of whipped cod roe with Turkish toast soldiers out on Gertrude Street; settle in by the windows for a Mountain Goat steam ale for super easy drinking or a sour and citrusy spelt ale from Two Metre Tall for driving flavour; spend an afternoon under the bougainvillea in the beer garden; or go an all out fancy feast. You choose your adventure speed here and each one of them is delicious in their own right.