Out on the far northern fringe of Sydney they have clean air, trees too plentiful to count and the Blue Gum Hotel. Many people may not even know this pub exists, as it’s positioned on the far side of the F3 entrance in Waitara. But stay the course on the Pacific Highway and you will find one of the best pub pies on the north shore. The bistro is the serious drawcard of this expansive pub. The public bar is a clean and simple space facing onto the highway with a pool table, some high seating and TAB facilities. But the majority of the floor space is reserved for diners because at its heart this is a sit-down, eat-and-discuss-your-day kind of place. The comfortable wood-lined room has a fireplace at one end, historic photos of the pub’s history on the walls, and a leafy outlook onto the car park and drive-through bottleshop out the back. You can reserve a table, even for big groups – they are hardly pressed for space – but you’ll still want to get in before the serious dinner rush around 7pm. Once the place is full there’s scant room to move around families and older couples cooking their own steaks or committing to the 20-minute wait for their pie. And you should too. It’s a proper pie (no ramekins here) filled with tender beef, mushrooms and onion with a crisp pastry shell that stays firm in the sea of clear, light gravy right until the last bite. You may be north but craft beer crosses all boundaries and here the taps boast Endeavour’s Growers bright ale, Fat Yak, Cascade’s bright ale, Two Birds and 4 Pines. When it comes to craft beer and pub food, the Blue Gum is our King in the North.
