Complete with ‘Schnit + Schooner Tuesdays’, a famed sticky date pudding, and (so Brits remember what country they’re in) Foster’s by the tinnie – The Lady Hampshire is a pub steeped in Australiana. And that’s before you get to the bar-length mural of Aussie icons past and present, featuring a croc-cradling Steve Irwin, a torch-wielding Cathy Freeman and a yard-sculling Bob Hawke.
Built in 1911, the Camperdown pub was reopened in 2023 by Public Hospitality, whose expanding Sydney footprint already includes The Strand Hotel in Darlinghurst and Oxford House and El Primo Sanchez in Paddington, amongst (many) others.
Further west, they’ve managed to retain a scrappy charm that harks back to The Lady Hampshire’s former life. Outside, dozens of kegs are piled along pavement on Parramatta Road. Inside, patrons’ dogs roam a rug-thrown floor.
Some of the menu items aren’t available. For others, the staff have to nip over the road to grab the ingredients. Despite buzzing with people, it sometimes feels like they’re making it up as they go along.
But it fits. The walls are messy with wonky frames and pinned-up beer mats. The sprawling beer garden is pieced together with recycled furniture. The stage, with its velvet curtains and Persian carpet, feels like an elaborate living room arrangement.
The cocktail list reverts to the Australiana theme, with names like Bloody Howard, Dark & Warney and The Lazenby. The Lazenby, like the man himself, is an Aussie-fied take on 007. Inspired by James Bond’s drink of choice, this cocktail re-works the classic Martini with Kiwi-made 42 Below Vodka, lychee, citrus and lemon myrtle for a fragrant, fruity upgrade on the original.
The Bloody Howard, a nod to the former prime minister, doesn’t venture far from the cocktail’s standard recipe. It combines vodka, tomato juice, lemon and spice for a fine rendition of the fiery juice. The outside of the glass comes smeared with a spice mix fresh from the Indian kitchen of Derrel’s next door, itself an even newer addition to Public’s dining portfolio.
The rest of the drinks list is a scattering of mostly Australian wines, including a chilled red from South Australian natural wine dons Doom Juice, three labels from Victoria’s Cloud Street, and a Chardonnay from NSW’s very own Swinging Bridge. The bar also has a host of local breweries like Hawke’s, Philter, Young Henrys and Camperdown’s Wayward on tap. (Brisbane’s Green Beacon Brewing Co. steals the show with its juicy tropical pale ale, though.)
The food, courtesy of ex-Baba’s Place chef Brendan King, toes the troublesome line between no-nonsense pub grub and gastropub frill. In the end, the menu takes some from Column A (steaks, pot pies and giant lung-shaped schnitzels) and a few from Column B (brown rice bowls with toasted sesame, cabbage and edamame).
But the best plates contain a little from both. The samosa spring rolls, for example, are about twice the size of your usual roll, filled with a surprise curry sauce, and plated with sweet tamarind and creamy raita dipping sauces.
Then there’s the eggplant katsu burger. At first glance, you might wish you’d ordered one of the other burgers – the ‘Hampshire Smash’ beef patty, the fried chicken, or the crumbed barramundi. The bun is small, flat and plainly store-bought, something out of a fast-food chain. But in one reluctant bite the eggplant katsu comes spilling out in a shameless mess, armed with a sumptuous combination of coriander, spring onion, pickled ginger and hoisin sauce. It’s delicious.
Meanwhile, the only dessert on the menu is the only dessert required. The sticky date is a thick, unfussy slab of spongy fruit pudding, wallowing in a pool of salty Guiness butterscotch and crowned with a fast-melting orb of malt ice cream. Make room.
With weekly free-to-enter quiz nights, daily $20 dinner-and-drink deals, and a regular program of live music from local and international artists, there’s rarely not a reason to head to The Lady Hampshire. Time will tell if it’s enough to keep the taps on for another 100 years, but here’s hoping.
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