Nick and Meagan Gregorski, the owners of The Port Office Hotel, are about to re-open the heritage pub after repairing the damage caused in January by a devastating fire that started in the kitchen of the dining room and almost consumed the entire building.
The Port Office Dining Room is open again for lunch and dinner, Monday to Saturday from 11.30am until late. Under the tutelage of Executive Chef Graham Waddell the menu is a modern take on Australian gastro-pub food with subtle European and Scottish influences – a reflection of his heritage. The Front Bar is once again humming; an old-school style timber long bar and the perfect place for chats. Upstairs, The Colonial Bar takes over the full floor, including wraparound verandahs, and is a quintessentially Queensland plantation-style, velvet cocktail bar, open for private bookings and functions only.
Nick and Meagan are passionate about preserving and revitalising Heritage-listed venues. From small beginnings they re-opened The Alliance Hotel in Spring Hill in 2012. In 2017, they looked to the Port Office Hotel and took with them Chef Waddell. “When news of the fire spread, this incredible group of local regulars materialised, ready to do whatever was needed. While they couldn’t help with the rebuild, they certainly maintained their loyalty, even when we only had two beers on tap and three lunch dishes on the menu created from a tiny kitchenette upstairs. They kept coming every day. Without them, it would have been heartbreaking. We call them The Front Bar Army, and we cannot thank them enough,” Meagan said.
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