By Shamsiya Hussainpoor
The Australian Good Food Guide (AGFG), home of the Chef Hat Awards has nominated a family-run tavern, ‘Pig and Whistle Tavern Olinda’ for the 2024 Yarra Valley Readers’ Choice Awards.
The Australian Good Food Guide is designed as an essential navigational and rating accomplice, and it has been acknowledged as Australia’s most comprehensive restaurant, accommodation and travel authority encompassing not only for major metropolitan areas but many of the smaller townships that lie in between.
Every year the AGFG examiners conscientiously inspect thousands of establishments and other places of interest for inclusion in their publication.
The ‘Pig and Whistle Tavern Olinda’ best known for its famous roast pork belly on mash potatoes with chilli onion jam has been running by a local family since 1991.
The restaurants owner’s son, Nick Roostan, who’s now the venue manager has been working on the family business since he was the legal age (15-years-old).
“It’s wonderful to be recognised, we try and put ourselves up to a higher standard,” the venue manager said.
“It’s quite hard when you’re self-employed to know what you’re doing right, this recognition is a great kick in the right direction, and it’s definitely something we will celebrate with a bottle of wine.”
Mr Roostan is currently doing Certificate III in commercial cookery, and he said Covid has impacted a lot of the businesses but fortunately their business has been busier than ever before.
“People are still spending quite a lot, but they’re incredibly particular about how they spend it, so instead of going down to the pub after work every night and having a couple of pints of a generic beer and a parma, they come out once or twice a week and still spend the same amount, on quality food,” he said.
“We try and have as much local produce as possible whilst maintaining a really good quality of food, and we also try and have as many local wines as possible.”
The pub has 18 different variety of beers, and the menu hasn’t changed much since they first open the business.
“We’ve had a lot of the same items on the menu for 15-20 years and a lot of people are really happy about that – we try and hold back into that ideology of good portion, and tasty food so customers don’t leave the restaurant with the thought of going to Maccas because they aren’t full,” he said.
“People like being in places they’re known and people like going to places that they feel really welcome.”
He said as much as he loves seeing new customers and tourists, he enjoys seeing “return customers” and locals at the pub.
Mr Roostan and his brothers all live with their parents just down the road from the restaurant and he said working with the family business comes with pros and cons.
“We all live locally, we all work in the family business, occasionally my parents drive me bloody insane, makes me wish my parents weren’t my boss, and sometimes when we’re having a conversation, I always ask is it a parent conversation or a boss conversation,” he said.
“it’s nice to be knowing where we’re going, everybody loves that, I hear a lot about businesses struggling at the moment, it’s just so unfortunate.”
“My parents didn’t start this business to make millions of dollars, they started this business because they wanted to give something they thought they could give, I say support your local businesses, but at the same time, allow them to give you the experience that you deserve.”
