Sir Charles Hotham – Geelong pub with GF menu

Gluten free pub in Geelong

The Sir Charles Hotham Hotel is a typical family run Aussie pub, located in Geelong just off the Princes Highway.

Source: Sir Charles Hotham website

It is pretty hard to get a safe gluten free pub meal in Australia, so seeing the text below on their website was amazing!

“We cater for gluten free with an extensive menu and we even bake our own gluten free bread. Meals are cooked separately with no contamination.”

We were served by the friendly and informative owners who explained all the gluten free food and preparation when they noticed I was looking at the gluten free menu (available online). The gluten free dishes also come out on different coloured plates so all staff are aware which meal is gluten free.

I couldn’t go past the cheesy garlic bread as that is such a rare treat for a coeliac and my non GF husband also enjoyed it.  The owner said they used to sell the bread but the demand got so high they couldn’t keep up, so now you can only get the bread by dining at the pub.

Another hard to find item for a coeliac is a chicken schnitzel and I really enjoyed it with the gravy and the salad. The chips were good too!

The menu is full of pub classics, such as fish and chips, chicken parma, roast, steak, risotto and pasta. My husband had an English favourite, lamb fry & bacon with onions, gluten free gravy, mashed potato & vegetables which he thought was a great winter warmer (sorry, forgot to take a photo).

For dessert, I was torn between the sticky date pudding and the banana fritters and the latter won out and they were delicious with the crunchy batter and cinnamon sugar. My husband had the crumble (not gluten free). If you are English, they also have bread and butter pudding available gluten free 😉

I never intended to have a three course meal but everything was so tempting!

Bookings are recommended, but we got a table easily early on a Saturday night.

The pub also has a separate bar, an outside courtyard off the dining room and a function room upstairs.

I would definitely eat here again if in Geelong as we often have a stopover when travelling from Melbourne to the Great Ocean Road.  For locals, it is just three minutes walk from Geelong train station and Geelong’s Deakin University and five minutes to the waterfront.

For more ideas in the area, please check the Geelong and Bellarine Peninsula post:

Tags: bread and butter pudding, chicken parma, Deakin Uni, fish and chips, geelong, Geelong waterfront, gluten free geelong, pub