Gem Bar & Dining Room

Ph: (03) 9419 5170; Curry Family Hotel, 289 Wellington St, COLLINGWOOD 3066

Pub, Bar
Open fri noon-3pm mon-fri 6-9pm sat-sun i-9.30pm; Licensed; AE DC MC V EFT

Mietta's Review
The story of the Curry Family is a one woman story. When Amy Robson took over in the mid 1990s it was the sort of local corner pub that only the most intrepid of uninitiated punters would dare enter. Dark, dingy and definitely one for the old style boozers. She turned it into a welcoming, rather eccentric dining and drinking environment without losing the charm of 'the local'. The she went off to start another venture in the country. The Curry declined. Thankfully she's back getting it all on track again.

Other published opinions

The Age Michael Harden, 18-6-2008 "The Gem used to be called Curry's Family Hotel and despite the framed Elvis portraits, the tattooed bartenders and a crowd that leans towards chunky boots and skinny jeans, the welcoming, unpretentious vibe suggested by the former name still holds sway. Most of the action at the Gem happens in the wooden-floored front bar, though there is also a nattily attired dining room, a few other nooks and crannies out the back and a streetside drinking area for those less public bar-inclined. There is live country-acoustic music several times a week (with the musicians performing in one corner of the room, near the pool table) and, in between bands, two turntables and a heap of vintage vinyl behind the bar supply the soundtrack."

The Age Cheap Eats 2008 "Cowboys leave your guns at the bar' reads the sign at this cosy country-style pub"

The Age Cheap Eats 2007 "A pantheon of holy figures (Jesus, Johnny Cash and Elvis) watches over pool players in the front bar, but it's prayers for top-notch pubgrub that are answered in Gem's cosy, westernthemed dining room."

The Age Cheap Eats 2006 You glide the streets a sleek metrosexual. But on entering Amy's an inexplicable force (perhaps emanating from the Bert Newton mask behind the bar) mutates your DNA. Guinness in hand, you're now expounding the merits of Loretta Lynn and debating the footy.

The Age,A2,3/4/04,Melinda Houston,'Tucked away in the backstreets of Collingwood,this quaint little pub is the perfect local.Tiny,old-fashioned and so not-cool it actually is,the Curry Family Hotel is a great place for a couple of beers on an autumn night.There is absolutely nothing flash about the joint but the hospitality is five star. And naturally, the just-like-Mum-used-to-make food is an extra drawcard.'