Cherry Tree Hotel: no muss, no fuss dinner at my local

Cherry Tree Hotel
53 Balmain Street, Cremorne (map)
9428 5743

I just LOVE living in Cremorne, Melbourne. "Cremorne, Melbourne? But isn't Cremorne in Sydney?", I hear some of you say. Since DJ and I moved in together last year, we've had to explain the location of our suburb many a time. DJ (bless his pedantic legal cotton socks!) even penned a tongue-in-cheek facebook note on the subject, entitled "A response to my interlocutors re Cremorne":

Cremorne was indeed excised from Richmond on 21 May 1998 (kudos to you, A!) by the Place Names Committee on the recommendation of the City of Yarra (see Government Gazette G20, page 1139, where Cremorne is referred to as a "suburb").

I do acknowledge that Cremorne shares the same postcode as Richmond (as do the Burnley and Burnley North delivery areas). However, I do not believe that this is determinative of the question. Australia Post's Policy on the Assignment of Postcodes reads: "The decision as to whether a new postcode or an existing postcode is to be allocated to a locality is based on operational efficiency." Indeed, it would have been particularly inefficient for Cremorne to be given a new postcode upon its excision as (a) its population is, admittedly, tiny (1396 residents: see ABS Census 2006), and (b) the Australia Post Richmond Delivery Centre actually falls within Cremorne's boundaries, and significant inconvenience/confusion would undoubtedly have been caused if an entire delivery centre had to be allocated a new postcode.

Anyway, anyone who refers to it as Richmond South doesn't get an invite to my housewarming.

So yes, pedantic poseurs that we are, we do love our Cremorne address. And yes, we LOVE having The Cherry Tree as our local.


Take the other night, for example. I'd been working late in the office and returned home tired and cranky at 9:20pm, only to open my fridge and pantry and find to my dismay that they contained nothing even vaguely appetising - I couldn't stomach the idea of pasta with tomato and tinned tuna (that old standby from student days) and the only other alternative was going to be a Thai red curry containing spring onions, tinned pineapple and a sad-looking capsicum. DJ had already eaten, I didn't fancy trekking back up to Swan St, and neither of us had cash on hand for a pizza delivery.

But then DJ had the brilliant idea of phoning up the Cherry Tree to see if their kitchen was still open - it was just about to close, but they happily took my order (100 day grain fed Angus minute steak with salad and fries, $12.50) over the phone. After a bit of coaxing, DJ agreed to join me for a glass of red and we trotted down to the pub, where my minute steak was promptly served before me! How can you NOT love a local that does that for you?! :)


The minute steak at the Cherry Tree is perfectly respectable pub grub, and the other fare I've tried there has always been reliably good. DJ and I tend to eat from the front bar menu, but there's also a slightly fancier bistro out the back. The pub always has a great selection of beers on tap from microbreweries (eg Matilda Bay, Coldstream Brewery and local favourite Mountain Goat). And on quiet weeknights, there's always some great old movie playing silently on the TV screen - I've seen both Rear Window and To Catch a Thief playing there, and the other night Sunset Blvd. was screening. Awesome.


My ONE gripe with the Cherry Tree is that they stubbornly insist on being closed on Sundays, the day of the week I am MOST likely to be NOT running around like a headless chook, and both able and keen to while away the afternoon somewhere cosy with a glass or two of vino or a few cheeky pints...