Sand Hill Road hospitality group has made a habit of revitalising Melbourne’s most iconic and historic venues. With projects like The Espy, Garden State Hotel and Richmond Club Hotel under its belt, it has upped the ante again with The Waterside Hotel in Melbourne CBD’s west end.
The most ambitious Sand Hill project to date, The Waterside, which opened in 1853, has been transformed from a three-storey pub to a seven-storey, multi-venue destination. Little wonder, then, that it became one of the year’s most talked about openings. On hand to spread the word in November, we were more than chuffed with the extensive chatter that ensued.
For Sand Hill Road director Matt Mullins, The Waterside has been reimagined as a venue that “stays true to the soul of a Melbourne pub while setting a new benchmark for world-class hospitality experiences with each level having its own energy and character”.
This begins on the trad pub-channelling ground level Public Bar and Beer Garden with its 18-metre-long central bar, room for 400 guests and flexible seating options across indoor and outdoor spaces. It’s joined by the 160-seat pan-Asian restaurant PAST/PORT on level two where chefs Chan and Liam Lee celebrate Australian produce through a culinary lens spanning Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. Up a level, PAST/PORT’s Rooftop Cocktail Bar and Outdoor Terrace offers live music, gluggable cocktails and on-theme snacks like tom yum prawn dumplings and kingfish sashimi with salted plum dressing.
Then there are three levels of private and event spaces, including the fifth-floor private lounge bar with its personalised butler-style service.
We worked closely with Sand Hill Road on every aspect of the launch and achieved a great response, including extensive coverage on socials and more than 100 mentions and features across news, lifestyle and food media, including 7 News, What’s On Melbourne, Broadsheet, Herald Sun, City of Melbourne, Beat Magazine, delicious, Urban List and The Age.
