With a building plucked straight from a comic strip, The Ettamogah is a family-friendly pub with a lot to offer (including enormous plates of smoked meat).
If you’ve ventured through northwest Sydney, you’ll be familiar with the Ettamogah pub, flanked in planks of wood, with its signature sign out front. The strangely-shaped, Kellyville icon is a must-stop on any family road trip – don’t believe us? Check out the pictures!. While the design might seem one-of-a-kind, there have been a few identical Ettamogah pubs sprinkled throughout rural Australia across the years; the OG in Albury, this one in Kellyville, a new-ish outpost in Western Australia’s Cunderdin, and another in Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast (part of the ‘Aussie World’ theme park).
These iconic landmarks all stem from cartoonist Ken Maynard, whose regular ‘Tales from The Ettamogah Pub’ cartoon in The Australasian Post (back in the 1950s) made the building famous. Although entirely fictional at the time, along came entrepreneur Lindsay Cooper in 1987, who saw a business opportunity in Ken’s creation. He plucked The Ettamogah from the paper and turned it into a real life venue in Albury – complete with sloping, cartoonish walls – fulfilling his dream of opening a family restaurant that would double as a tourist hotspot. Though the original is no longer in action, this Kellyville iteration opened its glass doors in 2003 and has since become a great spot for parents to chill out in one of the multiple dining areas while the kids attack the state-of-the-art play centre.
If you’ve found yourself in Kellyville Ridge and in need of a pub feed (and maybe something to distract the kids) the Ettamogah is the perfect stop. After a long, thoughtful pause on the facade of the iconic Ettamogah building, walk through to the outdoor terrace. Have a seat in the sun, grab a schooey of ya fave beer and relax while the kids run off to the rock climbing wall in the next-level play centre.
Embracing Sydney’s ever-westward sprawl, this place is giant and perfect for large groups, so you can bring the whole family if you want to. The food is affordable and great for sharing, full of all your pub classics alongside some fancier options like smoked meat and woodfired pizzas.
If there’s smoked meat on the menu you know we’ll be ordering it. For groups of two or more, we suggest the BBQ Combo Meat Plate, which for $55 serves up a nice variety of different smoked meats like brisket, baby back pork ribs and chicken wings to share – alongside some coleslaw, corn, pickles, chips and salad, of course. All the meats are smoked with vintage ironbark for anywhere from one to 12 hours, but the standout here is the beef brisket. If there are a lot of you, consider ordering a single plate of brisket as well – you won’t regret having extra.
The wood-fired pizzas, which are nice and doughy, are a solid choice for groups too, though they are a little on the small side, so be sure to get a few. Other than that, you’ve got all your classics and some great kiddie options too.
