#53 – Wine and dine your girl at Moon Under Water and talk about the George Orwell essay after which it is named – August 7, 2013
The Moon Under Water is an essay that Orwell wrote in 1946 for the Evening Standard. He describes in detail his most favourite pub, the Moon Under Water. It sports features like being quiet enough for a pleasant conversation, serving snacks and having a family friendly garden. The impatient reader can get a quick overview at Wikipedia. However, the full essay is not that long either and worth the extra five minutes. Unfortunately, Orwell’s Moon Under Water is just his ideal of a pub and he had yet to find it. “I have mentioned above ten qualities that the perfect pub should have and I know one pub that has eight of them. Even there, however, there is no draught stout, and no china mugs.”
The principles he mapped out are timeless. In describing what so many of us seek in a perfect pub – solace, authenticity and a very real kind of community – he wrote a manifesto that lives down the ages. In the Moon Under Water, everyone was equal in front of the bar, regardless of age or sex – it was egalitarian by design. A place of serenity. A haven for thought and conversation. (I stole this paragraph from The Guardian. It is written so eloquently and hits the point so well that I didn’t want to cripple it by putting it into quotes*. Now continuing in my own words).
Melbourne’s Builders Arms Hotel named its dining room after Orwell’s essay. Big shoes to fill, but oh boy, they do a pretty good job. First things first: It’s not a pub. The Moon Under Water is a lovely mix of fine dining restaurant and homely living room. Its layout is very simple and minimalistic, held in elegant white and off-white colours, without being intimidating, and having a nice cupboard on one end, that displays oddities like a rooster and a model ship. The tables are spacious and leave enough room for conversations without being forced to participate in the neighbouring tables’ talk.
They serve a set four course meal leaving you the option of to eat or not to eat (to be fair, a vegetarian menu is available and dietary requirements are accommodated). The quality of the food makes it easy to choose the “eat” option. In the style of the interior, the courses are basic, but with a bit of finesse. The service was very friendly and attentive without being obtrusive.
The Moon Under Water did by no means live up to the evaluation criteria of George Orwell’s pub. They sold no liver-sausage sandwiches; tobacco, aspirins and stamps were not part of their assortment and they had no china vessels for pints of beer. But it hits the Orwellian ideal of a “place of serenity, a haven for thought and conversation” very beautifully. We spent a wonderful evening there and left very satisfied and happy. This was a romantic dinner, however I’m very much looking forward to returning with friends to while away an evening chatting and feasting. A venue that gets an introvert talking … must be something. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera and therefore have to link to their website for photos.
… the story about the non-iversary will be told on another occasion.
*continuing a German doctor tradition.
