El Arish Tavern

The Royal in Hughenden was the last Royal of the last trip. But between the Royals in Ingham and Herberton, we made a lunch stop at a pub that was so good it deserves a write-up regardless of whether or not it’s a Royal. So we’re calling the El Arish Tavern an ‘Honorary Royal’.

El Arish is a little town of 337 people between the larger towns of Tully and Innisfail in Far North Queensland. It was apparently founded by soldiers returning from World War 1 and named after a town in Egypt where the Light Horse fought and was later the site of a major military hospital. So that accounts for the slightly non-Queensland-y sound of the town’s name.

The El Arish Tavern had popped up on my feed now and then largely due to their specialty of whole smoked crocodiles. But the pub itself looked cool too. And it was perfectly positioned on our trip so we would be passing through El Arish right about lunchtime. So I figured it was worth a stop.

As we pulled up to the pub, we were already impressed. The place just screamed authentic country pub. As we walked up to the front door a couple of older locals looked up. I kind of expected a cold ‘you aren’t from around here’ stare. But instead we get a friendly ‘hello and welcome’. I’ll get into more details in a sec, but I think what stood out about the El Arish Tavern so much for me was that it struck the perfect balance between ‘local pub in a small town’ and ‘destination pub’ (owing to its social media presence around the whole smoked crocodiles). The guys that live a couple of doors down are just as comfortable there as the people that drove hundreds of kilometres to visit. And that’s not an easy balance to strike

That balance was even more evident when we walked in the front door. The place just had character everywhere. Even though it had been purchased and done up a bit in the past several years, everything on the walls decorating it had been built up over decades. The character of the of the town really came through.

We grabbed schooners (XXXX naturally) and had a wander around the pub. The front bar definitely had a bit of a locals feel. Not that we wouldn’t have been welcome there, that just felt like where they were congregating. We wandered past the pool table (free all day, every day) and eventually found our way out to the beer garden.

There’s a great deck with a big TV that would be ideal to sit back watch a game or 3. I know I’ve said this about other pubs as well, but this deck had Sunday Session written all over it. We selected one of the coolest tables I’ve ever seen in a pub and settled in for some schooners and some lunch.

The whole crocodiles apparently feed about 6 or 7 people. But there were only three of us and one of those is a vegetarian. So we opted against the whole crocodile. But there was a KFC (Kentucky Fried Crocodile) burger on the menu. So I was still able to get my croc fix at least. I’ve had crocodile before and this might be the best croc meal I’ve had. I was, however, a bit jealous of the people who had the smoked crocodiles waiting for them. But I guess it just gives us a good reason to make our way back up to El Arish at some point.

Everything about the El Arish Tavern was on the money. From the locals, to the barman, to the food, to just the overall vibe of the place. I often use the description ‘we could’ve stayed all day’. But with the El Arish Tavern, we could’ve easily stayed all weekend. And if we did stay a whole weekend, I reckon we could’ve worked our way through a whole smoked crocodile.

The El Arish Tavern isn’t a Royal. But if it was, it would easily make our top 10 list. And we’re probably talking top 3 or so. It’s that good of a pub. It’s one that I would definitely come back to. And it’s one I’d make a special trip to come back to. I know John feels the same and he reckons Rod would buy shares in the place if he could. I’m extremely glad we made it our lunch stop for the trip. Because Royal or not, it was probably the highlight of the entire trip.

So basically what I’m saying is, if you’re within 100km of El Arish, do yourself a favour and make the drive. You won’t be sorry.