Adrian Moran (co-owner) at The Durham Castle Arms Inn. Photo: Thomas Lucraft.
The Durham Castle Arms Pub in Kingston is a Canberra institution: it’s been around for more than 30 years, serving pints of craft beer and top-notch pub grub. It’s a proper old school pub, with quirky accessories on the walls, retro booths, a TV in the corner and an old-fashioned bar.
The Durham is also the home pub of local brewery Ale Mary, and several of their beers are available on tap, as well as options from other small-scale locals Mountain Yeti Brewing Co.
Among a busy schedule of events, they run two regular trivia nights which are very popular: be sure to book a table if you don’t want to miss out!
I rounded up a team of trivia-keen mates to try our luck. Well-known trivia company Fame Trivia runs these nights and their combination of general knowledge, music questions, visual brain teasers and heads or tails showdown all proved popular.
Pub Trivia is held twice weekly at The Durham Castle Arms. Photo: Thomas Lucraft.
We came close to naming all the countries in Asia ending in ‘ia’ but didn’t manage to recognise a zoomed in Twinings Tea logo.
Several tables around us had taken advantage of the menu special which allows customers to add a jug of Ale Mary beer, ginger beer or cider to their porterhouse or rib eye steak for only $10 extra. This was very tempting but we decided to keep our minds sharp for the trivia, which turned out to be entirely unnecessary as tables close to us downed many more pints and won many more points. Despite our best efforts we only just avoided last place, but I like to think we had the most fun.
Monthly themed trivia nights see nerds test their knowledge on pop-culture subjects like The Simpsons or Star Wars. On other nights The Durham runs comedy or music open mic nights, tap takeovers from other independent breweries, a Sunday roast special, karaoke and live music.
Thumbs up to the fish and chips. Photo: Thomas Lucraft.
We arrived early and ordered our food straight away to avoid the trivia rush on meals. The pub was packed, but the food came out surprisingly fast. The menu covers all the pub classics, although vegetarian options are sadly limited. Fortunately when I visited with a pescatarian they gave the beer battered fish and chips a thumbs up, with a special mention to the very tasty house-made tartare sauce.
The Southern Fried Chicken Burger had excellent crunch, with juicy chicken and a nice sauce, although I (personally) could have done with a little more spice and a few more pickles. My friends absolutely inhaled their schnitzels so I can only surmise that they were very good.
Food this tasty doesn’t need to be pretty. Photo: Lucy Ridge.
On a previous pub visit I enjoyed the house-made Guinness and Beef pie served with mashed potatoes and gravy. This was a proper winter feast: the meat was rich and tender, the crust flaky and the mash creamy and smooth.
Washed down with an Ale Mary Hazy IPA: who could ask for anything more?
The Durham Castle Arms is located at Green Square, Kingston. It is open from midday to 1 am on weekdays, and from 11 am to 1 am on weekends. Find out what’s on at the pub and book a table via The Durham Castle Arms website, or follow them on Facebook or Instagram.
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