By BEVERLEY BRILL
BLUE EYE, ground floor of the Silos building at Salamanca Place
6223 5297 office@thenoshcompany.com www.fishfish.com.au
WHILE picking up some bubbles for euchre night, I bumped into the infamous Tom Ellis (he of TAFE fame, now working in Lindisfarne) who told me about the new special deal at Joff’s wonderful Blue Eye restaurant in Salamanca. It’s $29.50 for two courses and there are lots of courses to choose from. You can sit outside or inside and since it was a breezy autumn day we headed inside to peruse the menu. There were only three of us so we decided to order a range of dishes to share. The Caesar Queen and junior Friday were arriving after me so I pr-eordered our lunch to arrive at 1:10 p.m. which it did.
Spring Bay mussels at Blue Eye
The fennel-based risotto with seafood was a great dish. It was topped with salmon, blue eye and mussels and the risotto was perfect. Grilled blue eye with chips and a crush of peas – a good solid serve of this wonderful fish and the crushed peas were very interesting. Spring Bay mussels served in broth was the dish of the lunch. It was fantastic. I avoided the broth because the person serving us said it had a real chilli bite, but the girls thought it was fine. The Spring Bay Mussels were the bees’ knees. Fat mussels, cooked superbly, and they were full of flavour. Apricot and sticky date pudding with vanilla bean ice cream and served with a rollicking good sauce was a nice twist on a favourite dish.We shared the dessert
An absolutely terrific lunch all round – couldn’t fault the food, the value or the serves.
JEAN-PASCAL PATISSERIE, 34 Cambridge Road, Bellerive 6244 1077
WEEKEND chef Chris Leishman was rattling the pans in the kitchen on a Sunday last month. I was solo lunching, so I was drawn to the specials board – always a great place to look at this busy little Patisserie.
Twice-cooked confit of duck leg served on braised red cabbage, topped with rocket, pear, and the plate drizzled with pomegranate molasses. It was a smashing dish. I need to learn how to make the molasses – it was brilliant.
THE BRUNSWICK HOTEL, 67 Liverpool Street, Hobart 6234 4981
WELL, what a breath of fresh air has blown through the dear old ‘Brunny’. This pub has had a makeover and a half. I dropped in for lunch and the place was jumping. The only table left was in the foyer. So I sat down and had a look at the menu and enjoyed an on tap Hoegaarden beer. The menu is really well thought out. Justin Harris is in the kitchen and doing a great job. I decided to have the Cygnet rabbit, pork and ham hock terrine served with pear pickle, and a side of mixed Huon Valley mushrooms cooked with garlic and herbs. The range of mushrooms was incredibly good so I attacked this dish first and saved the terrine. The terrine came with slices of bread which I used to mop up the juices from the mushrooms. The terrine was delightful too. The old restaurant part of the Hotel is being redeveloped in the next stage of the reworking of a lovely old pub. The backpackers’ accommodation upstairs will be staying. The ambience of the pub is also totally different – it’s now much more up-market: however, the prices have remained sane. There is a definite local influence on the menu – Cape Grim beef, Storm Bay calamari, Spring Bay mussels, Marrawah steak, Cuckoo Valley pork belly (from the north of the island) – the list goes on and on.
FISH BAR, just by the Beach at Bellerive 6244 1074
The South Hobart Thespian, the Slab Road Slappers and I went for a totally delicious fish lunch last month. Two of us couldn’t go past the marinated trevalla – this dish has been around for ages, but never ceases to please, another had 1/2 a dozen oysters, plus trevalla and last but not least, Paddy had the prawns. We also rounded it out with a small greek salad which was great too.We didn’t stop for ice creams – we were knocked over by our meal.
MANING REEF FISH CAFE, 479 Sandy Bay Road Sandy Bay 0402 337 831
IT’S licensed and John Caire and Giovanni Bertelle look after you fabulously.
We shared three dishes – the wood oven baked whole flounder served with salad and chips, The Reef Grand fish and chips meal which came with a piece of fish, two scallops, two squid, two prawns, a potato cake and sweet potato cake with chips, and the dish of the day, Reef Grand came with trevalla, three scallops, three prawns and four squid served with lemon juice and olive oil on foil to keep the juices for the fish. It was positively delightful. We also had some tempura-battered mushrooms, a signature dish for John and Giovanni who have been doing them at festivals for years. They have both been involved in many restaurants for years. If you don’t want a full-sized meal, you can take a friend and share it with them. Kate Caire, John’s daughter, is working hard there too. They also do traditional thin -based Italian wood-fired pizza – in all nine different types, three different salads, and three different desserts. And lots of seafood dishes and they even have a steak sanger!!
ANOTHER NEW RESTAURANT!
ANOTHER yum cha/noodle bar has sprung up in 1/80 Elizabeth Street in Hobart. Call them on 6234 6131.
WHAT’S FOR SALE AROUND THE TRAPS
SO many Tasmanian restaurants and cafes for sale right now according to local gossip – the Bund on Shanghai in King Street in Sandy Bay, Marque IV, Boathouse, Catch, Cargo, Fish, Kuzina, and up north, Strathlynn and many many more. What’s going on?
