~ indulge ~

 

Have been wanting to go to this new(ish) Hobart restaurant since it opened late last year.

And on Saturday night we finally got the chance - babysitter arranged (who was prepared to stay late should we run into queue problems - they don't take reservations so sometimes the wait is quite long), a great reason to celebrate (a pre-50 birthday) and some good friends.

And the rave reviews are all on the money.

It was fabulous.  Delicious and sexy.  Innovative and fun.  

Still dreaming about some of the yummy food.

We did have to wait - we slipped round to the New Sydney and had a couple of G+Ts (girls) and pints (boys) and in no time at all the phone rang to tell us our table was available.  Well...almost...the group leaving did take a while finishing off their wines and desserts and I don't blame them at all.  The space itself is fantastic - dark wooded long refectory-style tables, fab lights, tables, open kitchen...all very enticing.  We argued a bit over whether it was more Sydney or Melbourne....I like to think its perfectly (new) Hobart.

We sat down, chose one of nearly everything to share and got stuck into some French wine (it was nearly all French, organic and unknown to us).  What followed was a total treat - absolutely beautifully presented food that tasted amazing served by discreetly professional wait staff.  We loved the steamed oysters with apple vinegar, garlic and spring onion (they made us go all master-cheffy about complex flavours).  The glazed octopus with persimmon puree and mustard seasoning was divine (we did fight a little about who finished that off), the sashimi fresh and perfectly matched with green almond vinegar.  My favourite was a toss up between the lamb ribs (pepper, lemon and coriander seed dressing and finger-licking good!) and the carrots (I know - a dish of carrots) - heirloom carrots that were malt-glazed with almond cream, grains and seeds - I'd go back just for them.  We did have desserts and a totally fabulous sticky but the details are a little blurred...

 

My food photos do no justice to the deliciousness of it all - too dark and the iphone and my gin-shaky hands weren't up to it.  Will just have to go back for lunch and take the good camera. 

Indulgent - yes.  Worth it - yes.  

We'll be back.  Soon.


♥