Just back from a five day stay on Bruny Island, Tasmania, celebrating a friend's birthday. As you can imagine it was a great occasion to eat, drink and be merry. Happily the group who went down are all massive foodies so much of the local fare was tried.
We stocked up for the trip at a locavore's heaven on the mainland out of Margate, Meredith Orchards and Fruit and Veg shop (and you really do have to stock up; there is some local veg and fruit on the Island but it's not a range to satisfy a vegan let alone a desperate omnivore) and the Snug Butchery (tho I behaved and did not get a variety of native animal and bird cuts).
Among said fare was a triffic lunch in the beautiful timber and metal airy space of The Jetty Cafe at Dennes Point: I went for the perfectly tender roast quail with red cabbage and caramelised onions. Attached is a small provedore/general store that has excellent local produce - potatoes, garlic, organic eggs, walnuts, cherries, a selection of local wines, smoked meats and cheese, when I was there.
We had our fill of oysters from Get Shucked, fresh as you could want them from the beds not 100 metres offshore from the oyster bar itself, in pristine aqua waters, best on their own or at the most with a tiny squeeze of lemon though their on premises made Worcestershire sauce was excellent if you want to go the way of saucing that plump pillow of creaminess).
We bought big from he Bruny Island Cheese Company of cheese with perfunctory but perfectly adequate names like Tom and Bob but whose humbleness may be in part responsible for me forgetting my the name of my favourite which was a soft wine-leaf wrapped delight (I have this urge to call it Gert as in by sea). Suggestion to Cheese Co: Your sales and tasting area is tiny, let be honest, and when you have a tasting party of a dozen or more they tend to crowd out the rest of us poor sods who can't see the cheese and have a devil of a time then purchasing them. At the same time you have a big dining area that was untenanted the mid-morning we were there into which you could shift said large tasting groups.
Also sampled smoked salmon (average) and salted sardines (excellent) from the Bruny Island Smoke House, and here too behaved and did not tuck into smoked native fauna. Note to the Smoke House: It's difficult to sample your fish if its shredded so fine that the toothpick with which one is to sample it cannot actually spear the morsel - frustration does not help the palate.
We ate our fill of Bruny Black Devil cherries, and youngberries and raspberries from the Bruny Island Berry Farm.
Dinners were accompanied by a variety of Tasmanian wines, not the least of which enjoyed was the Bruny Island Premium Wines Captain's Pinot Noir produced at the southernmost vineyard in Australia.
But you know me, I am up for non gourmet product whenever I can, particularly if it is as satisfying as a curried scallop pie from the Alonnah General Store on South Bruny, plump pink-tounged local scallops in a Clive of India curry powdered white sauce with a nicely crisp pastry (though the base it has to be said was a little damp and stuck to the foil baking cup) scoffed down in the car as the rain squalled outside. Also pleasured myself post a strenuous walk up to the head of the Fluted Cape and back (brilliant views, echidna, wallaby, birds galore) with beer battered fish and chips at the Hotel Bruny, It was, however, a great disappointment that while there is
wonderful seafood in the seas off Bruny, and indeed the Hotel Bruny promotes the pleasures of eating seafood caught by Dave on the day, there is nowhere on Bruny to buy
it fresh. For a foodie like me this seems either sad or perverse or
both. We also shared an plate of excellent crumbed squid and Chris tucked into the Hotel's Ocean and Earth - aka surf and turf - of a thick juicy local breed scotch fillet topped with scallops and squid in a light garlic sauce.
And of course I had to check out the CWA Morning Tea at the Barnes Bay Community Hall. As lovely a ballet of jams and pickles as you could wish for, and a spiced pear cake that rewarded the giving in thereto.
If you go and are on a budget, I recommend staying at The Hideaway on Victoria, Dennes Point.
We stocked up for the trip at a locavore's heaven on the mainland out of Margate, Meredith Orchards and Fruit and Veg shop (and you really do have to stock up; there is some local veg and fruit on the Island but it's not a range to satisfy a vegan let alone a desperate omnivore) and the Snug Butchery (tho I behaved and did not get a variety of native animal and bird cuts).
Among said fare was a triffic lunch in the beautiful timber and metal airy space of The Jetty Cafe at Dennes Point: I went for the perfectly tender roast quail with red cabbage and caramelised onions. Attached is a small provedore/general store that has excellent local produce - potatoes, garlic, organic eggs, walnuts, cherries, a selection of local wines, smoked meats and cheese, when I was there.We had our fill of oysters from Get Shucked, fresh as you could want them from the beds not 100 metres offshore from the oyster bar itself, in pristine aqua waters, best on their own or at the most with a tiny squeeze of lemon though their on premises made Worcestershire sauce was excellent if you want to go the way of saucing that plump pillow of creaminess). We bought big from he Bruny Island Cheese Company of cheese with perfunctory but perfectly adequate names like Tom and Bob but whose humbleness may be in part responsible for me forgetting my the name of my favourite which was a soft wine-leaf wrapped delight (I have this urge to call it Gert as in by sea). Suggestion to Cheese Co: Your sales and tasting area is tiny, let be honest, and when you have a tasting party of a dozen or more they tend to crowd out the rest of us poor sods who can't see the cheese and have a devil of a time then purchasing them. At the same time you have a big dining area that was untenanted the mid-morning we were there into which you could shift said large tasting groups.
Also sampled smoked salmon (average) and salted sardines (excellent) from the Bruny Island Smoke House, and here too behaved and did not tuck into smoked native fauna. Note to the Smoke House: It's difficult to sample your fish if its shredded so fine that the toothpick with which one is to sample it cannot actually spear the morsel - frustration does not help the palate.
We ate our fill of Bruny Black Devil cherries, and youngberries and raspberries from the Bruny Island Berry Farm.
Dinners were accompanied by a variety of Tasmanian wines, not the least of which enjoyed was the Bruny Island Premium Wines Captain's Pinot Noir produced at the southernmost vineyard in Australia.
But you know me, I am up for non gourmet product whenever I can, particularly if it is as satisfying as a curried scallop pie from the Alonnah General Store on South Bruny, plump pink-tounged local scallops in a Clive of India curry powdered white sauce with a nicely crisp pastry (though the base it has to be said was a little damp and stuck to the foil baking cup) scoffed down in the car as the rain squalled outside. Also pleasured myself post a strenuous walk up to the head of the Fluted Cape and back (brilliant views, echidna, wallaby, birds galore) with beer battered fish and chips at the Hotel Bruny, It was, however, a great disappointment that while there is
wonderful seafood in the seas off Bruny, and indeed the Hotel Bruny promotes the pleasures of eating seafood caught by Dave on the day, there is nowhere on Bruny to buy
it fresh. For a foodie like me this seems either sad or perverse or
both. We also shared an plate of excellent crumbed squid and Chris tucked into the Hotel's Ocean and Earth - aka surf and turf - of a thick juicy local breed scotch fillet topped with scallops and squid in a light garlic sauce.And of course I had to check out the CWA Morning Tea at the Barnes Bay Community Hall. As lovely a ballet of jams and pickles as you could wish for, and a spiced pear cake that rewarded the giving in thereto.
If you go and are on a budget, I recommend staying at The Hideaway on Victoria, Dennes Point.
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