Hearth Pizza Just The Thing To Kindle A Foodie’s Fire

The musical pairing for today’s post from Mixtape Champs is:

A cosy sit by the fireplace, even in summer? Great pizza, flavours, and atmosphere. Hearth ticked our boxes and then some. 

Sometimes, life just gets too crazy. You know what I mean? And in Hobart as well as the rest of Australia, new restaurants pop up every week. It’s hard to keep up, especially when my platform for the blog is sustainability, giving chefs a voice and support, and a zillion other things I haven’t even thought of yet.

Hearth is in a gorgeous old cottage in Montpelier Street that cantilevers down to Salamanca. Where trees erupt out of the footpath, Preachers and Society spill their customers out into daylight or dark, and hardy shoppers and drinkers stagger up against gravity when their time is done.

It’s hosted a few venues and ideas, and the last incarnation was Monty’s of Montpelier which had a brief shine in the limelight, and faded until this new revamp that seems more in touch with diners in the noughties.

And, it’s not far from my stamping ground, so it would seem automatic that I’ve made my way there often. But no. Unfortunately this little place just hadn’t got on to my must visit list yet, and the reports I heard back were good. Some were great.

So instead of waiting for me to get around to it, my friends Dani and Ivan were heading there so I pitched: Want to write a review? Take some photos? Let me know what you think?

Ivan is a pretty private person, so is Dani, but they are incredibly good people, so shoulder to the plate, they took off and came back with pics and words. These are Ivan’s and his take on Hearth. I hope you enjoy:

This wasn’t the first time we’d been to Hearth, so I guess that’s a good sign. It’s a terrific place, nice and cozy with polished wooden floorboards, some relaxing music, and friendly non-intrusive staff. It’s the kind of place you go when you want to go out, but not really go out, if you know what I mean. Suits us.

The menu is not too big, has a good selection of small plates, ($7 – $22) and their speciality, pizza. ($20 – $24) And while I haven’t ventured beyond the pizza yet, there’s a reason for this – it’s fantastic.

Hearth pizzas somehow get this tricky wonder from Italy just right. Wonderful fresh ingredients, thin crust not stodgy bases, and cooked perfectly. I had the basil, tomato and bocconcini, and my greedy mind wanted two. Fortunately, my stomach has its limits, so one was ample.

Washed down with a local brew, and the company of my best mate, and it was a terrific night out. It’s also moderately priced, so that’s great too. Dani loved her prawn and chilli pizza, personally I don’t believe fish belongs on pizza, but hey, we’ve all got our limitations.

The pizzas get quite fancy, with prosciutto, gorgonzola and fig; potatoes, field mushrooms and truffle oil; and a nice range of meats and vegetarian choices. We just need bigger stomachs and more time.

Desserts at $15 look terrific, and we keep making promises we’ll save room next time, but we just might have to revisit just for the desserts. They look and read that good.

So I’d thoroughly recommend Hearth. We’ll keep going back and I’d encourage you to give it a try too.

Hugs,

Ivan

Ivan Zwart and Danielle Woof are the owners of Happy Ground Wellbeing, a Hobart-based business that runs a range of wellbeing and happiness programs for individuals and businesses. Visit their website at happyground.com.au.

Thank you so much, Ivan and Dani, and I will get there soon, I promise! And isn’t it great to see a reasonably small menu, with seasonal choices done well. Set in a rustic cottage that oozes charm, this is one place that knows what they’re doing, and do it well. 

Chrissie 

And don’t forget, my memoirs are available right here on the website as of today!