Old Wharf Restaurant / 18 Hunter Street, Hobart TAS 7000 / Open daily from breakfast through to dinner / $$$ / Ph: 6210 7602 / www.oldwharfrestaurant.com.au
Wanna shag, baby? Austin Powers could be sitting in that conversation pit and I wouldn’t be surprised.
Sometimes, when the ducks are all in a row, a certain magic happens. And that is exactly what went down at the Old Wharf Restaurant. Expectations were super high when this new kid on the block opened recently. And it fell short. Just weeks later, they seem to have found their driver.
The background to this property is interesting. It’s a Federal property – they’re the big players in town with the Casino and countless hotel and accommodation sites. Including Saffire, which has raised the bar for elite guest services around the nation. So what makes this different is that Federal really tried to do something else here.
MACq01 is the hotel, and while there were reservations about the shed design, it does fit with the original wharf buildings and storage sheds, and the fact that it’s a symphony of glass and wood makes it work. Big time. It’s a beautiful building.
Inside, it’s also unusual. The décor downstairs is eclectic modern/sixties, and works, beautifully. As you walk in, the conversation pit that hits you in the eye under an ocean of sea-green ceiling waves, invites one to sit, to talk, to relax. And that’s the idea.
Federal are marketing it as a “Story Hotel” and have spent a lot of money going with the theme of the original colonial inhabitants, their stories and lives, so it permeates the entire location. The rooms don’t have numbers, they’re called by the character who is etched into a copper plate on the door.
As luck would have it, my friend Helen Ellis was staying a night with family, and ushered me up for a look. It’s unlike any hotel I’ve seen before. The corridors are wide – extra wide – and the colour palette is muted blue/blacks, and golds, with huge ship-like sculptures adorning the space. A massive old door, an anchor, a boat – it’s grand but calm.
The normal rooms are – nice but basic, but the John Glover room, at $1500 a night, is something else. Right on the western corner, with space that must be the envy of other hoteliers around the town, it’s open, and lush with views of the docks that never tire. The palette of blacks and beige work, as a backdrop to the busy port.
There are small touches, with a stereoscope photo viewer with photos of the port and the room’s character, in a series of slides, just for a bit of fun. The butler, Sam, was delightful, endlessly accommodating, and made it hard to go back to my normal life where the butler is me!
And my lunch a few days later? Superb, and surprising, in equal measure. The service was professional – efficient, quiet and our waiter seemed to appear when we needed her, and disappear when we didn’t. The mess of the first few days where waiters didn’t seem to know why they were there well behind them, (and how Federal, at this stage in their business could get that so wrong is beyond me), and the food? Ah the food.
First off, I have to say I looked at the menu on the web site and it read, well, meh! And as we sat and read this lunch menu, it still read, well, meh! But the delivery was something else. And an extremely pleasant surprise. With the kitchen headed by Simon Pockran (who I still haven’t spotted actually in the kitchen), courtesy of Saffire, one would expect no less. And they came up trumps.
With three of us, one being a corporate manager for Flight Centre who is supremely well travelled, we ordered: the ‘potted smoked trout, horseradish, watercress, Huonville apple, rye bread’ – $18; the ‘char grilled local squid, (Coles Bay) braised lentil, pancetta, salsa verde’ – $26; and the ‘silver dory, witlof, caramelized onion, goat’s cheese’ – $30.
We enjoyed house made bread that had also been char-grilled with a drizzle of olive oil, served with herb butter. This was the only overkill. One or the other, please! It made me wonder if the charring wasn’t a bid to freshen up something that should have fed the fish. Flavour was terrific though.
The squid with the lentils was the absolute standout dish. And all the dishes were harmonious, tasty, and wonderfully fresh. The goat’s cheese on the dory was a silken sauce that belied the description, and I’d go back in a heartbeat just for that. And the trout had big balls of salmon roe that are my favourite thing in the whole world, and add a briny fresh crunch to the texture of the pâté.
We enjoyed house made bread that had also been char-grilled with a drizzle of olive oil, served with herb butter. This was the only overkill. One or the other, please! It made me wonder if the charring wasn’t a bid to freshen up something that should have fed the fish. Flavour was terrific though.
The squid with the lentils was the absolute standout dish. And all the dishes were harmonious, tasty, and wonderfully fresh. The goat’s cheese on the dory was a silken sauce that belied the description, and I’d go back in a heartbeat just for that. And the trout had big balls of salmon roe that are my favourite thing in the whole world, and add a briny fresh crunch to the texture of the pâté
We all made appropriate noises, and finished the lot. No disrespect to the desserts, which looked incredibly tempting, and a well planned list that ran from honey parfait, a yoghurt bavarois, dark chocolate and a quince crumbly thing with bay leaf ice cream, $14-$18, we passed.
No time, Gungadin. And the travel guy was happy. Delighted in fact with the quality and service. ‘Nuff said.
A glass of Milton Pinot Gris at $11 was good value from a big wine list, with plenty of local options, something I think we’d like to see much more of. And that was it. The sun shone, the views are superb, the food was absolutely on the money with a good range to choose from. And ate better than it read. A rarity these days, where florid descriptions dwarf the actual reason for being there.
With staff shortages in hospitality reaching critical levels, let’s hope they can keep up the quality and service. I’m a great believer in the old maxim that ‘a fish stinks from its head’, and here, the fish is fresh. And so is the restaurant. Not a huge fan of the name by the way. ‘Old Wharf’ just seems a bit ‘meh’ as well… but in the end, it’s the experience that counts, and it was damn good.
Chrissie 🙂