Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Taste of Tasmania, 2011/2012

As I've mentioned before, I really enjoy the Taste of Tasmania. I can understand why some people don't like it but I love having a whole bunch of food and wine to choose from in the one place, as well as the music and social side of it. This year it changed a lot with the changes to the PW1 shed - the logistics of it are great - there's heaps more places to sit. I was a bit disappointed to find that there was a reduced choice of food this year due to the smaller amount of space available for stalls, however there were still lots of treats to be found!

J and I (and others!) shared a meaty platter from Tas Game & Gourmet. It was about $35 but great value for money, with plenty of scallops, abalone, venison, buffalo, goat, wallaby, cheese kransky squeezed onto the plate with salad, wedges and chutney.

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Mum and I shared a few dishes on another night. First up was a premium platter from Meadowbank ($16). This was excellent, with a chicken and pistachio sausage, pork rillette, duck liver pate, air-dried beef, duck terrine, brie, bread, gherkins and pickled onions.

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We also had a plate of Nepalese lamb curry from the Vanidols stall, along with one of each of their spring rolls and curry puffs. All delicious!

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I enjoyed discovering the new Small Players cider range, which is made by Holm Oak Vineyards. They have ciders in sweet, dry and perry varieties; sweet was my favourite.

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I introduced mum to the Tasmanian Chilli Beer Co's excellent raspberry sparkling drink.

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On the last day I enjoyed some of the old favourite Taste dishes on the second-last day, when the crowds had died down. Waji's calamari:

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And tempura mushrooms.

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Nom!

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Jam Jar Lounge, Battery Point

Happy new year!

Jam Jar Lounge is another Hampden Road cafe in a great building with lots of different rooms and a fantastic courtyard out the back, which is where we chose to sit on a recent sunny day.

I had the spatchcock with bread salad and labne. The spatchcock was perfectly cooked and delicious, but the salad didn't excite me too much.

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One friend had the French toast with salted caramel and a lemon curd cream. The caramel was insanely good!

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Another friend had a roast beef sandwich which looked and tasted spectacularly good, but sadly I forgot to photograph it.

Between Jam Jar, Environs and Jackman & McRoss, Hampden Road has a lot going for it in the cafe department!

Jam Jar lounge on Urbanspoon