Thursday, 20 December 2007

PortHole Cafe, Seaport, Launceston

Save yourself the trip up to Launceston if that's your destination for a meal. Our lunchtime meeting there today, organised by a local, was fine but the venue left a lot to be desired. I could see why that particular cafe, out of the 3 or 4 other cafes and restaurants on that same slice of beautiful real estate perched idyllically on the water (I've got a touch of the "Gobbler" descriptions here!) was empty except for 3 tables, and all the others were chockers and humming bigtime.

The menu was extremely limited, and not at all exciting or adventurous. The service very ordinary. The room very echo-ey, so that even though there were only 3 tables occupied, it sounded as though there were 300 people in there. The food itself tasted boring and normal. I can't remember the last time I was served chutney on a porterhouse steak (without my specifically requesting it).

In fact, there was absolutely no reason provided for me ever to return there. Most disappointing, as it really has got promise, just from where it's situated. The traffic was really bad, both up to and back from Lonny. To go to that amount of trouble for such a forgettable meal was very frustrating. I suppose I just put it down to 'one of those days'!
Posted on by Rita
2 comments

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh come on, Rita, please don't slag off Launceston because of one bad meal! I know what you mean about this restaurant, but there are loads of other great places and I am already looking forward to my trip north in February for Festivale and some other treats.

Rita said...

Rita II - I LOVED my last meal in Lonny - the one at Mud. It was beautiful, so I wasn't slagging all Lonny's eateries. In fact, I think they might just have a better eating scene than we do down south! You're right - there ARE loads of other places to eat in Lonny. I just wish it was closer!