Thursday 23 October 2008

PB has a new bar menu

.............. so Rita ended up there today sampling the wares.

It reads really well, and I got quite excited, finding there were two or three possible options I wanted to try. In the end I decided on the Char grilled tuna. My lunch companion seemed to have had his mind made up on a steak, but at ordering time decided on their Hamburger, which arrived piled up to the sky with the usual fillings (a fried egg, lettuce, tomato slice etc) inside the bun which was secured with a satay stick! It was accompanied by chips as well, and I thought was excellent value at $17. While he didn’t leap on the table in gastronomic ecstasy, he did say he enjoyed it.

My tuna dish ($14) was a let down. The individual items which comprised this plateful and which I had read prior to ordering on the menu were all things I enjoy, like the tuna, lettuce, green beans, anchovy, red onion and steamed potato. Put them all together on a plate, add a bit of dressing to the lettuce, and it all added up to – nothing really, other than it all sitting together nicely assembled on the plate! No individual flavours married with anything else, so it just didn’t flow together to make a lip-smacking meal.

So the tuna was a tad on the dry side; the lettuce was lettuce; the potato was just potato peeled, cubed and steamed; the beans were beans, etc etc.

Re-reading this, I know what I’m trying to express but not sure if I’ve actually accomplished it.

But – as I commented to someone yesterday, at PB they could serve me ANYTHING and I’d love eating it in those fabulous surroundings. It was heavenly sitting outside in the sun there today, and obviously most of Hobart agreed with me, as half of them were there too! The others who weren’t at the Show or PB, were at Barilla Bay, sitting outside also in the sun, coiffing oysters, as I discovered taking my guest out to the airport via Barilla Bay to grab some mussels!
Posted on by Rita
12 comments

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

A few places closed in North Hobart today so headed off to Olive in Bellerive - those guys are really making a huge effort and there were lots of people coming and going - good luck to them.

Anonymous said...

I've always loved p/bay - especially the bar area. However, friends ate there two weeks ago and said the prices in the dining room where outrageous-over $40 for a steak -is that right? It's a gorgeous part of the world that I love showing off, but pricing may be an issue.

Anonymous said...

A bunch of us tried Mermaid (I think it's called) at Kettering for lunch and it was very good.
Eight of us and not a complaint...service was good too...all mains arriving together.
Hope to do PB soon.

Anonymous said...

PB
Overrated
Overpriced
Paint by numbers hospitality
Zero atmosphere
Excellent location
Trading on former glories
Who owns it & where are they?
Not in Tassies top ten restaurants but should be
Dining room should give way to the bar cause no one eats there
Best thing about the place is that South African bloke who runs the place, JJ, the chubby, gap toothed young guy called Geordie & the old codgers at the front bar who complain at every frequent price rise.

Anonymous said...

$40 for as steak. Well no thats not expensive at all. I paid $49, Wrest point two years ago, $47 Ball and chain, $61, Sydney, $55 Melbourne, $48 Adelaide, and just for some perspective £20 ($50) twenty years ago at an average steak house in England.

Look food and service cost money, when are we going to stop whining about the cost and start looking at the service being provided. Peppermint Bay was'nt magically funded by the free money fairy. Its little wonder that the mainland investors recoil in horror at investing here, when the small population can't see beyond the cost.
Fact: Food is cheap here.

Cartouche

Anonymous said...

Yes, the surroundings are great and the staff are fine BUT good food is what I go out to eat for and the food here was distinctly mediocre on my recent visit, especially disappointing considering the long term reputation of the place.

Anonymous said...

By the way, has anyone got recent recommendations for lunch at Kingston at the weekend?
I was just going through Rita's restaurant list looking in vain for somewhere when I came across the **** rating For Home Hill. I was there last week for a concert and the lunch was a huge disappointment. Again, mediocre food overpriced for what you get along with rather surly management and capped off by a 20 minute queue to pay the bill.

Anonymous said...

Hearing lots of complaints cartouche at how exxy it is there of late but nothing of the quality of the food?

Anonymous said...

I've never been but family and friends use the bar a lot at PP to eat and think it's great.
I've never forgiven the bulldozing of the old place. But I'll overcome my resentment one day and bog in.
I do not like the look of the place at all.

Kris McCracken said...

I'll bite, 40 bucks seems a little steep for steak to me.

Anonymous said...

500gm Rib eye? At least $24 a kg for a decent bit of meat so there's $12 a portion with nothing else. If you like beef it could be a bargin.

Anonymous said...

Got no replies re lunch at Kingston so went to the pub up on the highway. Lots of families and good quality 70s style pub food. Left happy!