I've been asked this question a few times over the past few weeks, and am curious about anyone elses response. I deliberately won't give my recommendations at this stage as I want to know YOUR thoughts.
What is your recommended seafood restaurant in Hobart?
Monday, 23 March 2009
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46 comments:
Fish Frenzy! Without a doubt.
flathead!
TJ
Flathead - simple, fresh and unpretentious.
I quite like Fish 349.
The everday fish and chip menu is pretty good but having eaten off the more involved side of the menu a few times now it impressed me greatly. Especially as I didn't expect to be that impressed.
Of course, flathead is wonderful though it's been sometime since I've eaten there. Too long in fact.
Working in a hotel on the waterfront - it's constantly embarrassing not being able to recommend a good seafood restaurant on the waterfront to guests. I go Flathead or Prossers if they want something a bit more formal.
WHAT a gap in the market!! Anyone want to open a seafood restaurant with me??
I really like drunken admiral, I always find that the quality of the seafood is excellent. Not sure about the salad bar though.
Flathead is my local and always brilliant but as the restaurant is a bit small sometimes I just go for takeaway. I too have been impressed with the menu at Fish 349, but it can be noisy when it's crowded (and it usually is). Used to like Prosser's but haven't been for years so can't comment on that, but went to the Drunken Admiral last year against my better judgement and greatly regretted it. This year my partner is getting a night at Flathead for his birthday!!
I've never had anything but a good meal at Fish 349. Plus it's a fun and lively venue.
Alternatively, Fish Frenzy does the best fish and chips if that's what you're after.
I'm yet to try Flathead, although I've been meaning to for ages. From the comments on this post it looks like I have no choice!
I think Fish Frenzy is way overrated and too expensive. The esplanade fish and chip shop at Kingston Beach is great.
Only went to Fish 349 once. It was OK but not a patch on Flathead or Fish Frenzy for quality, price and consistency.
I quite like the Fish Bar but it's not a restaurant.
The sushi bar at Mures is good too but Tasmania exports its best fish..
Looks like any restaurant starting with the letter 'f' is a good fishy one!
It's interesting that our most touted fish restaurants - Drunken Admiral and Mures hardly rated at all, whereas the smallest fish restaurant (Flathead) rated most mentions.
When asked, I was actually at a loss as to where to recommend people go for some fine, consistent seafood. My suggestion was Fish Frenzy - but that is for a less formal situation. I would have suggested Kelleys but that closed, and anyway I never got to go there for the many years it was operating!
I would not have endorsed DA or Mures, just because it's the luck of the draw as to whether or not you might get a good meal there on any particular night (or day). My last visits to both have proved disappointing.
Fish 349 and Flathead are good, but both have a few disadvantages: being off the beaten (walking/strolling) track, with Flathead being, as Rita II said, too small to fit many in, and Fish being quite busy at peak times so also hard to get into.
I'm with Anon 2.34 in thinking a more upmarket, consistently good waterfront fish place would be good in Hobart, but really we have enough here already - why can't one of those step up?
Well, of course, Mure's upstairs set itself up to be the posh end of fish but I never hear about it now at all, even though they've revamped it.
Surely they could put it together. It could be an icon in seafood...it has its own bloody boat too. Upstairs at Mures could have a zing to it. Ah well.
Prossers was not good for me last time I was there but that was ages ago and I never went back. Such is life.
What about the Grand Chancellor...we overlook it but they have the means to make themselves a seafood destination if someone with imagination would just step up.
Imagination, what a concept.
Fish 349, or the Fish Bar in Bellerive, if only for the fact that kids are welcome.
We were at Fish Frenzy last week, and the girl on the till had to be the rudest person I've had the misfortune to be served by in some time.
I had to say, "dude, you work in a take away, we're not in Paris..."
Kris - wish I'd been at FF to hear that!
Sir G - wondered when you'd have your say. HGC used to be good with their fish spectacular smorgasbord didn't they? Now there was a feast and a half. Bring back those particular golden days.
What about Kelly's? I've not actually been, but lots of people rave about the seafood there.
Every time I pass by fish 349 I am hit by a rather pungent off fish smell which has always turned me away.
Japh, Rita said above that Kellys closed.
Ah, my mistake! Thanks for pointing that out :)
All of the places that have been mentioned, except Prossers', rely heavily on the deep fryer.
people seem to be saying that Flathead, 349 & fish frenzy are the best. They are good but they are just jumped up chip shops in reality.
Show me a place that dosn't fry & then I'll be impressed.
Whenever Tetsuya is in the state he makes a bee line for Flathead - if that jumped up chip shop is good enough for him it's good enough for me!
We went to Prossers recently - it was excellent - apart from one of the service staff who I wanted to smack!.
We asked for the degustation menu when we booked and was told that it was no longer on the menu. I said it was on their website.
Once again - up date websites please!!
However we were served the degustation menu, it was very generous and delicious. The girl who looked after us was attentive, discreet and knowledgable.
Agree the decor is like an RSL Club but the food was inventive, well presented and delicious.
I wouldn't eat at Prossers if you paid me, fried fish or not.
Anon 10.30,like I said. If you look past the "fried" section of the menu at Fish349, you'll find an excellent selection of seafood dishes.
We've enjoyed grilled trevalla with caponata, seafood laksa, sesame salmon with chilli, etc.
All wonderful dishes.
Why the antagonism toward Prossers?
Roger & Sue (Gourmet Traveller reviewers) & Graeme Phillips all say its consistantly the best seafood in Tasmania. If its good enough for them its good enough for me.
Anon, never mind what the reviewer's say...make up your own mind. Roger & Sue and GP probably have entirely different expectations and preferences.
It's only their opinion.
making my own mind up you say, anon, like following tetsuya to an upmarket chip shop maybe?
The only reason the overrated tetsuya goes to flathead is he thinks everything else down here is crap and fish and chips is where Tassie reaches its level.
Last anon. Why do you think Tets is overrated? He is one of the best chefs in the world. I think your ignorance about his standing in the world of food is obvious by saying that.
I'm fed up with the tetsuya, kylie kwong, matt moran, stephanie alexander, maggie beer bullshit.
If tets thinks tassie's best is flathead we should be worried.
I agree last anon. I also agree with Steve who questions why there are so few Tasmanian voices to sell our produce.
We were just under $40 for two portions of fish and chips at Frenzy. We got two shitty peices of fish each and very average chips in those stupid cones.
Yet eating in was much better previously with a fair serve of fish.
We vowed never to go back for takeaway OR sit-in after the last disappointment.
But then Doyles in Sydney will charge you $36 for one serve of fish and chips.
Mind you I wouldn't call frenzy a seafood restaurant, it's just a chippie.
Where are the bouillabaise, chowder, fisg stews, prawn fests, baked fish, cray extravaganzas, crab delights, fish platters, crusty bread and good butter, piles of mussels, scallops, oysters, pipis, abalone, matching wine lists, big-catch specials etc, etc.
Fucking hell we have NOTHING.
I so agree with Mr Grumpy(yes its me, the anon before the last & before the other one as well)
Surely to be able to call yourself a'Seafood restaurant' one must look beyond the lure of the friture.
Mures should be it, boat & all like he said. Best seafood restaurant my arse-we haven't bloody got one.
While I'mrothing at the mouth, I can say what we need is the whole seafood bit ....the A-Z of catch.
Not in a starchy, one scallop on pea puree style, but like those overseas places where it's all fairly informal.
Hell, in the US I believe they have SHACKS where you pile in and wade into the specialty. Be it chowder or crab cakes, whatever.
Frenzy, Flathead, Mures have all served me well at times when my expectations were no more than basic fish and chips.
But we have to step up. Let's get Hobart a big rep for quality, quantity and no bullshit waterfront seafood for the masses.
And NOW. As the global economy turns to crap, we need vision.
This wonderful town has the setting, now let's put it on the table.
Er, yea, lets do it. Spend a shitload on securing a site, fit it out, hire a gun team, source the best local seafood, charge accordingly & wait no wait, I see a customer, they're coming in, up to the door, they're reading the menu-Oh. They're walking away.
I've done my balls. Cheers for that. You've proved a point at my expense, where were you that night Mr G?
Yes Earmuffs, I hear you (but with those muffs can you hear me)!
Well never mind.
Yes, I know...the cost etc.
But wait, isn't Mures already there. Frenzy? Maybe Ball and Chain could go seafood upstairs where the japanese lot were.
Why aren't any of these places game to step up to the next level.
Let's not get carried away with award-winning (bloody expensive ) interiors, and picture-perfect dishes.
What more would you need than a wide range of seafood, salads and one or two sides.
Like the Europeans (not Britain) you whack in good fresh bread and offer a pud or two.
Get it in there, get it cooked simply so it speaks for itself, be reasonable in the mark-up and keep doing it.
Seafood doesn't have to be groundbreaking recipe stuff. It has all been done before by the greats and classic dishes stand the test.
Don't fuck around trying to rewrite classics or second-guess the French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. (And the Scandinavians).
Just follow the blueprint and get on with it.
What, is every saying Tassie can't do it? What, are we inferior to the Europeans? They have the tradition but we have the produce and all we need is the hunger to do it and I'm sure it will be done.
Pep talk over, it's cocoa for me.
Onya, Sir G! Hope the cocoa was good. You encapsulated my thoughts. We should be swimming in good, fresh seafood here.
Kzee
My best seafood meal for some time was at Flathead last winter. I am surprised at it being referred to as just a fish and chip shop - yes there was a fried fish and chip option on the menu, but I had a really lovely rissotto, which would not have been out of place in a "classy" restaurant.
And anyway, a classic fish and chips, with fresh fish, good potatoes for the chips, is a classic meal!
Anyone tried Catch in Hunter Street? I keep meaning to try it out but haven't gotten around to it.
Checking out the menu they clearly want to be a serious seafood restaurant (http://www.catchrestaurant.com.au/):
Bouillabaisse
Salted Squid
Softshell crab
Mussel broth
Smoked fish pie
Seafood risotto
I was wondering when someone would mention Catch, which I too haven't been to but figured, because of the name, that they aspire to take a lead in seafood.
I must agree with Stephen that those menu items sound to me like serious seafood restaurant items.
Let's not get bogged down with ``serious'' people.
It tends to put grub-lovers off.
Like starchy, all quiet, creepy head waiters, chrome, etc.
Can we all agree that in the context of Hobart dining, "serious" is not a reference to ambiance, but instead refers to food that is significantly better than usually found in Hobart restaurants?
Sorry would just like to go back to the over rated tets call. Have you ever dined at his establishment. My god the man is out of this world. I will challenge anyone to have a meal there and not walk away in awe. Also catch has already been hit by the J&J curse
J&J??
please explain...
what i cant understand is that in Salamanca you have Smolt! Tassals restaurant to show case its produce and yet when i went there the menu seemed to me nothing like what they have based their restuarant on! Dont get me wrong I loved the food. But i didnt have any seafood!!! Does smolt not mean ' a young salmon or sea trout' Why cant they up the ante and promote tassie seafood! I work in a hotel on the waterfront and i too find it hard to recommend good seafood restaurants!! If FF and Mures is what i have to recommend I do explain to them that although they are good, they are glorified fish and chip shops.
Just a thought!
the fact that salmon is under represented on Smolts menu is an ongoing source of tension between its operators & Tassal.
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