Made it into town to catch the tail end of lunches at our controversial new venue in Harrington St, the previous La Toulouse, now the city branch of Lansdowne Café, named TLC too, which is also under the TLC of Kurt from Lansdowne Café.
Being an anonymous-looking middle aged lady, as I presume myself to be, I was extremely heartened when I arrived a tad past 3.30 on Saturday afternoon at TLC, to be told that lunches were finished for the day, but I was welcome to have a hot drink. I was just ruminating about that, when a voice piped up from the kitchen to say they could do a toasted sandwich if I wanted one. That was a fabulous offer which I hastily accepted, so sat down to wait for my toasted sanger and hot choc – both of which were exactly what I felt like.
The only other occupant of the café, apart from me, was a guy sitting busily engaged with computer work on his laptop. I watched him for a while, then saw him chatting to one of the staff in a more familiar way than one would usually speak with staff, so made an extremely-un-Rita-like decision to ask him if he was the owner. He was.
We then had one of the most interesting conversations I have had with a café owner in a long time. He hadn’t heard of Rita’s Bite (after I confessed about why I was so interested in his café), and instantly Googled it while we were chatting so he could see all the controversy which I was telling him about from a few weeks ago here on Rita’s Bite.
I had my toasted salami sandwich, which had onion jam and cheese with it ($8.50), and was yummy. I relaxed. I chatted. I met the mythical Kurt from Lansdowne Café too. I saw every reason why they should do well.
Being an anonymous-looking middle aged lady, as I presume myself to be, I was extremely heartened when I arrived a tad past 3.30 on Saturday afternoon at TLC, to be told that lunches were finished for the day, but I was welcome to have a hot drink. I was just ruminating about that, when a voice piped up from the kitchen to say they could do a toasted sandwich if I wanted one. That was a fabulous offer which I hastily accepted, so sat down to wait for my toasted sanger and hot choc – both of which were exactly what I felt like.
The only other occupant of the café, apart from me, was a guy sitting busily engaged with computer work on his laptop. I watched him for a while, then saw him chatting to one of the staff in a more familiar way than one would usually speak with staff, so made an extremely-un-Rita-like decision to ask him if he was the owner. He was.
We then had one of the most interesting conversations I have had with a café owner in a long time. He hadn’t heard of Rita’s Bite (after I confessed about why I was so interested in his café), and instantly Googled it while we were chatting so he could see all the controversy which I was telling him about from a few weeks ago here on Rita’s Bite.
I had my toasted salami sandwich, which had onion jam and cheese with it ($8.50), and was yummy. I relaxed. I chatted. I met the mythical Kurt from Lansdowne Café too. I saw every reason why they should do well.
They are open Monday to Saturday from 7.30 till 5.30, with all day breakfasts and lunches served between 11 and 3.30. They also claim to have Hobart’s best coffee. They are importing from Sydney a freshly roasted Italian blend of their own from Grandezza weekly. Their menu includes a variety of breakfast items, as well as the usual wraps, risottos, bruschettas and vegetarian options.
I look forward to anyone else’s feedback on their experience there so we can compare notes.
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4 comments:
Hi Rita
I went into TLC for a coffee on Saturday. Coffee was great (had a second cup while I struggled with the samurai sudoku in the Age Good Weekend). Atmosphere was very nice, and it was good to see that the downstairs seating has been reinstated. Sevice was very enthusiastic, and while I probably didn't need to be asked if I needed anything else quite so often, it would be churlish to complain!
I'm looking forward to visiting again, and to put them to the poached egg test.
cheers
Susannah
Coffee was excellent. Enjoyed breakfast too, much the same formula as TLC#1 in West Hbt.
Parking more challenging, so will likely stick with Lansdowne venue for that reason, but for city folk, definitely a contender.
Just a general comment about your new site, Rita. After some time trying to adjust, I must say I find the new site less user friendly and more difficult to negotiate around than the old! And what happened to your "people" section with your interesting friends and recipes?
Hi Anon 11.37 - spurred on by your comments, I think I have now cracked the code for contributing more of "myself" to this new site. I have found the operation and administration of the new site quite different to the old one, and as such have spent the last 2 months promising myself that I would devote a weekend to cracking the code - SOON! That hasn't happened till now. With the help of my webman, I have now got a better grasp on how to tackle some of those issues which were previously quite simple and second-nature to me. These new ways will become the same for me. The People Page, which is an important one for me, is undergoing rewriting, and I will get it going again some time this year, but it's currently on the back burner as I tackle and master the immediate issues, which I feel way more confident with now.
I hope you will bear with me, and forgive the fact that I only have the weekends to devote 100% of my concentration and energy to, so as I also plan a lot of my dining out over the weekends as well, the website has taken a back seat as I put into practice what I'm preaching - that we all need to get out there and partonise all these worthy cafes and restaurants.
Also please note that my wonderful webman has set up this new website with the Search facility at the top right hand side of the Home page, so is encouraging more use of that facility. If you type in a venue name, it should bring up all references to that venue on the page.
Susannah and Anon 4.20 - thanks for your feedback. Sounds good, and I expect the food and service at TLC too to maintain the rage....
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