Rita was at a meeting with three others the other day. At the end of said meeting, Rita was asked what she was doing for her upcoming birthday. On being told that her family were taking her to Marque IV as a special treat, the three others present (one being an ex-chef) all asked the following questions:
where is Marque IV
what is Marque IV
why was it special
I know everyone doesn't share such a love of food and restaurants as I, but.......
With locals like that, is it any wonder we need an event such as Savour Tas to hopefully move our industry forward, and gain us more recognition as a food bowl?
Saturday, 28 March 2009
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15 comments:
EEP! Is that even POSSIBLE? Or are we just food snobs??? (off to Montys for the seafood degustation tonight - YAH!!)
Have you heard about the Marque IV up for sale rumour??
If it ain't the Ball and Chain, Drunken Admiral or Mures then....
Seriously Rita these kind of comments used to astound me, but now I just accept it as the norm. You can market the life out of a restaurant but people still may not sit up and take notice. Worse stil you go quietly about your business, trying to offer something good and you are shunned by a public that doesn't get it or perhaps care.
Or maybe Graham hasn't written about them enough!
Is there a nobel prize for being a food martyr? Nobody appreciates my efforts as I quietly keep backing into the spotlight. LOL!
rita,
marque iv is truly forgettable and really your relatives are not missing out. i was down from melbourne last week and friends booked us a table at marque iv, what an expensive waste of time. clearly the chef has an addiction to sugar as the food was quite sweet and overworked. for the money we spent i couldn't help thinking of where else i could be eating. if this is the pinnacle of tasmanian dining, tassie is in alot of trouble. this isn't a case of tastes and preferences, i was plain old bad cooking and amateur service for what i'd call a deluded operation. save your money for some real food on the big island!
Sounds like you ate at Gingerboy or erzards
Anon at 2:22 - personally I dont think Marque IV is the be all and end all of fine dining in tasmania. There are some lovely high enders (such as Montys on Monpelier, Piccalilly, Fee and Me etc) which justifiably have just as good, if not better reps than Marque IV. I will admit I have not been to Marque IV since just after it opened, but intend to go back to see how it has evolved. Its a preference thing.
Anon 2.22.
Clearly you are just stirring the pot. Marque iv is a restaurant that has been lauded nationally, your lonely, shrill opinion is but a whimper against the roar of raptuous applause that it illicits.
As to saving our money for some 'real food' on the big island, thanks for that advice. I'll save my money yes, but I wont be chancing it on the dazzling array of questionable eateries all snarling at each others heels for an opportunity to fleece another unweary sucker, I mean customer.
Quite frankly, one has more chance of eating overpriced, homogenised, carelessly prepared & indifferently served pap, masquerading as restaurant food on the big island than down here.
With the regularity of a high fibre ingested bowel movement, the big island routinely fails to deliver the promised dining experiences that you lot spruik when you 'slum it' here on your cheapy holidays.
Finally, get your hands off our produce! Find your own stuff in your overcrowded, over priced Babylon & leave our Eden in peace.
Many thanks Anon 7.59 for saving me the trouble of responding similarly to Anon 2.22.
Anon 2.22 - I am more than willing to put my hand up to being Marque IV's greatest fan. If that proves me to be the gastronomic dickhead which you seem to infer I would be by loving their food, then so be it.
Food and eating, as I have said many times before, is totally subjective. We all love different food. Just because you hate MIV and I love it doesn't make it any more or less what both of us individually think of it.
I have never needed reinforcement for my opinions but I actually have found that many share my opinion of MIV's fine food and style.
You, however, don't. That's fine.
Marque IV was MY choice of a special place to dine, not my family's. I wish I could afford to eat there way more than I do, but I can't so it remains a special place for me to eat out at. Not because it's trendy and the place to be seen at, but because I genuinely love Paul's food, his cooking methods, the menu, the service, the ambience, the waitstaff, the scenery - the whole package. I also am finding it increasingly hard to eat at places where I can vouch for the chef's credibility as to the contents of the dishes. I want to know with certainty that, for instance, the eggs used in anything I might decide to eat (out) are free range. I want to be able to order with confidence food which I know the kitchen staff or chef have NOT compromised on by using second-rate ingredients. I take that risk (and close my eyes and thoughts) at many places, I know, but geez, I'd starve if I stuck unwaveringly to that! But - I try. Hence eating at Taste at Bahai most Saturdays. I trust Karen Goodwin-Roberts integrity with her ingredients and cooking. It makes a mental difference to me.
I apologise for going on about it, but honestly, that stuff DOES mean a lot to me, and I am getting increasingly frustrated with people's general 'shove it down your throat, and the cheaper the better' mentality. One of the few advantages of aging is that I've done the hard yards. I've put up with crap and mediocre food for many years. I'm aware of how little it takes to eat smartly, and look after yourself and others around you, when you build it into your regimen of life.
I also agree with Graeme Phillips in yesterday's article in the Sunday Tas about restaurants buying the pre-cooked food like lamb shanks. Just because it's produced and sold, doesn't mean everyone needs to use it.
Well Rita, I hope you enjoy your beetroot foam and Ponzu Jelly!
I'd rather have a steak and kidney pud, but that's my problem.
Did you see Steve on that Warm program on Friday?
I thought the program was just okay but a bit preachy. Big brother says....use these light bulbs etc, etc...
Steve was fine but you'd imagine he could find something better than that shirt for TV. (Honestly!)
I thought he looked a bit like Van Morrison with a wig on but what would I know.
Hi Sir G - yes, I saw Steve on Warm. I didn't pay any attention to his shirt, just thought it was a normal shirt???? And how could he be like Van Morrison with a wig? He hasn't got that much hair!
You really are the limit! I liked his segment a lot, and in fact emailed him that I'd love to see him compering a Tassie cooking show. If you are of the opinion that he's a wanker then naturally you will disagree with me, but I personally would love to see a Tassie cooking program compered by Steve, with local chefs using local produce and products showing us cooking their specialties.
Happy Upcoming Birthday Rita!
Cx
Yes Rita, I'd like to see him compere a Tassie cooking show too, so there!
That looked like Fresh at Kingston he was in. We shop there too.
I only mentioned his shirt because I was feeling a bit shirty.
We have to keep these stars' feet on the ground you know.
PS Rita, does you family know a portion of trout with a side of mash will cost them $45 at Marque IV?
No wonder it's a hard sell. And Trevalla as an entree $26 on its own. (Not having a go at Marque IV but suggesting the sheer price of fish makes things tough for restaurants and diners.)
That shirt, honestly, can't get over it.....
Haha I rather like this. Yet Another typical Hobart food blog. It's more predictable than a teen movie. Another one of the let's say boys club of restaurants comes up on a blog and as soon as someone talks about a bad experience they are totally destroyed by bloggers trying to protect they're pinnacle. I'm not totally sure but aren't these sites about sharing and comparing ideas and experiences?
I personally feel marque iv is 75% hype and every time I have dined there I have left feeling rather dissapointed. Yes the dining room is stunning yes the wine list and wait staff are fantastic but the seasoning, size and often concept of the food has always left something to be desired. It is portrayed as the be all and end all of Hobart dining and there's no use denying that. But maybe diners need to be given the opportunity to make up there own minds and not be bullied, for lack of a better word, into loving the norm if they do differ.
Savour Tasmania on again-Yawn.
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