Grub Cafe, New Town, and our Food and Wine Club

You know how Rita likes to get out there and explore places, and find new cafes for you to try? Well, have I got a beauty for you today.

Leaving my doctors this afternoon, I found myself driving past Grub Café in New Town Road and remembered the suggestion made by commenter Tenielle last week that we consider Grub as a possible venue for a meeting place for the Hobart chapter of our proposed Food and Wine Club.

I stopped and went in. What I found impressed me SO much. Penny Brewer is the owner/operator. Penny is a mere 24 years old, and what she has learned in the year she’s been trading is astounding, for one so (relatively) young. I wish I had her head on my own shoulders at that age.

Penny has thought through the current economic crisis and made the decision to stick with the tried and tested, older style plain and straightforward menu items, and keep the costs below $10.

She went to a Salvos shop and bought an $8 pile of 70’s and 80’s cookbooks, then went through them all to find a range of simple but tasty sounding recipes which she felt would work or that she could adapt to her needs. Hence she has $10 menu items like Meat Loaf, Potato Bake and gravy – which I just couldn’t resist, so decided on the spot to have it for lunch there and then.

Now let me tell you, I consider myself a master at these old dishes, having made them countless times over the decades and perfected my flavours and methods eons ago. The Meat Loaf I had at Grub today was absolutely breathtaking. It astounds me even now, thinking back to lunch time, that someone has achieved what I never thought any commercial cook could in a café environment. Myself, I don’t have to guess or think when I make something like this. It’s tried and tested, contains a combination of ingredients I know I love, and fulfils that warm cosy inner feeling of true happiness after I’ve eaten it. Today was no different.

Penny had similar pies and various other reliable menu items, totally recognizable by all and sundry – something which is vital if you want to attract your local demographic.

The cafe is a tribute to hard work, staying power and taking it slowly. Penny started out quietly, and has made adjustments and amendments as she went along and as she could afford them - an extremely wise decision when you consider how things could have gone had she splurged bigtime up front. It is a casual, friendly little cafe where everyone should feel at home.

She is open 7 days a week, and Friday and Saturday nights as well. She does all her food as takeaways as well – so if you’re heading out New Town Road on your way home each night – why the hell wouldn’t you pop in there and grab a serve of one of her genuine home-cooked delights to eat at home? In fact if you’re NOT heading out that way you should pop in there! Give North Hobart a miss and drive the extra 2 minutes to New Town. I certainly will.

Oh and by the way – she has agreed to let us meet there for our Wine and Food Club – so I have booked a first meeting there for Monday evening May 18th at 6.30 for a 7.00 start. It will be an open slather night – so bring along whatever you like to cook, or a platter of something, and let’s all share it, chat about food and whatever else we want to, and decide where we go from there. If it works better for you, why not bring your plate of food along and drop it off at Grub during the day. I'm lead to believe Penny would be OK with storing it there. I’d love you to come along. Please don’t be shy or scared. It would be good if we could have an indication of numbers, so if you call Penny at the café on 6228 6450 and tell her, that would be lovely. And another bonus – we can have alcohol there too!

See you there soon!