Thursday 12 August 2010

Blue Eye review




Ate tonight at Blue Eye – the new Joff Jennings production on the site of the former Tacos in the silos at Salamanca.

I was very impressed.

Three of us decided to share the Seafood Platter ($80, and recommended for two) plus an additional main course dish of mirror dory, done, I think, Moroccan style with eggplant. (I looked at their online menu and it’s not there, so I can’t be more accurate I’m afraid). Whatever – it was great!

Was the $80 platter for two good value? Well, I think so. It contained char-grilled scallops, octopus and abalone, along with salmon, mussels steamed in wine/cream, a whole flathead, blue eye, salt & chilli calamari and crumbed/fried oysters along with a separate bowl of chips, and another separate bowl of greek salad. It came with 3 sauces too – a tzatziki, a tartare and a nam jim which I mistakenly assumed to be sweet chilli sauce until waitbabe was clearing back and I poked my finger into it and discovered it was FABULOUS – then was pissed off that we’d finished and I couldn’t dip a fresh bowl of chips into it and fang the lot!

We then desserted on White and dark chocolate mousse with banana and cinnamon doughnuts on the side (wtf?? - but yummy), also Tiramisu – both $9.50 each and both excellent.

Service was very good. They were not too busy but OK for a freezing Thursday night in Hobart in August. The table next to us included Frances Bender from Huon Aquaculture, so I was glad to see we were dining in good company!

I would highly recommend those who want to enjoy a seafood meal to eat there, especially visitors to the state.

We discussed a mark out of 10 at the end of the meal and ended up voting on 8. I would have erred on the side of 8 ½ myself! Any higher and Joff wouldn’t have anything to aspire to!

Posted on by Rita
19 comments

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ate at Blue Eye last week and thoroughly enjoyed it, food and service great. Husband had chilli salt squid entree, wished I had had it even though my cured salmon was delicious.Can recommend it and will be going back. Regards BB

sir grumpy said...

Looks good, Rita. Maybe we should have eaten here the other day (not being a few minutes early of course) instead of thinking ``support local''.
But we will bog in here soon. We sailed right past it recently (looking for it on the wrong side of the road!) and ended up munching in Battery Point.

Anonymous said...

Bit of a pity that the reviews on the Google map refer to Tacos when you have a close look at them. Needs to be fixed!!
By the way Sir G it opens at 11am daily to fit in with the old bastards who have their lunch just after their eleven's if thats the right word!

P

sir grumpy said...

Yes, bastards is the right word, if you check the other comments.

Nuf Sed said...

We are expecting to hear from some people this weekend, after we put price tags on some dusty old shit from the restaurant we are trying to sell “Tell him he’s dreaming”…


For years, all our dilapidated, broken, damaged and old equipment got loaded into the garage out the back, and that was where it all sat. Eventually it gets to a point where I can no longer park my car, and heck some of this stuff must be useful to someone, so seems likely selling it is the best option. Commercial grills, coffee machines, fryers, ovens and a heap of other equipment.

Rita said...

Nuf Sed - what drugs are you on? I just don't get what you're saying there! In the words of the immortal Pauline Hansen - please explain!

sir grumpy said...

I can come and have a look but only if I can get there 10 minutes early.
How's that Nuf Sed?

Nuf Sed said...

@Rita: We are on the market. Garage sale this weekend of restaurant junk and possible closure in the next few months.

@Sir Grumpy I love you for being able to make a joke about the situation, mate I dont mind if you turn up 11 minutes early...

However as I wish for my anonmity to remain protected, no one here knows or will know what restaurant I own!

Anonomouse said...

What's your basis of rating? So, for example, would a 10 be a perfect meal at a 3 Michelin Star restaurant? Or is 10 relative to what's in Hobart i.e. a meal at Piccalilly/Smolt when they are "on"? Just interested to know when you say a 5, 6, 7, 1 or whatever what you are comparing to. What's your criteria? Do you have one or is it just what you feel at the time. Do you have a method and criteria to compare against? Do you compare against like restaurants e.g. Moorilla and Meadowbank? Or are they rated against each other i.e Picalilly is rated against a "lesser" restaurant.

I'm not saying Blue Eye isn't an 8 or 10 or whatever since I haven't eaten there. Just wondering what your rating criteria is as a lot of people use your site when looking at a place to go.

Rita said...

Anonomouse - excellent questions. But afraid I'm going to have to be general in answering you.
The question I asked at the end of our meal last night was just a general one of asking the others I was eating with how they enjoyed the meal, and rather than asking straight out "How did you enjoy the meal?", instead asked how they rated it. As I said in the post, they rated it as an 8 out of 10.
Generally when I have rated places on my Restaurants page, I allot them a mark out of 5, and have tried to make the rating comparable with others of similar standard food. But, I must admit to being only human, and not entirely faultless!

Anonomouse said...

Food is always subjective and to take one review as gospel is risky at best. Although reviewers try to be objective, there is always room for error - both by the reviewer and the person reading. Hell, one persons personal taste can ruin a review! Research is everything!

Christina said...

Phil and I went to Blue Eye last night and it was lovely.
We took Rita's review into account and shared a smoked seafood chowder and the seafood platter.
The chowder was really nice. Not quite to my taste maybe, but thats a personal thing. The vegies in it were beautiful and well cooked, as was the fish. We did enjoy it but would probably choose something else next time.
The platter was amazing. Every thing Rita mentioned plus we had some tempura fish and some crumbed also.
Phil was blown away by the whole baked flathead and I agree that it tasted amazing.
The salad was wonderful also. I loved that it came with salad.
Our only let down was the chips. Ours were not cooked at the correct temperature perhaps and had soaked up quite a bit of oil. I only had about 2 then we had to leave the rest which was disappointing as I LOVE chips.
We shared a beautiful bottle of Storm Bay Pinot and Phil enjoyed a Moo Brew on tap.
The 2 waiteresses are to be commended. It was fantastic to see a nearly full house on what was IMO the coldest night we've had this winter, and they coped really, really well. Very professional.
We will definitely return.

Christina said...

P.S. so wanted to try the donut, mousse thing but too full.

Anonymous said...

Hi
On a completely different note - does anyone know why Pecora closed down?
Thanks

Think Tasmania said...

Hi Rita

Chocolate mousse with donuts on the side? I love that. Something to flick the kids while I get to enjoy the main event! (Kind of like a marshmallow with a hot chocolate.)

Anyway, love the site and envy your topic.

Cheers, Tania

Tassiegal said...

Anon @ 4:21 on 20th Aug.

IF I remember correctly it was partly to do with artistic differences and partly that Luke and Katrina wanted a break and change of direction. (I may be wrong totally and someone feel free to correct me if I am please!)

Anonymous said...

blue eye is advertising for a secons chef anyone know why maybe that ex chef second from moorilla has stiched another person up

Anonymous said...

What do you mean? Which ex-chef? What happened?

Anonymous said...

I was at Blue Eye last week. Nice night with friends but not great value or one of my top Hobart picks. Also sat near front door with no barrier from icy cold wind.

Paella was OK, but mussels were far too few and small to be the star of the dish, flavours were uneven with chilli and capsicum. Not in same league as Franciscos.

Tart for dessert was beautifully prepared but a touch on the small side.