The Old Cable Station, Stanley

Up front I'm going to admit to a few things, before anyone calls me on it! I ate on Friday evening at The Old Cable Station as the result of an invitation from a family member who wanted me to come along there and (hopefully) review it positively and give them a bit more publicity. Doing it this way is hard for me, as I usually prefer to select an eating place, quietly go there with no fanfare (looking hopefully like just any old middle-aged diner) and receive the usual service and food which anyone going in there off the street would receive. That makes my reviews genuine, and lacking in bias as much as I can manage. If I went along with GP, I'm sure people would be running in front of us sweeping the floor and pushing patrons out of the way willy-nilly! Enough sillyness, Rita - stick to the point!

What I'm fumbling round here trying to say is that this was a pre-arranged meal - with pre-arranged food. I was told a crayfish was going to be specially cooked for me in the wood-fired oven. This naturally was a bit of a turn-on for Rita, as you might imagine, so any plans I had for returning to Hobart on Friday evening were put on hold, hence my Saturday return.

Pictured above is the wood-oven roasted crayfish (with lemon zest and chilli). My opinion - it was 'interesting'. I hate it when I have to resort to using that word, but it WAS. Obviously the only other way I've ever had crayfish was the traditional 'plunging it into boiling water and quickly cooking it' method. Then devouring it natural, or heated with some kind of sauce on it. This method on Friday night produced an entirely different re-think on crayfish, cooked that way. The consistency of the flesh was similar to crabmeat, but more stringy. The wood-firing also gave it a different flavour, and not so sweet as you would expect. The cray meat was quite difficult to get out of the shell, and the leg meat (usually the fun part of the meal: trying to extract every last ounce of meat from those little suckers!) was nearly impossible to remove - in fact cracking them with the nut crackers provided was bloody hard to do as well.

I love the concept of a wood-fired crayfish, but, for me, would prefer the traditional method of cooking it. But - that's just me. I would love others to have a go and see what they make of it.

Meanwhile, I need to talk about the Cable Station generally. I saw no signposting for it as I drove into Stanley. As the village of Stanley is about 9 kms off the main highway, you need to take the turning off towards Stanley and be specifically going there to get there, if you know what I mean! You don't accidentally find yourself driving through Stanley and think to yourself "What a lovely little B&B or restaurant, I think I'll stop and eat/stay there".

Apparently there IS some signage for it somewhere, but I didn't see it! So if you take me to be your normal driver, (anyone related to me don't respond to that!!) you might want to add a sign or two to ramp up the publicity angle.

To get to the Cable Station, we drove about 5 minutes from the village of Stanley into countryside which looked remarkably like travelling through English country roads, with hedgerows and paddocks at each side of you. The Cable Station itself is a beautiful old building, and they have film from the PMG (for those of you my age, I wouldn't have to explain what PMG stands for, but for the rest of you whippersnappers - it's Post Master General - the precurser to Telstra/Telecom) on continuous loop on the wall showing you film clips and movies of life there in the 1940's, and why the place was built. It's a restaurant, B&B or self-contained accomodation venue which is also about to become the northern Slow Food movement HQ.

Charlotte, one of the owners, has already started her Producers Lunches, and had one in January this year which she says was hugely successful. She has invited me up there for the next one which I would like to go along to. She will hopefully send me info about them closer to the time, which I'll add to the website.

We discussed the terminology 'Producers Lunch'. Charlotte said that a few people she'd spoken to about the lunch thought it was a lunch for MOVIE producers!

It is actually, as I myself would have surmised, a lunch where most of the food and wine on the lunch menu is produced locally, with the producers of said food and wine coming along as well - to talk about their products. Sounds ideal to me.

I know many accuse me of being a foodie wanker, and if that's what you think, well, I can't alter that, but.... my thoughts on food are that I just want wholesome food that's been grown acceptably - ideally in someones domestic garden. Food that hasn't been 'forced' on to grow faster, or had chemicals added to make it appear greener, or pinker, or bigger. Eggs that the chooks have produced when they felt like it. After they've scratched around a garden or field all day eating worms and leaves. Etc etc. Normal stuff. I don't want to make an issue of it. I just want it to be available when I need to shop.
I don't want to be part of a whole social network of food-obsessed types. I just want to live and eat under my own terms. So - I'm behind Charlotte and her efforts on behalf of the local producers.

BTW - I also ate at the Cable Station:
Carpacio - gorgeous - seared natural grass fed Tasmanian eye fillet, served rare with fresh rocket, 2 year old shaved parmesan and citronette dressing - appetiser
Char grilled local octopus with pesto and balsamic reduction - entree - fabulous
Semi freddo - white chocolate and toasted almond house-made Italian style ice cream drizzled with Blue Hills Organic Tarkine Leatherwood honey - dessert
I sampled the Garlic Prawns with Chilli entree - also beautiful.

For all meals there at Cable Station, there are standard prices:
2 courses for $44
3 courses for $55
with a price adjustment for market price of crayfish.

If you want a true foodie adventure, take the trip up there. Tell Charlotte Rita told you to go. Book in for the full Cable Station package of accomodation, eating at the restaurant, and have your dirty weekend in the NW. Details are on my website. There's so much to see and eat up there!