Ivory Cafe

Forget the three Gourmet Farmer amigos (Matt, Nick and Ross) – tonight the three amigo bloggers dining out at Ivory Café in Elizabeth Street were Reb, Victor and Rita.

Following up on Victor’s extremely sad meal at Thai Gardens last week, Rita emailed him and suggested he try Ivory, so tonight was the culmination of that discussion, with all three of us hoping like hell that the meal at Ivory would be better than TG.

And it was. It was fabulous – and I guarantee this place will be well patronized from now on when Victor and Reb feel like eating a decent Thai meal on their way home from work.

We cracked up when the waitress came to our table and asked me if I was Rita. Then when I mentioned that Victor too had a blog, she asked if his was Food Trail! Talk about trying to go there quietly so we could blog about it – that blew that particular brainwave right out of the water!

But we were absolutely bowled over by the food. It’s a small café, and easily managed by the one floor staff (Donna, pictured below with partner, chef Gummy), and two in the kitchen. The attention to Thai food credibility was there, with amendments made for the local taste buds.

Finding out that chef was the ex-cook at Darjohs in Bellerive, I relaxed, as I then knew exactly what direction the food would come from, and was pretty sure I would love it.

We started out with Curry Puffs ($1.50 each) and dipping sauce, and a shared Entrée Platter ($9 per person, minimum for two) which contained some warm beef salad, sticky rice, carrot salad, three spring rolls, beef jerky and salad greens. Chef also sent out some pork jerky for us to try. Now the words I have written here listing what was on the platter are boring and mundane – and the exact opposite of what the dish actually tasted like. It was breathtaking – everything on it.

You’ve all had curry puffs before. They are usually standard, and not very exciting. These were the genuine article, with the accompanying dipping sauce being perfect.
Both the beef and pork jerky sounded to me like they might be shit – but were superlative. I can’t speak too highly of them. The carrot salad left the one I make (and take great pride in) for dead, as did the beef salad.

We then mained on a beef massaman ($12.50), a prawn pad thai ($15) and a stir fry pork with thai garlic paste and ginger ($13). All were stunning.



I recommend this café 100%. They are open:
lunch: Mon to Sat 11.30 – 3.00
dinner: Tues to Sat 5.00 – 9.00

Ivory Café
112 Elizabeth Street
Hobart
Phone: 6231 6808

Victor rated it 8.5 (out of 10), as did I. Reb was 8/10. I think that says it all really, don't you?