Thursday, November 14, 2013

Random Eats in Tasmania


My blogging activity has been limited recently because I have just come back from a week in Tasmania.  Tim and I flew into Launceston, hired a car, and drove down the east coast and explored a few other places in between.  Tasmania is one of the most beautiful places you will ever see, as demonstrated by the photo at the top of this post.  It is a view of Launceston from Cataract Gorge.

Tasmania is as famous for its produce as its beauty, and we tried quite a bit of it while we were there.  I was disappointed that it wasn't berry season as there are a lot of berry farms, but there were plenty of other things to try.  Below are a few of the random things that I feasted on while travelling through Tasmania.

At Tombolo in Coles Bay, I had the most delicious BLT that I have ever had the privilege to eat:


We could smell the bacon cooking ages before the sandwich arrived, and the ingredients just came together to melt in your mouth.  The staff at Tombolo were super friendly too.  I believe that there was mayo and barbecue sauce on the BLT - as Tim would say, "grouse".

In Swansea, we visited Kate's Berry Farm, and my disappointment at it being too early for berries was assuaged by this glorious serve of berry crepes:



This was indescribably fabulous.  Tim had the berry pancakes, which were in a similar vein to the crepes - also delicious.

A Tasmanian signature dish is the scallop curry pie, sold all over Tasmania, so I thought it was my duty to have one:


Mine came from the Richmond Bakery; Tim got one in Bicheno.  These pies have a puff pastry lid, and a pastry shell filled with curried scallops and prawns.  I liked this pie very much. 

The other Tasmanian signature dish that we tried, but which I didn't photograph (because we were eating them in the car in a carpark in Sorrell while it poured outside), is the Kiss Biscuit - two shortbread biscuits sandwiched together with raspberry jam and iced with vanilla buttercream then topped with hundreds and thousands. There is a recipe for homemade ones here.

At the Swansea RSL, I had the most enormous T-bone steak with veges:


Tim's chicken parma was also enormous. The beers here were also cheap - $3.40 for a light beer and $3.70 for a draught beer.

In Hobart, I had this  amazing smoky seafood chowder at Fish Frenzy:


It contained mussels, scallops and fish in a thick, creamy soup, and was served with bread - delish.

At Salamanca Market in Hobart, I bought cherry brandy and orange ginger chocolate from Federation Chocolate:


I have only tried the cherry brandy chocolate so far - it is truly scrumptious! 

We attended the Tasmanian Craft Fair in Deloraine, where I picked up these three lovely jams by Amanda Jammm:


From left to right, they are: lime coconut marmalade, peach apricot Cointreau white chocolate, and plum pudding jam.  I am currently eating the lime coconut marmalade out of the jar - it is seriously that good, with its zesty tropical flavours.  I also really liked Amanda's blood orange marmalade - but the deal was three jams for $30 and I had to carry what I bought, so I sadly had to leave it behind on this occasion.

We also stopped in at the Cascade Brewery in Hobart.  This beer is  Tasmanian brewed beer that Tim ordered, and I couldn't resist showing you the label: 


The coat of arms features two Tasmanian tigers, which are extinct but which feature widely as emblems in Tasmania, including on car number plates.

I had a fabulous time on Tasmania, and highly recommend that you visit if you get the chance.

9 comments:

yummychunklet said...

No worries. Travelling is always a great reason not to blog!

~~louise~~ said...

Thank you so much for taking us along on your culinary journey, Cakelaw. I couldn't even begin to select just one dish. I too would have to eat my way along the coast. (the scallop curry pie, oh my:)

You must still be stuffed, lol...Thanks so much for sharing...

Johanna GGG said...

love tasmania - would love to return there - sounds like you had a great holiday and lots of great food - the plum pudding jam sounds like fun

Kari said...

Yay, Tasmania! I'm glad you had a good time. I visited for the first time a few years ago and loved it - it is incredibly beautiful. As you say, the food is pretty great too. I enjoyed Federation chocolates, and Kate's berry farm, and ate at the Richmond bakery :)

Unknown said...

That sounds like an interesting destination!!

Unknown said...

A week in Tasmania-jealous!!!
Everything looks so good-how wonderful to take some time to travel and just enjoy ;)

Jill said...

I've never thought about Tasmania, but now I'm ready to go! You do a fantastic job of photographing the food you have in restaurants and on your travels. I always plan to do it but then it doesn't happen.

2paw said...

Well, I am ever so chuffed to have my mum's recipe held up as a signature dish!!! Thank you. Yes, scallop pies are also sought after, a good one is worth its weight in frilly knickers. Oh, you are walking a fine line there, not mentioning Jimmy Boags!! I think I am lucky: born in the South, but have lived all over the state. The berries at the Harvest market in February are just wonderful, fragrant, sweet and full of flavour. Oh and only $8 for a kilo of strawberries last Summer!!

Cakelaw said...

We did have Boags XXX sold only in Tassie! Just no photos of it.