I was born and bred in Launceston and my dad still lives there, so I go down for a visit several times a year.
Given that Launceston is a smallish town of about 68 000, the eating options are surprisingly good. Fine dining establishments Fee & Me and Stillwater have won a number of national awards between them, and I’ve had excellent meals at both. On this trip though, we visited:
Mud Bar & Restaurant – http://www.mudbar.com.au/
This is a great spot on a sunny day, down in the Seaport district by the river. They serve drinks and a light snack menu all day, with more substantial meals at lunch and dinner. Our lunch there was enjoyable – particularly the Taste Plate – but the service can be laid-back to the point of somnambulance. We had to get up and go find our waiter when we wanted to order coffee!
Mud Taste Plate – delicious!
Grilled quail
Crumbed veal
Black Cow Bistro – http://www.blackcowbistro.com.au/
Same owners as Stillwater, and set up in the old butcher’s shop where the sadly-defunct Luck’s used to be. As you can probably guess from the name, the menu revolves around beef, but in more of a Rockpool sort of way than a steakhouse. After our massive lunch at Mud, we weren’t super hungry so shared the venison with sides of grilled field mushrooms and lemony broccoli with almonds. The venison was cooked absolutely perfectly, not the least bit tough, and had a delicious flavour. Service here was very professional.
Blue Cafe Bar - 2-4 Invermay Rd, Invermay ph (03) 6334 3133
When I last visited Blue Cafe Bar, it was pretty abysmal – service was shocking and the food only passable. I’m happy to say this time it was a lot better. You still can’t be in too much of a hurry – you will get your coffee, eventually – but the food is good. We had breakfast here with my dad and his partner, and all the meals were pretty good.
Dad had the “big breakfast”, which wasn’t that big, but nice ingredients and well cooked:
L had eggs with pancetta, asparagus and hollandaise:
J had the vanilla rice porridge:
and I had the polenta fruit loaf which came with honeycomb and fig jam:
Not bad for 24 hours in Tasmania. Oh and we also stopped by the Tasmanian Gourmet Sauce Company on the way back to the airport, and spent far too much money on jam. They have the best raspberry jam ever (so I got the huge 1kg jar).
KATE