We recently enjoyed a week's break in Tasmania, what a beautiful place - the land and seascapes are stunning. Needless to say the scenery wasn't the only thing we were keen to discover -
Tassie is garnering quite a reputation as a 'foodie' destination. And it didn't disappoint - I think we may have eaten our own weight in cheese!
The week started in
Woodbridge (in the
Houn area), staying at Peppermint Ridge Retreat, where we were greeted by a toasty fire and freshly baking bread. A platter of locally smoked bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms and eggs laid by our hosts
chooks awaited us for
brekkie. But first, what to have for dinner? We travelled down the hill to the Peppermint Bay
Resturant and
Providores (be warned - having a '
providore' seems to be a very popular addition to almost any type of business - treat with caution!) where we perused and purchased some
Tongola Goat Products cheese -
Curdly, a fresh unsalted goats curd, and a hard cheese called Forest Floor, local quince paste, a bottle of wine and headed back to enjoy the fire. We quickly became obsessed by
Curdly, it is so fresh and light, and we would eat it several more times during the week. Forest Floor had an interesting texture, being hard with lots of little 'bubbles' (think
aero bar) and a rind that did indeed taste of fragrant forest floor!
After a yummy breakfast, we spent the day touring and wondering if there was anywhere in Tasmania that isn't beautiful. One the way back to Peppermint Ridge, we stopped in at
Grandvewe Sheep
Cheesery, with the hope of having an
affogatto with
sheeps milk
icecream. Alas, as it was the off season, and we did roll in a little late in the afternoon, we missed the cafe. All was not lost, however, and we got stuck into tasting their cheeses. The standout was the blue, Blue By Ewe, which we purchased along with
thier pinot paste - what a great pair!
We shopped at Oyster Cove Ye
Olde Organic Fruit & Veg shop, stocking up on
Curdly,
BISH (
Bruny Island Smoke House)
woodsmoked salmon, a few other pieces for dinner. A surprise find were some local potatoes, red
rasckalls [sic] that were just fantastic. At the risk of sounding obvious, they were so
potatoey! We used them in a breakfast
frittata, with
BISH salmon and
Curdly, a casserole with
italian sausage and cabbage, roasted with
BISH salmon and mange tout, and finally in Mules a la
Freycinet! (recipe to follow).
While in the area, we stopped in at the Oyster Cove Inn for a beer and to sample some local oysters. We ordered a mixed doz, with the clear winner being the fresh oysters with lime zest - and the Cascade Draught was the best we tasted all week! The pub has a huge deck that looks out over the marina, it would be a fantastic place to while away a summer afternoon.
Next we were off to
Bruny Island, where after spending most the day on the high (and very cold) seas with the
Bruny Island
Ecotour, we only had time to call in to the
Bruny Island Cheese Co. You must try their ODO cheese! ODO stands for One Day Old, and is fresh cheese that is
marniated in a tub of olive oil when it is one day old - hence the name. We missed visiting
BISH and Get Shucked Oysters, but this just gives us an excuse to go back (and stay a little longer in the gorgeous
Beachside at
Bruny cottage).
We made our way back to the main island and headed up the east coast to
Freycinet Bay. Being that we planned not to plan our trip, our non plan didn't go quite to plan! We dropped into the
Freycinet Marine Farm, with the idea to grab a couple dozen oysters and venture forth and find somewhere to stay. But no! No oysters left! No need to panic - a fresh harvest was due in an hour! We were pretty excited about the prospect of these super-fresh oysters. In the meantime we'll find a place to stay.....easier said than done. When the off season starts, the on season really ends. As we wanted to cook our own dinner, we spent a fraught hour ringing cottages with no answer, or being told there was a 2 night minimum. Eventually we gave up and called The Edge Resort, thinking we'll just take a hotel room, but our surprise, they had cabins too! And they were fab! If you want to relive some memories of holidays in the 70's, this is the place. And the views!! Every cabin and suite has views across the bay to the Hazards, what a beautiful view to wake up to.
After a good chat with the guys from the
Freycinet Marine Farm about the life of oysters, we secured our oysters and mussels, headed home and settled in for some serious oyster shucking and guzzling. And they were fresh as the sea - delicious!
Dinner was to be mussels, but how? After taking a look at what was in the very small larder we had brought with us, Mules a la
Freycinet was born. Enjoyed with a glass of local
riesling - perfect.
With a yummy breakfast of
Curdly and
BISH smoked trout on toast in our bellies, we trekked up the Hazards (well, sort of) for a view of Wineglass Bay, before jumping back in the car to hit the Midland Hwy back to Hobart.
When in Hobart, a visit to the
Wursthaus is a must! We sampled some french brie 'The King of Brie' , and have to admit it is indeed something special. And of course,
Salamanca markets on Saturday, where we purchase some pork
rillettes from Rare Food - divine!
Later we wandered across the harbour to the Henry Jones Art Hotel, only to stumble upon the 'Tasmanian Red Wine Weekend'. What a coup! For $15 we were given access to over 70
Tassie reds, mostly
Pinot, and
Bruny Island Cheese tasting to boot. So we proceeded to do as we should and got stuck into sampling some fabulous wines! A very merry way to spend an afternoon.
Sadly, the next day we had to board the plane and head back to the mainland, but not before we had started planning our next trip to the Apple Isle, or maybe that should be the Cheese Isle.....
