The Wharf Fish and Chips at Tasmanian Coast Seafoods, Bicheno

48 Waubs Esplanade
Bicheno
Tasmania 7215

The Wharf Fish and Chips is situated at the Gulch or harbour in Bicheno, which is a 10 minute walk from the main street. There was a queue at the small counter area on the road side of the building where we waited to place our order. After selecting the fish box I wandered down the path past the kitchen window to the decking area at the back. The area was fitted out with tables on a deck overlooking the water, another counter offering drinks (alcoholic and non) and a covered eating area with floor to ceiling windows.

The vista is pretty special with a few boats tied up at the jetty, so on a pleasant evening it was no chore to while away twenty minutes for our food to be prepared.

Our box was generously packed with both fish and chips, the shot was taken after a fair share had been removed! Oddly the batter was quite sweet, which was the only quibble with the meal.

The Greek salad featured all the usual content and provided a variation in colour, texture and flavours.

The spectacular views make this a perfect location for fish and chips and probably worth checking out for that reason alone. 

Lichen Restaurant, Binalong Bay, Tasmania

Main Road
Binalong Bay
Tasmania 7216

Our first attempt to book a table at Lichen Restaurant didn't work out, we'd left it too late on a late summer Saturday to get a spot and it turned out that a power cut meant that they were going to be late opening, apparently they made it rough in the end though.

We returned on the Sunday to find things humming along smoothly, including the open area of the kitchen with its wood fired pizza oven.

The views across Binalong Bay from our table on the deck were second to none!

The grilled local fish on spinach and a potato nori fritter with ponzu mayo and lemon butter looked great and went down very well.

I had the Bari pizza. The base was super thin in authentic Italian style with the wood oven helping puff up the crust. The prawns had been sliced in half, which given their size made sense and everything came together well.

The service was friendly and speedy, if slightly haphazard at times. With a glass of wine and pale ale the bill came to $83.60 including a 10% service charge, which came as a bit of a surprise. The restaurant is the only option in town and has a superb location, but doesn't rely on those factors alone and is certainly worth a visit.

The Bridport Cafe

97 Main Street
Bridport
Tasmania 7262

As a foodblogger I probably shouldn't admit that I hadn't known that the Bridport Cafe had won the Australian Cafe of the Year Award in 2014, or maybe we should just be happy that we sniffed it out anyway!

It is set up in an old cottage on the top end of the main street, with a tree emerging from the decking outside. It was pretty busy outside so we ended up inside on one of the eclectic mix of tables. The breakfast menu covered the standard offerings...

I went for the poached eggs on toasted sourdough which came topped with rocket. I was very happy with the eggs which had lovely runny yolks.

The scrambled eggs also turned out well along with a side of mushrooms.

The long black hit the spot and set us up for a stroll around town before hitting the road again!

From the deck the view extends to the beach through the trees.

The staff were friendly and efficient, with ours meals coming quickly enough to stave off our hunger. The bill came in at $37.40 with a couple of coffees, which seemed fair giving the quality of the meals. We could certainly see why it had won its award!

The renovated Victoria Hotel, Footscray

43 Victoria Street
Footscray
VIC 3011

Although we visited the old Harts Hotel a few times we were happy to see a change and a move on from the TAB and pokies dominated vibe. The new Victoria Hotel is quite different with a new central bar dominating the main space along with some high tables and booths. There is a seperate dining area and a small courtyard with more tables outside.

The menu features some Aussie pub classics with a few other options. We ended up paying a couple of visits with family over the last couple of weeks and got to check out several dishes.

Stu was expecting Black Pudding with a Pork Scotch Egg, but  got a Scotch Egg featuring an egg coated in minced Black Pudding and Pork, served with water cress and apple chutney. He was pretty happy with the result and combination of meats had that distinctive black pudding flavour.

The Scallop and Prawn ravioli with cauliflower, burnt butter and bottarga got high praise.

The steak was ordered medium rare and came slightly under by our estimation, but was otherwise a success.

I reverted to type and had the beer battered Blue Grenadier and triple cooked fries with salad and tartar sauce. The batter on the fish was a little dark and I was a little worried it was over cooked, but it tasted good and was appropriately crunchy and surrounded a moist piece of fish. The chips and salad were fine too.

The double cheese burger looked a little small but was packed with kimchi mayonnaise, burger relish and came with triple cooked fries.

On our second visit we shared the Garlic Bread which was a substantial looking loaf and came dripping with butter with the strong flavours from the garlic along with tarragon, chervil and parsley.

The fish pie was on the specials list for this visit, which had changed in the interim, we were warned it would mean a 25 minute wait. The mashed potato and cheese topping was nicely browned, below was a melange of fish and a light creamy sauce packed with flavour.

I nervously ordered the tandoori spiced and roasted cauliflower being concerned about how substantial it would be. As I was assured when I ordered, the half head of cauliflower along with the brown lentils, mango chutney and coriander was a good sized dish. The combination of flavours, especially those from the chutney was great.

The spectacular salt and vinegar onion rings stole the visual show atop the bangers and mash with red wine jus. The sausages themselves were heavily packed with meat, the rings crunchy and light.

The service from the bar and wait staff was all friendly and the meals came out at a good pace. On both a weekend and weekday evenings the place was pretty full with limited tables remaining and a decent buzz around. The meals were good, perhaps the only gripe were that the prices for teh overall meals seemed a tad high in comparison with other similar options locally, with four of us and a couple of drinks the bill was $180ish, for three with a drink each just over $100. As we live just down the road I'm sure we will continue to drop in from time to time, and more often than the once every year or two pre-reno!

Addis Abeba at The Night Heron

228 Nicholson Street
Footscray 
Victoria
3011

Although we'd previously popped in to the Night Heron for drinks, we'd not checked out their food options. These include the in-house 'FriendTime kitchen' on Sundays and on other days ordering from the near by Addis Abeba and coming in March Mexican from Los Pollos.

It took a couple of visits before we realised that the bar now occupies the space that once contained Taj Palace an old favourite haunt of ours. The new fit out is quite a change, with a wooden bar featuring some great craft beers.

Out the back the small garden area offers a surprising number of tables...

...and shade from a surprising number of trees.

On Wednesdays there is a regular deal of a veggie combo from Abbis Abeba and a pint of the house lager for $20.

The full menu is also still available.

The better half went for the Sega Firfir. The lamb was finely chopped and the torn injera took up the sauce full of flavour from the tomato, garlic, onion and chilli.

I took up the special offer and received my special vegetarian combination which featured all of the  veggie options available on the menu.The mild Shero featured chick peas and splint spicy powder cooked with onion and garlic. The more spicy Miser Wet had a kick with its red lentils cooked with onion and garlic in a chilli powder sauce. The Vegetable Combination mixed lentils, yellow peas, potato, carrot ,cabbage, silver beet and chick peas in a spicy sauce. Crushed fava beans cooked with onion, tomato and garlic went into the mellow Foul. The Firfir was a stew which consisted of tomato, garlic, onion and chilli powder tossed with injera. Along with this came an Addis Salad, all on top of a slightly darker than regular injara. Each element  was great and I loved the variety of flavours and textures.

It was pretty quiet the day we ate, but on other visits it has been busier, although that has been later on with more of a drinking crowd. The barman mentioned that somedays it gets busy with diners too especially on Wednesday when the deal is on. It took about 25 minutes for our meal to make it down the street, and it is great to have the option to get some of Footscrays great Ethiopian food in a different type of venue. It's also good to see the varied businesses of Nicholson street working together.

Plus 5, South Wharf

37 South Wharf Promenade
South Wharf
Victoria 3006

Plus 5 is situated in South Wharf facing the Yarra river.

We visited for an early dinner on a sunny summer weekday evening. 

The views across to docklands, the Seafarers Mission bridge and the city from the terrace aren't bad. We'd booked using a dimmi 50% off food offer and chosen the restaurant based on location and a quick look at the menu online. In fact the menu on the day had a few different dishes

The crab sliders were small and nicely formed with a mix of crunchy veggies accompanying the meat.

The Napoli pizza featured the eponymous tomato sauce, scarmorza, anchovies and capers on an authentic woodfired base.

I went for the Sicilian pizza topped with mozzarella, eggplant, ricotta and spinach. It was a good combo nicely put together.

We'd taken advantage of a dimmi deal for 50% off food, so with a soft drink, the bill came in at $30, which was great value. The service was swift and friendly which was perfect on an evening we had plans. It is certainly a good spot to enjoy a pizza outdoors while taking in the city across the yarra.