Ettie’s Hobart – wine, food and fun
While Elizabeth Street runs throughout Hobart’s central business area, the northern end marks the start of its best wine and food experiences.
There are loads of restaurants, cafes and bars and one of the biggest is Ettie’s. This is a massive space, with a number of different areas, including in the basement. It’s even a bottle shop.
We were early for our dinner booking on a recent Saturday night and managed to get the very comfy sofa for two in the far corner of the front room, before taking our drinks into the formal dining room. Tables are swathed in white linen and there’s a nice little open fire along one wall but, for the most part, it’s a very dark space on a winter’s evening. As such, the pictures in this blog are a little muted … c’est la vie …
Like most restaurants in Hobart there’s a chef’s choice – dishes to share at A$65 per head. We opted to order a la carte, trying to pace ourselves on an all-eating-and-drinking tour of this fun city.
There is a small-ish food menu at Ettie’s but it reads very well. To start Greedy Girl took chicken liver parfait with some rather large croutons. The parfait was full of flavour and very smooth, while the cornichons on the side were very sharp. Still, it was very enjoyable.
Chicken liver parfait
Gluttonous husband chose beef tartare with a ‘bagnet vert’ and crisps. The green slick on this plate was incredibly vibrant and very tasty. It looks like avocado but it’s actually made from bread, parsley, anchovies and capers. An excellent dish where all the elements worked together brilliantly.
Beef tartare, ‘bagnet vert’
It was time for main courses. Greedy Girl was craving a steak and opted for the steak frites – this is a 250 gram grass-fed Tasmanian porterhouse served with cafe de paris butter and some hand-made frites. It was utterly delectable. Greedy Girl’s only quibble was not having enough of the butter to last the whole dish.
Steak frites
Gluttonous husband was excited by the inclusion of mussels on the menu. Despite being on the water we didn’t see an enormous array of seafood when dining out. Juicy and plump mussels were served up with chopped wilted fennel and a pernod and cream sauce (see the picture at the top of this post).
The mussels were excellent but, for Greedy Girl, the star of this dish was the pernod sauce. The staff immediately brought us more bread to mop up every last drop. So good!
Not ready to call it a night, we opted to share a dessert. This was economically described as chocolate mousse, pear and almond. The tuille on top sadly was broken when it got to the table, and the mound of chocolate mousse underneath was rather dense. The pear was a nice addition, not being overly sweet. Still, it was a decent dessert.
Chocolate mousse, almond and pear
And we were done. Out into the cool night we went.
Ettie’s is undoubtedly a fun spot. The formal dining room is relatively small but there is plenty of room to eat, drink and be merry throughout the establishment. The service was very good and where a member of the wait staff couldn’t answer a question immediately, they checked with the kitchen and came back without delay.
For a light dinner and a pleasant place to while away an afternoon or an evening in Hobart, it’s hard to beat.
Ettie’s
100 Elizabeth Street, Hobart
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