Sweet (and savoury) dreams do come true at this Bellerive eatery
This Eastern Shore eatery is a gem, its feasting menu is great value and I’ll be heading back for more Canadian inspiration soon, writes TasWeekend food reviewer Alix Davis
Food and Wine
Don't miss out on the headlines from Food and Wine. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Until recently, my favourite things about Canada were Ryan Reynolds and Keanu Reeves. Oh, and the Rockies. Also, maple syrup.
Having just enjoyed an evening at Bellerive’s Gastown East, I can now add Canadian-inspired food to that list. In an environment that gives chic wood cabin vibes, the Gastown East team, led by co-owner and executive chef Kristian Farrow, serves up dishes that use Tasmanian produce to celebrate Canadian flavours.
We opt for the Canadian Feasting Menu which, at $60 per person, represents excellent value and a fantastic way to experience a decent chunk of the dinner menu. A little bowl of maple-spiced popcorn kicked us off and if they had sold it in bags, I would happily have purchased a few to snack on later. It was the perfect blend of salty, sweet and spicy without being too much of any one of them. Before we could request another bowlful, we were presented with a pot of Cretons ($15), the Quebec version of rillettes, a pork pate that was topped with maple jelly and served with thinly sliced sourdough. It was packed with porky flavour without being too rich.
L
Local oysters ($4 each) were next and these were served in the kilpatrick style – that is, cooked and topped with maple and chorizo. It’s a mouthful of maple-spiked brine and plump oyster and makes a nice change from the usual (but not unwelcome) raw oysters. Maple syrup makes multiple appearances on the menu but there’s no sign of it in the next course – cheese and potato dumplings called pierogi ($16).
Pierogi hail from eastern Europe, in particular Poland and Ukraine, and are much-loved in Canada, which has the world’s third-largest Ukrainian population after Russia and Ukraine. In fact, they’re such fans of this dumpling – always served with lashings of butter and often with bacon, as they are at Gastown East – that in 1993 the town of Glendon (pop. 493) erected a 9m-tall Giant Pierogi (Of course, it’s a not a competition but Coffs Harbour’s Big Banana, built in 1964, is 13m long. Just saying).
With all this maple syrup and Canadian inspiration I assumed that co-owners Kristian and Sarah Farrow were Canadian imports, but manager Clayton Rainbird tells me they are Hobart locals who lived in Vancouver for a couple of years and were inspired to bring Canadian flavours back home with them. The restaurant is named for downtown Vancouver’s oldest neighbourhood, Gastown, which is full of cobbled streets, Victorian buildings and a thriving restaurant scene.
There are no cobbled streets in Bellerive, but there’s a great view over the marina and the outdoor tables are an ingenious design that has a heater built into the central leg. The only flaw in our evening was a guest at an adjacent table in the cosy dining room using his outside voice rather than his inside voice. Not cool, people, not cool.
Given the quality of the entrees, our expectations for the mains were high and, happily, they did not disappoint. A spiced cauliflower salad ($19) was a pleasing mix of textures and flavours with an emphasis on spice rather than heat.
The pumpkin squash risotto ($32) was rich and creamy – topped with delicate scallops, a crunch of breadcrumb and a swirl of vibrant salsa verde. Fat slices of pork belly were accompanied by a cassoulet of tomato, chorizo and white beans ($30) with just a hint of chipotle chilli to excite the palate.
It was the side dish of poutine ($11) that I was really intrigued to try, knowing that it’s a Canadian institution. Poutine hails from Quebec, where it was invented in the 1950s or 60s (depending on which origin story you believe) and is a glorious mess of seasoned fries topped with fresh cheese curds and smothered in gravy. It proved so popular that by 1990 it had been added to the Canadian McDonald’s menu. What’s not to like about this dish? Absolutely nothing. And if you’re visiting Gastown East for brunch or lunch, you can order it with maple bacon as well.
Dessert is an enormous, freshly cooked, cinnamon sugar-crusted doughnut that comes with a selection of toppings. I opt for maple syrup (apparently I can’t get enough of a good thing) and demolish the lot.
Gastown East is a gem and I’ll be heading back for more Canadian inspiration soon.
GASTOWN EAST
5/16 Cambridge Rd, Bellerive
Opening hours: Dinner Wed - Sat, 5pm - 9pm, Brunch 7 days, 8am - 3pm
On the menu:
Pork pate, $15; oysters kilpatrick, $4 each; potato and cheese pierogi, $16; spiced cauliflower salad, $19; pumpkin squash risotto, $32; pork belly with tomato & chorizo cassoulet, $30; Canadian doughnut, $11
Flavours at this Hobart cafe will transport you down the Silk Road
Persian food doesn’t have a high profile in Hobart, but a visit to this hidden gem of an eatery for a casual lunch or dinner is highly recommended, writes Alix Davis
Classy northern restaurant still delivers on every front
Stillwater will be celebrating its 25th anniversary next year and has honed its offering over that time to become one of the state’s best restaurants. In this review, Alix Davis implores the classy restaurant to ‘please keep doing what you do so well!’