Where can you find top-notch tapas in Hobart?
For a truly terrific dining experience, with excellent Spanish-influenced food and drinks and first-class service, you can’t go past this joint, writes TasWeekend reviewer Alix Davis.
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When my husband and I moved to Hobart a few years ago, we went for dinner at Suzie Luck’s about a week after we arrived. Unsurprisingly, my sociable husband got talking to one of the waitstaff over the course of the evening. Two days later we were strolling through Salamanca and the same waiter greeted us by name and with a big smile. What a wonderfully warm welcome to Hobart and, five years later, Josh Carver is still greeting us with a smile and genuine hospitality whenever we visit La Sardina Loca, the Spanish-influenced apertivo bar (although it’s so much more) he co-owns with Pat Edwards and Kif Webber.
Tucked down a short alley that opens on to a sunny, private courtyard, La Sardina Loca is right in the middle of the CBD but a drink or a meal there feels like you’re on holidays in a quaint European city. Walls of weathered brick and sandstone add atmosphere, as do the lights strung over the courtyard that is dotted with high tables for two or four. Inside there are cosy booths with patinated brass tables, as well as a room that can be reserved for private dining and events.
Tonight we’re dining with visitors from Perth and, with their appetites honed by three days of bracing walks on Bruny Island, we decide to order everything. That’s right, we order one of every item on the menu – which turns out to be the perfect amount of food for four hungry people and a chance to sample a wide range of textures and flavours – all of them mouth-watering and many of them prompting us to wonder if we should order a second serve.
We begin with mushrooms on toast ($10) – two pieces that are easily halved to feed the four of us. It’s a simple dish, but crisp sourdough topped with whipped ricotta, sauteed local mushrooms and draped with paper-thin slices of lardo is a hint of what’s to come. A generous serving of delicate chicken parfait ($16) is served with sourdough, and a gluten-free option is provided with a smile, on request.
Each dish is beautifully presented and the timing is well-paced – we don’t feel rushed and neither are we looking around for the next course. Thinly sliced rare roast beef rump ($16) is topped with a vibrant green elixir (actually, tarragon oil) that has us all fighting over the last slice and a piece of bread to mop up the oil. Tarragon oil is not something I expected to swoon over, but this dish is worth raving about and Josh confirms that it’s a current crowd favourite.
The drinks list is wide-ranging with a good selection of beers on tap (including an AF option) as well as sophisticated cocktail, wines by the glass and AF concoctions that don’t feel like you’ve been banished to the kids’ table. Cocktails change seasonally and with cheeky names (like the Juicy Melon), they’re bound to raise a smile. Much of the beer, wine and liquors now come from friends who are producers or working with producers, which Josh says is a nice by-product of their time in the industry.
Travelling through Spain was the inspiration behind the venue, Josh says, and they aim to showcase the culture of simple, small plates and catching up for with friends for drinks and food.
“You could have drinks and a couple of small plates here, then do the same at Sonny and Dana,” he says of their philosophy.
Or, you could do what we did and stay put to enjoy La Sardina Loca’s hospitality and food.
Everything we ate was fantastic. The baked cauliflower with saltbush butter and babaganoush ($17) has been on the menu for a while now – with good reason. It’s a vegetable-focused dish that’s satisfying and full of flavour.
Hazelnuts are the hero of a glazed sweet potato dish ($13) that’s billed as a side but is a definite main course contender – the umami-packed blue cheese on top is a wonderful contrast with the sweetness of the potato.
The buzz of the dining room ebbs and flows as we eat, but for a Wednesday night it’s busy (that’s normal, our waiter tells us) and reservations are highly recommended. Whether you’re stopping in for a small plate and a quick drink, or settling in to catch up with much-missed friends, La Sardina Loca provides the atmosphere, food and beverages to make every occasion that bit better.
LA SARDINA LOCA
100 Elizabeth St, Hobart
Opening hours: Mon-Thurs 4pm-late (closed Tuesday), Fri-Sun noon-late
On the menu
Salt cod croquette, $14; pan-fried scallops with pickled radicchio, $10; grilled zucchini, goats curd, white bean puree, $14; flat iron steak, worcestershire butter, grilled gem, $30; market fish, scallop veloute, zucchini and peas, $26.
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