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As some of you might know, before moving to Melbourne, my first stop in Australia was actually Hobart in Tassie. I fell in love with the place and still try to visit my friends down there as often as I can. My best friend and her family have become my surrogate family in Australia, as my family are all still back in Germany.
Last weekend L and I flew down for another weekend away. We stayed with my bestie, her husband and two gorgeous kids. Very unlike me, we actually caught the red-eye over on Saturday morning. I’m not a morning person. To cheer me up and to set us up for the winery tour ahead, my bestie had booked us in for brekkie at Ginger Brown in South Hobart.
South Hobart is a beautiful part of the Tasmanian capital, charming old weatherboard houses and of course the famous Cascade brewery with the massive Mount Wellington as a backdrop. I do love this city…
I thought it was maybe not quite necessary to book a table for 8:30am, but when the doors of Ginger Brown opened there were already a few people waiting outside and the tables started filling up quickly.
We sat down at one of the retro tables and ordered our coffees/ chai latte/ babycinos. The all-day menu offered some great choices which made a quick decision hard. Things like quince & blueberry crumble with whipped honey and ricotta or house-baked crumpets with pear & raspberry compote, lemon butter and vanilla syrup sounded very enticing. However, I couldn’t go past the gruyere, cauliflower & ale Welsh rarebit with duck confit, maple bacon and sourdough. Seriously, who doesn’t love gruyere?! L chose the same, so I didn’t have to share mine.
The Welsh rarebit was creamy and cheesy, the cauliflower and the slightest taste of ale added to the feeling of comfort food. The maple bacon was amazing, sweet and savoury at once, which was a nice contrast to the richness of the sauce. The confit duck was cooked perfectly and tender. In my opinion, either the bacon or the duck probably would’ve been enough to come with the dish, but I know L and most other people will disagree with me on that one… Having said that, it really was super delicious!
My bestie’s husband had the slow-braised pulled pork with confit potato, poached egg, pickled radish, whipped Persian fetta and rocket. It looked divine and apparently it tasted the part. The serves at Ginger Brown all seem to be reasonable in size and they certainly don’t skimp on meats.
My bestie had ordered crumpets with vegemite and homemade peanut butter for the two kids and an open omelette with gruyere cheese, caramelised onion, spinach, pumpkin puree and sourdough for herself. The omelette would have been my second savoury choice, so I was happy someone else ordered it and I still got to try it! I especially loved the pumpkin puree, it was super smooth and a perfect accompaniment for an omelette on a cold autumn day.
I’m glad we booked and got to enjoy a really great breakfast. When my bestie told me about the place she said “It’s like a Melbourne café, but in Hobart”, and I guess that’s true. The food is great and the retro atmosphere of the place with a big communal table in the middle could well be somewhere north the Yarra in Melbourne.
Ginger Brown 464 Macquarie St South Hobart TAS 7004
