Salamanca Market Hobart

Show up early with an empty stomach & bring tons of cash when you visit Salamanca Market as most stalls only take cash. I was there from 9am-2.30pm and still feel that I need to go back to some of the stalls.
For the food lovers:

• Fruit Leathers

Home made Dried fruits

• Fresh baked bread/ cookies

I bought this cute little fish short bread

• Bread roll served with sausage

Tried their Weiss-Wurst, the description is 100% accurate, mild & juicy, great sausage
Goes well with a little mustard & BBQ sauce

• Fresh strawberry stall

Bought a cup of strawberry, not the sweetest but the freshest

• Tasmanian Cheese from Bruny Island

• Home made Jam Donut & Ice Cream

Donut with home made strawberry jam, runny texture which means they made their own jam & not from the commercial jar. I bought the donut @ 3pm when the stall was closing, the donut was still soft & moist.

• Scallop pie - only in Tasmania

Flaky pastry, mild curry taste & seems to use generous fresh scallops

• Gillespies Ginger Beer

Only in Tasmania & it is a must try

For non-food items:

Beer Shampoo Bar
Hand made Mug

Cute woodwork doorstopper
Handmade Scented Roses Terracotta Pot

Things to Do in Hobart (Tasmania) in 3 nights & 4 days

I visited Hobart for 3 nights & 4 days during the long weekend (01/10/10 - 04/10/10). Arrived Friday night 9.30pm, left Hobart on Monday 8pm. It was a super packed schedule, but we have done pretty well. If you are looking for some inspirations of things to do in Hobart. Feel free to copy without having the pain to do online research. I will post individual review for places I visited. Stay tuned.

Friday 01/10/10

• Sydney to Hobart flight, about 1 hr & 20 minutes. Arrived Hobart @ 9.30ish pm.
• Checked in to hotel straight away & sleep

Saturday 02/10/10

• Salamanca Market for fresh produce, home made bread/ cookies, honey, and organic products. Plus tons of talented & creative people showcasing their creations from own designed tshirt, clothing, accessories, pottery, wood craft, etc. A very unique market, I wish they can bring Salamanca Market to Sydney. Definitely worth a visit. Opened every Saturday from 8.30am-3pm. I was there from 9-2.30pm.
• Lunch at Jackman & McRoss, about 10 mins walk from Salamanca Market. Although I pigged out at Salamanca Market, I still have space for Jackman & McRoss. French style bakery, relaxed atmosphere, the moment you step in to the shops you just want to eat every single pastries on the display. Always packed & if you go with a big group be prepared to wait for tables.
• Picked up rental car & drive around ...
• Sandy Bay for the water scenery around Hobart. The view is breathtaking & the quality of air is fresher than Sydney, I am not sure if I am exaggerating here, but I seriously feel that way.
• Visited my friend's beautiful house & her 2 cute dogs.
• Dinner at a pizza shop in town, the whole gang was exhausted at this point. We had a caveman style dinner, when the meal was out, we had it within 15 mins. Everyone was hungry & we forgot to take photos/ remember the name of the restaurant.

Salamanca Market with Mount Wellington at the background
View from Sandy Bay

Sunday 03/10/10

• Joined a Cycling tour downhill from Mount Wellington from 9am-12.30pm. They drove 20 mins to go up to the mountain (the Pinnacle) & here's your starting point to cycle downhill with 4-5 stops within the tour. Their car will slowly drive behind the tour to ensure everyone is okay & no one is injured. If you are not great at cycling don't panic, this is going downhill & it fits non sporty person (i.e. ME). Beautiful scenery & you will see much more of the whole mountain by cycling. The tour finished off at Salamanca
• Lunch at Mures seafood Salamanca. I wanted to order Grilled Lobster & the last Lobster was taken by my lucky friend. I ordered Grilled Salmon with chips & oysters at the end. I tasted the Grilled Lobster & it was juicy, sweet & crunchy texture. Therefore, my recommendation will be to order Fresh Oysters & Grilled Lobster. The oysters are very creamy, no fishy smell & super fresh.
• Drove to Cambridge, MeadowBank winery, 20 mins from Hobart.
• Drove from MeadowBank to Richmond (about 10-15 mins). Stop over to view Australia's 1st bridge.
• Drove from Richmond to Port Arthur (about 1 hour)
• Stop over in Eagle Hawk Neck for a little rest boost whilst enjoying the coastal view
• Stayed 1 night @ Port Arthur
• Dinner @ Knight & ... Inn (Again I forgot the name). The only Tudor style building in Port Arthur, felt like I was part of Robin Hood movie when I dined in.
• Ghost Tour at Port Arthur historical site (I didnt do the tour as we arrived late & I was scared LOL)

Mount Wellington - view from the Pinnacle

Meadowbank winery
Knight & ... Inn (Robin Hood Tudor style building)

Monday 04/10/10

• Visit Port Arthur Historical site. Ex convicts site with water scenery. Lucky convicts, they lived here enjoying the $1M water view.
• Drove back to Richmond for lunch
• Lunch at Ashmore on 34 Bridge Street
• Drove back to Hobart via Barilla
• Visited Barilla Bay Oyster Farm on the way to the airport, buy fresh oysters from the Retail shop & have it in their little eating area outside
• Return rental car at airport
• Fly back to Sydney

Port Arthur Historical sites, view from the Commandant's house

NOTE

• Hobart - getting a maxi taxi is hard, you may have to book 1 day in advance.
• Port Arthur - if you are planning to go for dinner, the earlier the better (latest will be 7pm) as you only have limited places (i.e. 2-3 restaurants) you can go for.

Plan B

As a result of Dumplings Incident, I organised plan B for my friend Julia, which was dumplings from Lotus & Ming plus pasta from Pastabilities. Both are (AWESOME) frozen products and normally available from a good grocer.

I rang her in the morning & told her what happened @ X restaurant. She's happy, she just said '1 each please for Lotus & Ming, and 2 boxes of pasta'.

Easy job, just grabbed each type of dumplings from the freezer at Thomas Dux. The cashier seemed shocked at the quantity & if I translate his gestures correctly it should be 'Are you going to get all? this is a bit much'.

• 10 packets of Lotus & Ming dumplings/ spring rolls
  
• 2 boxes of pasta
• 2 bottles of pasta sauce

Never mind, I think I did something great for the country on that day, I was contributing to Australian economy I guess.

Drama sorted. These babies flew with me to Hobart (Tasmania) @ night in a chiller bag hand carried. No kidding it was quite heavy, I felt like I was doing my weights when I carried the chiller bag.

• Salt & pepper prawn har gow
• Scallop & shitake har gow
• Chilli chicken dumplings
• Pork & buk choy dumplings
• Peking duck apple wontons
• Sesame barramundi spring rolls
• BBQ pork & plum spring rolls
• Peking duck spring rolls
• Shitake & leek spring rolls
• Spicy Salmon siu mai

Love this part ... 98% Fat Free & they use no MSG

Best pastas from Pastabilities are ...

• Roast Duck Ravioli and
• Prawns with Chilli, Lime and Lemongrass Ravioli

and both best served with Tomato & Chilli jam, the jam has gingery & lemongrass kick to it. I highly recommend the chilli jam. It is so yummy & it goes well with any pastas or anything deep fried.

All arrived in Hobart safe & sound, ready for dinner.

Dumplings Incident

This happened about 2 weeks ago, a night before I flew to Hobart (Tasmania). My friend Julia requested dumplings from restaurant X in CBD as she missed it badly. My plan was to get her some dumplings & buns to take to Hobart the next day.

Staff @ door : Welcome...
Me : I want to take away dumplings A, B, C, give me the frozen ones
Staff @ door : Sure no problem, please fill out the order for, we can't do cold dumplings, dumplings need to be steamed
Me : Ok, I'll just order the buns then. Here's the form, total order 16 pieces, pack it into 2 boxes (1st box 6 pieces, 2nd box with 10 pieces)
Staff @ door : Please do 2 order forms
Me : Ok
Staff @ door : Please pay at the cashier & collect take away from inside

***********************************************************************
...... WaiTing ... WaiTing...and WaiTing ....close to 30 minutes
I wonder why I have to wait so long, they only need to pack all the buns into the box, how complicated can it be?
***********************************************************************

Me : Is my take away ready ?
Staff inside : Please wait a moment

***********************************************************************
Another staff from kitchen came out with stacks of bamboo steamer. Not a good sign at all.
I put my hand on it and it is steaming hot (obviously it was steamed).
***********************************************************************

Me : I ordered the frozen ones, cold ones...
Staff inside : Wait a minute
Staff inside talk to Staff @ door : She said she ordered the cold ones (talked in Mandarin)
Staff @ door : Oh ya she did ordered the cold ones
Staff @ door : (turned around at me and...) Do you want to take the hot ones ?
Me : NO, I ordered the frozen ones because I want to take it interstate
Staff @ door : We can make it cold again, you can wait 15 mins, we put it into our freezer OR
you can take this hot ones and put it into your fridge
Me : NO, I want my frozen ones, you screwed up my order and I am not taking the hot ones
Staff @ door : One minute (she went inside, then come out again)
Staff @ door : We can only give you only1/2 of your order for the cold ones, you need to take the hot ones for the rest of the order because we run out of the cold ones. You can also check our kitchen, we really run out.
Me : Forget it, I want all my money refunded now.


@ 8.20ish pm they run out of dumplings ?
Get real ... they are famous for their dumplings & buns. Are you kidding me ?
Me so annoyed after the dumplings incident.
Very disappointed considering I dined in so often to this place.
How can they expect me to take steamed buns - put it back to freezer - then later on when my friend wants to eat it they have to steam it again.
FORGET IT. I can get something else to bring to Hobart.

Chips on a Stick

Although I am not a big fan of having too much deep fried/ junk food, I still bought this accordion look like potato stick, Chips on a Stick. I found the stall during the yearly Willoughby Spring Festival in Chatswood. For $5 per stick you might think it is a bit of rip off considering 1 kg potato is around $5, hhmm not really, it does involved a lengthy process to sell a stick.

It started with a team starting to HAND peeled the potatoes which take up most of the times, put it into the skewers, run it in a machine that make the potatoes evenly sliced like accordion, stretch the potato to create the gap, deep fried & seasoned.

Chips on a Stick, piping hot & ready to be collected, I had cheese + chilli mix
Crispy ... Tasty ... and Oily of course
I don't think they are available in any other market which is a relief for my cholesterol level.

Available Flavours