PROFILED BY DE GROOTS MEDIASalamanca Place is the city’s busiest tourist strip, a long row of magnificent sandstone warehouses from the 1820s, today home to galleries, bookstores, furniture makers, architect studios, jewellery designers, playhouses, colourful pubs with shady pasts, and, of course, numerous spots for a latte or lazy lunches and dinners. Elegantly modern, this is the latest addition to the strip’s culinary scene and from al fresco heart-start coffees and breakfasts to intimate late night bubbles for two, there’s a designer space for every occasion and taste.
With a sophisticated melding of the traditional and trendy, the menu too pitches to all tastes - and to all pockets with some of the most reasonable prices on the waterfront. A tasting plate of eight, shucked-to-order Bruny Island oysters comes at just $12.50, the same price as one of chef Paul Brown’s signature dishes, spicy, crisp and meltingly scrumptious scallop and prawn fritters with chilli and nam jim. A traditional Spanish sauce of bitter chocolate accompanies braised venison and a French-style duck-leg confit gets a modern twist with spiced peaches and mirin – both for $14 - while a delicious and innovative seafood, tomato and lime curry fondue tops the list at $22.50. At the moment, the wine list doesn’t match the menu in either imagination or affordability – but they’re working on it.
Graeme Phillips