Retro Cafe

PROFILED BY DE GROOTS MEDIA
Retro was the first of a new style of cafe to open in Hobart and is still one of the best. For over a decade they have heart-started half of Hobart, serving excellent coffee and good cafe food to all comers. Strategically located on the corner of Salamanca Place and Montpelier Retreat, this is the perfect spot to watch a passing parade of the who’s who of Hobart - politicians, artists, students, greenies, lovers, lawyers, business men, alternatives and architects - as well as visitors from around the world in for a coffee hit. The decor is eclectic, the feeling “lived in”, and if you want to know what is happening in Hobart just cock an ear, or check the walls where there’s a poster for every event.

The food is true cafe style: from toasties to soup, nachos and burgers - it’s all consistently tasty and produced from perhaps the tiniest kitchen on earth. Open seven days for breakfast and lunch it is worth getting there before they take down the breakfast specials board at 11am. The mushrooms on rye are great and there is always an interesting egg dish on offer. If anything though, go for the coffee, it’s the stuff of legends and has raised Retro to the heights of an institution. Be warned - Saturday is Salamanca Market day, and this is in the thick of it, so be prepared for delays.

Graeme Phillips