The Lower House

PROFILED BY DE GROOTS MEDIA
the Lower House is a makeover of the old Elbow Room basement restaurant with low tables fronting red banquettes around a central stainless steel bar/service area. A couple of sink-into lounges are grouped in two of the corners and glossy black wooden blocks offer casual, if not so comfortable, seating. Slick, shiny and mod-minimalist, the space is designed more as a bar than a restaurant with a small food menu and a largish list of wines and top-shelf numbers. However, in quality terms, the roles are reversed, the imaginative, artfully presented food bettering the rather mundane drink selection by a long shot – whatever your preferred shot might be.

While there’s nothing wrong with the largely current-release mainstream wines and everyday spirits on offer, they fall well short of some other bars round town, a scattering of a few French wines doing little to sex things up. But the food is good, a menu of nine small servings somewhere between tapas and entree size of simple, imaginative and tasty offerings. And location is another plus, just a block from Hobart’s popular waterfront, across the road from Parliament House and little more than an elevator ride for the many bureaucrats and professionals in surrounding offices.

Graeme Phillips