Franklin Manor, Strahan, Tasmania

Franklin Manor, Strahan, Tasmania
Sunday 14 March, 2004

Franklin Manor is a boutique guest house and restaurant. The restaurant is a series of small rooms and feels intimate. The wine cellar is worth a visit, so make sure you take the stairs down to the wine cellar before you select your wine.

The restaurant has received rave reviews largely due to the '2 Michelin star' chef Meyjitte Boughenout. My friend and I were very excited to eat here and after reviewing the intriguing menu were delighted to learn that a bottle of wine had appeared courtesy of my traveling companion's brother - how wonderful! The menu has to be tasted to be believed:

- Golden egg, beetroot lollipop, red capsicum & mango
- King crab salad, dates & citrus
- Sugar cured trout with eggplant ice cream
- Baked blue eye cod with apple ravioli
- Veal tenderloin with miniature vegetables
- Lychee & verbana sorbet & Cascade Pale Ale sorbet

The menu can be summed up by an exasperated 'What the?@!'. It is all over the place, way too creative and for most of the dishes we actually wondered if anyone in the kitchen had actually tasted them before sending them out to un-suspecting guests.

This was a disappointment.

Fee & Me, Launceston, Tasmania

Fee & Me, Launceston, Tasmania
Wednesday 10 March, 2004

Fee & Me is located in Morton House, the best known of the secular buildings that face Prince's Square. It is a beautiful building and this extends to the interior of the restaurant and private dining rooms.

As a mainlander, it is extremely well priced for such a highly awarded restaurant. The menu is intriguing in that you are presented with a menu divided into 5 sections. You can choose one course from each section or 5 courses from two sections -it's totally up to you. The blurb on their menu states that all of the dishes are entree size and the five sections move from light dishes through to rich. You may wish to follow the dishes in order, or move around according to individual tastes.

The menu is priced by 3, 4 or 5 courses and looks like this:

- Smoked salmon & lemon crepes with sour cream & fried caper salad
- Salt, pepper & brandy cured beef with cucumber and wasabi sorbet
- Tasmanian oysters set in lime, chilli, mirin & light soy jelly
- Tasmanian ocean trout tartare in tomato & basil water with Tobika cavier
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- Beer battered Trevalla with rocket & ginger mayonnaise
- Slow cooked ocean trout with parsley mash & light mushroom sauce
- Shaved abalone tossed in garlic & parsley served with lemon risotto
- East coast crayfish on shredded lettuce with orange butter sauce
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- Roast duck, cucumber, spring onion & Hoisin sauce in a chinese pancake
- Sauteed Huon Valley honeybrown mushrooms with seymour gold potatoes & thyme infused cream sauce
- Sauteed lambs brains with lemon hollandaise & baby spinach
- Pan fried chicken filled with Southcape feta served on fresh fig & ratatouille salad with basil scented sauce
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- Seared Flinders Island lamb slices with peccorino cauliflower cheese & beetroots cooked in red wine sauce
- Slow poached beef fillet with sweet potatoes & caramelised tomatoes
- Hare pie topped with cheese & chive souffle on potato mash
- Roast venison loin with potato & leek stack & pear infused sauce
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- Apricot & cumquat tart with brandy custard & vanilla ice cream
- Chocolate & almond meal cake with King Island double cream, fresh berries & cabernet syrup
- Turkish delight souffle with whipped cream
- Citrus theme - potted lemon sauterne cream, mandarin & vodka sorbet & kaffir lime tart
- Selection of Tasmanian cheeses with crackers



The service is excellent and the staff are informative. There is a good selection of wines by the glass and bottle.

Such is traffic in Launceston that there is plenty of street parking outside the restaurant. Fee & Me is an experience.

Stillwater, Launceston, Tasmania

Stillwater, Launceston, Tasmania
Tuesday 9 March, 2004

Stillwater river cafe/ restaurant & wine bar overlooks the Tamar River and is located in the historic Ritchies flour mill. As you enter the building you are impressed with the raw sandstone and an amazing wine cellar that extends for the length of each wall.

The staff are very good, knowledgeable and well prepared for questions. In order to enjoy as many dishes as possible we decided to go with the Tasting Menu - which is pre-positioned as a menu designed by chef Don Cameron to highlight the best of the fabulous flavours & tastes of Stillwater:

- Stillwater sashimi plate-calamari with lime/ palm sugar/ chilli and scallop with artichoke essence/ truffle oil
- Lime & sugar cured Tasmanian salmon with green mango, laska leaf salsa, dressed fine noodles, lime/ pepper
- Seared scallops with double mushroom custard on roasted portobello mushrooms with tomato beurre blanc
- Duckling tartlet, leek fondue, braised shallots, sherry vinegar caramel, pounded rocket/ caper sauce
- Soy & sake prime Tasmanian beef fillet with parsnip puree, ponzu beef demi, fine noodles and wasabi aioli
- Assiette of sweets

We also enjoyed the matched wines with the tasting menu. It was pleasant, the food was well presented and the service was attentive but it lacked the WOW factor.