To all you Ay-mairy-cens, Happy Halloween. To myself I say, Happy Belated 2nd Birthday, HRB. It was a bit of an anti-climax.
It started with a hangover.
How unusual, you might say.
It is truly a sad statement of fact. Sen's was closed so I had no alternative. Sunday lunch at Fish 349. Why have I been so reluctant to try this place? Is it the polished concrete floors? Is it the colouring-in pencils? Is it the 'we cater to all tastes' menu? Or could it be the proclamation that "Take Out" is available?
So. Sen's was closed. No duck rolls for me. No wonton soup. Just a hangover and a second choice for lunch. We huffed in through the sliding glass doors and sat ourselves down. Thankfully there were no children screaming about the place. I was in the mood to stab someone with a fork.
My spirits lifted when I spied yummy-sounding stuff on the specials menu. Coconut prawns sounded good. But tempura oysters? Why, why, why? We ordered some oysters, au naturel of course. We had some garlic prawns on skewers and (to be perverse) some "tempura" scallops.
This is becoming a bit of a catch-cry of mine, but the tempura was "not a tempura's arse hole". The oysters were much less than fresh (trust me, I've been hoovering oysters into my face all month). The grilled prawns had that whiteness to them that whispers "I've been frozen for months", and they tasted a bit like garlic infused old bus tickets.
Having a hangover, one tends to scoff what is placed before one. With or without grace. So we scoffed and grumbled through full mouths. I muttered something about "see I told you so" and "could have had duck rolls" and "how dare Sen's be closed". We sat for a while, nattering. The plates sat and listened. They sat and listened so long that I detected a waft of foul prawn guts coming from the leftover tails. The Fish wasn't full; there weren't many people about at all. But still the plates sat.
Fish 349 is the kind of place where you stand at the counter to order and pay on the spot. As classless as I find this practice, at least it meant we could walk out without delay when the smell became overpowering.
Phew. What a stench. But you know what they say … ‘never eat an ugly fish’*.
GW the HRB
;-)
* Ellis RM, Jelinek GA. Never eat an ugly fish: three cases of tetrodotoxin poisoning from Western Australia. Emerg Med 1997; 9: 136-142
It started with a hangover.
How unusual, you might say.
It is truly a sad statement of fact. Sen's was closed so I had no alternative. Sunday lunch at Fish 349. Why have I been so reluctant to try this place? Is it the polished concrete floors? Is it the colouring-in pencils? Is it the 'we cater to all tastes' menu? Or could it be the proclamation that "Take Out" is available?
So. Sen's was closed. No duck rolls for me. No wonton soup. Just a hangover and a second choice for lunch. We huffed in through the sliding glass doors and sat ourselves down. Thankfully there were no children screaming about the place. I was in the mood to stab someone with a fork.
My spirits lifted when I spied yummy-sounding stuff on the specials menu. Coconut prawns sounded good. But tempura oysters? Why, why, why? We ordered some oysters, au naturel of course. We had some garlic prawns on skewers and (to be perverse) some "tempura" scallops.
This is becoming a bit of a catch-cry of mine, but the tempura was "not a tempura's arse hole". The oysters were much less than fresh (trust me, I've been hoovering oysters into my face all month). The grilled prawns had that whiteness to them that whispers "I've been frozen for months", and they tasted a bit like garlic infused old bus tickets.
Having a hangover, one tends to scoff what is placed before one. With or without grace. So we scoffed and grumbled through full mouths. I muttered something about "see I told you so" and "could have had duck rolls" and "how dare Sen's be closed". We sat for a while, nattering. The plates sat and listened. They sat and listened so long that I detected a waft of foul prawn guts coming from the leftover tails. The Fish wasn't full; there weren't many people about at all. But still the plates sat.
Fish 349 is the kind of place where you stand at the counter to order and pay on the spot. As classless as I find this practice, at least it meant we could walk out without delay when the smell became overpowering.
Phew. What a stench. But you know what they say … ‘never eat an ugly fish’*.
GW the HRB
;-)
* Ellis RM, Jelinek GA. Never eat an ugly fish: three cases of tetrodotoxin poisoning from Western Australia. Emerg Med 1997; 9: 136-142
12 comments:
Hi - does anyone know why Sens is closed? We went there for our Sunday ritual and sadly its was shut. The message on the door implied that it was closed quickly and for an unknown period of time....
And Ugly Fishs prices are daylight robbery. Dinner last err Friday night as a take out was close to 40 bucks for 2 serves of Trevalla and chips, some tarte and 2 drinks. They dont get the concept of 2 serves of fish 1 of chips with Trevella - you can apparently only do that with flake. It started off as an semi decent fish and chips, but their ego has now got so big it oozes out the door.
My sympathies Georgie - and happy belated blogging birthday.
May I next time suggest taking a trip to South Hobart to Flathead !
Some of the best seafood I've had around Hobart !!!
Erk. Sounds like it looks.
And if Sen's is shut and so is Thai Garden - double erk.
Hello & welcome back HRB. I hate to say 'I told you so' BUT I will only order prawns here if they have swum down to Tassie & jumped into my boat, lathered themselves in tempura & dived into hot tallow. Otherwise I avoid them, especially in glorified chip shops masquerading as 'restaurants'who hoping to gain kudos, cyically invest in an 'edgy' architectural veneer. Are we, as punters that gullable? Maybe? But maybe they should have invested in fresh fish first & kept the formica tables? GG
I remember when the store was green and after a pint at the Republic I could stand and smell the wondrous temptations wafting down from the State Cinema area allowing my taste buds time to regroup and think of good food. Now I plan my meal before I finish my jar and dart quickly to my choice for the night to avoid the ugly fish fatty oily smells that pollutes my senses as I emerge.
I remember when the store was green and after a pint at the Republic I could stand and smell the wondrous temptations wafting down from the State Cinema area allowing my taste buds time to regroup and think of good food. Now I plan my meal before I finish my jar and dart quickly to my choice for the night to avoid the ugly fish fatty oily smells that pollutes my senses as I emerge.
There's a guy at Fish that I vaguely recognise as a shareholder in Rozzini's pizza place down the bottom of Elizabeth Street. Are the places related?
...and happy 2nd birthday, HRB.
Happy Belated birthday Georgie,
glad I'm not the only one who feels that Fish 349 is way too big for it's boots. At least at Fish Frenzy the is {mostly} good.
Much rather go to the Republic for the creole spiced trevalla with chips and salad.Better value, much, much nicer atmosphere!!
Didn"t mean to make my comment anon. It's from Christina
What Hobart needs now, I know! A fish & chip shop! B O R I I N G!
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