three stars

The problem with Hobart is that people are quick to tell you there is nothing to do there. Well, I say ‘Bah!’ to those people. Bah! Scratch the surface and not only is there enough to do to keep you flat stick for at least a week (granted, you’ll need a car), but there is a surprising amount of cafes, restaurants, and bars, particularly in Salamanca and North Hobart (or NoHo, as I now know it).

There are cafes in Melbourne who go out of their way to look retro, grungy and a bit alley-cat like. Since starting this blog and covering the north, west and CBD surrounding suburbs I’ve become accustomed to this kind of ‘look’, even expecting it. So when I ate at Pearl Oyster it wasn’t anything new. The retro, eclectic décor, the bric-a-brac style tables and chairs, the waitresses dressed in costumes from The Sound of Music….it was all fairly typical.

Sometimes I wake up and think to myself, ‘there just isn’t enough avocado in my life’, and when that happens I trawl the streets until I find a decent café that will smother me in the green goodness until I feel content and a couple of kilos heavier. Luckily Stonz was obliging enough to assist with this request, and even threw in a couple of smiles along the way.

Sometimes you sit down to eat and you just know it's an off day. You can see the look on the wait staff's faces as they explain why things are delayed, cold, burned or wrong. And you can totally understand that it's no one's fault and that it's the kind of thing that occasionally happens in the hospitality industry. But still, you were hoping for food that tasted good, at the end of the day, and you didn't get it.

I’ll go anywhere that allows me to don a head sweatband, sing 80’s rock songs at the top of my lungs in a packed cafe and then lets me pass it off as an ode to the locals. I’m pleased to announce Rosanna is such a place. Luckily the area also serves up edible items for all to consume, otherwise this review would be a bit out of place.