Burger Got Soul

For Sunday lunch, my most favourite friend from grade 11, Darcy and I went to Burger Got Soul on Charles Street. Despite being one of the most popular places for young people to go for a meal, it was the first time I had been here since early 2008. It was a nice day and they had outdoor seating on the street which was full and inside they have a dining room and one other room, also used for dining as well as the service area. The menu is written on the wall.

 I was temped by their special The Veg Weg, and with such a name, one would assume it was a vegetarian burger. It isn't. It does have a [really delicious] vege pattie in it, but I did have to ask for it to be without bacon. I ordered mine on a wholemeal bun, all the salad inside was really fresh and seemed to be really good quality. Also one of the best vege patties too; ie. didn't taste entirely of chickpeas/lentils.

Darcy had the Ali G with added brie on Turkish bread. He also said that his burger was very tasty.

Everyone raves about Burger Got Soul chips and their sauces being the best in town, however, we didn't have any this time around.

Despite how hard the burgers are to eat, they're super delicious. All burgers are around $12 (slightly more expensive for a steak burger, which I believe to be $16-$17) and a serving of chips is under $5.

I should also mention that you can buy BGS to take away and also pre-order over the phone.

Keep posted for my comparison blog coming soon; Flip vs BGS.

Burger Got Soul- 243 Charles Street, Launceston 7250

63345204
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Fresh

It was my 21st Birthday on Friday the 11th so I went to Fresh  with my friends Olivia and Sally for lunch.  Fresh is a vegetarian restaurant, which I go to semi frequently for this reason, as well as the super atmosphere it has to offer. It's a quirky cafe/restaurant with three dining rooms which they open and close for different purposes. There is vintage and retro furniture and the decorations include a huge wall mural. There is also a deck outside.  We were surprised how busy it was, being a week day, and it took a while for us to be served.

They have breakfast menu items that end at 11:30 as well as an extensive lunch menu with many vegan options too. I know a lot of meat eaters who freak out when they know that lunch will be veg, as they're scared of lentils - but as you can see below there are so many options; all of which are filling and delicious!

Sally & Liv ordered a vanilla latte (they didn't have caramel!) and a iced chocolate respectively. I love that the glass bands are made out of old socks!

For lunch I ordered the Pan Bread with Buttered Asparagus, Soft Egg and Garlic Aioli, (They had run out of asparagus so I had Broccolini instead, which I was more than happy with) Sally ordered the Rye Bruschetta with Marinated Mushrooms, Grilled Halomi and Balsamic Glaze and Liv ordered the Corn Fritter on Sourdough with avo, Aioli and Relish.

All of the meals were delicious.

Overall, we were happy with the service - the girl that served us was really relaxed and helpful. The atmosphere was comfortable and the food was tasty. We could have easily left after an hour, however we did stay for a while to chat afterwards. Meals are mostly less than $20 - I used a voucher from the Entertainment book to buy one meal and get one free, the waitress offered to just split the price to two meals for the three of us which was a nice little discount :)

Fresh On Charles - 178 Charles St, Launceston 7250
03 6331 4299
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Salsa Tapas Wine Bar Cafe

I went to Salsa on Saturday night with four girlfriends for a light dinner and drinks prior to heading into town. The booking was for 7:30 - which I think was pretty good timing as the restaurant was very nearly full, yet it was still early enough in the evening for the seven hundred different waiters we had to maintain their perky attitude throughout the evening. 

Being a summer evening, they had the doors open wide over looking the boats and boardwalk of the seaport. It's a fairly noisy place. Being a Tapas restaurant- there was plenty on the menu to choose from, as well as quite a few vegetarian and vegan options, which I was stoked to see. 

Every time I've been here I've made the mistake of turning the menu over (it's not double sided okay!). 

There are starters, hot foods and cold foods, as well as meal sized potions. With the tapas you pay per item, so in my instance I had 2, $4 Croquettes and 1 $4 arancini ball after my sourdough with oil & balsamic starter.

 It works out to be a good deal, especially if you'd like to try a lot of their menu items. Amongst the five of us, we tried the sourdough bread, arancini, croquettes, sausage rolls, chicken stick, lamb and salmon. 

Everyone had only positive comments to say about their food. They also have an extensive drinks menu, I sampled the berry cocktail - which was delicious! 

One of the waitresses came back and asked Sally if she'd like another drink and bought her a new one while my empty glass went ignored. I do suppose however this was an honest, inattentive mistake.

We were asked if we'd like to have a look at the dessert menu - after saying yes we waited no less than 5 minutes for them to bring it to us. It was a limited and expensive menu so we didn't stay to try any more!

Overall, the service was pretty good - I'm fairly traditional and I would prefer to have the service of one Waiter/waitress for the evening.

I do believe that Salsa has a coupon in the Entertainment Book, however, I left in haste and I didn't check before leaving home.

For the five of us to have dinner & drinks it came to about $140

 

 Salsa Tapas Wine Bar Cafe- 24 Seaport Boulevard, Launceston 7250

03 6334 0730

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Charles Street: The Paris End

Charles Street in Launceston is known for it's food. Lined with a huge variety of cafes, restaurants and grocers, when stuck for ideas Charles Street is where we will always go first. Specifically the end of the street which locals refer to as  The Paris End - if heading out from town you will know you have arrived if you see a cute, tree lined street - bustling with cars. The Paris End is also home of the Launceston General Hospital and now, the unmissable gigantic Hotel Charles (the largest, whitest, ritziest, most exorbitant hotel for such a small town).

Starting from St Prince's Square some of the dining you will come by are;

• Fresh - the only vegetarian restaurant in town. There will be so many reviews coming on this place soon. Being vegetarian, I come here more than I'm willing to admit.
• Elaia Cafe - I have written two reviews on here so far, here and here.
• Burger Got Soul - Notably the best burger place in Launceston.
• Cafe Mondello
• Sporties Bar - It is exactly as it sounds. I've heard the food here is incredible, however it's still on my list of 'Places I Haven't Been'.
• Aroma's - Another cafe which I've only had the pleasure of stopping in for a coffee.

I will soon write about the restaurants down the other end of Charles street (think Indian, Chinese & more cafes and bars!)

Elaia Cafe: Lunch

Evan & I went to Elaia again one day when we were in town running some errands and needed a bite to eat. Whenever we get stuck for ideas we take a walk down Charles Street - as there is a huge array of cafes and restaurants that we love eating at. I had the Calamari and Chips, Evan had a Steak Sandwich. As always - the food was prepared quickly, the service was friendly and we left in good time with a reasonable bill at the end of our visit. One thing I'd like to mention though that I've experienced a few times when dining at Elaia, they put napkins under greasy food (see below) - just make sure you remove it before you dig in to enjoy your meal as you may end up enjoying your napkin too. 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all my family, friends and followers who are reading this.

One of my resolutions* this year is to keep this blog updated and record all of my dining experiences - which I failed to do after the initial launch of this site. Not only will I endeavour to write about restaurants, I am going to also give you any kind of information I find useful when dining out - whether that be researching menus, things to look out for, eating to a specific budget, diet or preference.

Also, after spending three weeks in Europe in December I decided that I am also going to be launching a new blog (see below the smallest sample of some of the treats we had away!). The new blog will focus on restaurants and dining outside of Launceston, so stay tuned & happy eating!

* I use the term resolutions loosely - I believe that putting such a strong emphasis on doing it just because it's the new year puts the mozz on it.

Brisbane Street Bistro

Evan and I went to Brisbane Street Bistro on a Tuesday evening.  We had dinner at 6:30, and only 2 other groups of people arrived while we were there. It's built into an old home, and the dining area is stuffed with tables. I wouldn't like to be there if it was a busy evening, as navigating around the restaurant with empty tables was difficult enough. It's very comfortable with a lovely atmosphere. The music was also decent.

When we arrived we were greeted by the most over the top and enthusiastic waiter I think I have ever experienced. He may have been a little too keen for some people's tastes, however, I found it to be rather entertaining. Unfortunately, they don't have an established website...yet! This meant that I scanned the reviews before we arrived and it had many fabulous reviews. We ordered out entrees and mains, after listening carefully to the waiters recommendations. He had heaps of information on everything and was very helpful.

Before our entrees arrived, the waiter bought us a complimentary artichoke soup with truffle, with homemade bread and salted butter. I was initially hesitant to try this as I'm not a fan of mushroom (we also weren't sure of how to actually eat this dish??), however, it was so delicious. The soup was lovely, and having the salted butter really bought out the flavour of everything - just as the waiter promised.

For entree I ordered the Onion Taste Plate. As described, this was a light short-crust onion tart topped with goat's cheese, French onion soup, pickled baby onion and shallot salad and fine herbs. I love onions, they're one of my favourite things ever. This entree was very delicious. The base of the tart may have been a little overcooked as I was causing a racket with my knife against the plate - but everything tasted lovely.

Evan ordered the Crisp Pork Belly, which was long cooked pork belly, mandarin pancakes, spring onion, cucumber, chili jam and hoisin sauce. It was served as finger food with all the components wrapped in the crepe - to dip into the hoisin. It was very well presented and Evan said it was very tasty.

For main course, I ordered the Market Fish; Gremolata dusted fresh fish fillet, garlic mash, citrus salsa & lemon buerre blanc. This was very similar to what I ordered at Pierre's, so it was good that I was able to compare the pair. The fish was cooked really well and overall it was an excellent dish. There was just so much of it! As I was trying to save room for dessert - and we'd already had soup and entree, I only ate about half. I also liked how much buerre blanc there was - more than Pierre's, which meant that I didn't have to be scarce when dressing my fish.

Evan ordered the Cassoulet; traditional French braise of duck leg, sausage, white rabbit, ham hock and white beans with sourdough crumbs. Overall, he said that he thoroughly enjoyed his meal - however he said that it was very salty. It also took a very long time for it to cool down before he could eat it. He was also grateful for the waiters recommendation for this dish.

Even though we were very full we were excited for dessert.

I ordered the Classic Vanilla Creme Brulee; Vanilla bean creme brulee, with roasted rhubarb and vanilla ice cream.
With all of the desserts, on the menu they have paired dessert wines with them - which I thought was really helpful.
I thought that it was so delicious and the rhubarb went really well with the sweetness of the ice-cream and creme brulee.

Evan ordered the Chocolate Marquis; A rich Callebaut Belgian chocolate dessert, with pistachio praline, Grand Marnier cream and the ultimate chocolate ice cream. It was presented beautifully & Evan said that it was very tasty.

Overall,  it was a really delicious meal. The service was excellent and we have recommended this dining experience to others. We were there for under two hours and completed four courses. Brisbane Street Bistro is quite dear, I like that all of the food is the same price - which means that cost isn't made a factor in deciding what to choose. All appetisers at $18, Entrees are $19, mains are $36 and all desserts are $16. I think that the prices are worth it, considering the size and quality. Fortunately, Brisbane Street Bistro are in the Tasmanian Entertainment Book with a 25% discount, which was really fantastic.

Brisbane Street Bistro - 24 Brisbane Street, Launceston 7250

6333 0888