IMPROMPTU LUNCH

Impromptu lunches are always the best.


A last minute decision for fellow food writer & friend, Helen Ellis, to venture from the hail & blustery Hobart weather, proved to be a great idea for a lunch catch up.  Helen made the 2 & 1/2 hour long haul of a drive, with her daughter Bec, who had business to attend to in town.

With just 2 hours notice,  hubby & I went to the fun task of choosing where to entertain our friend. We wanted it to be really special as poor young Helen (aka Rita's Bite) had been unwell of late and was craving a sample of what Launceston has to offer.

What should have been a simple decision, turned out to be a difficult one (as usual), with hubby & I disagreeing as to where to go.

Being a Thursday, our selection was limited, which was quite disappointing as our guest had her heart set on experiencing Cataract on Paterson.  We were one day too early as C on P is only open for lunch on Fridays & Sundays.

We were left with about 5 to choose from and when trying to satisfy 3 avid food lovers, the hardest thing was agreeing on WHERE to eat.

Our list was whittled down to 5:

Esca @ Hotel Charles
Hallam's
Me Wah
Mud Bar
Pierre's
Stillwater

I dearly wanted to return to Esca, but we had been there less than 3 weeks ago so unfortunately that was discounted.

Pierre's & Me Wah were removed from the list due to the gloomy weather.  We debated whether the interiors were a little dim for this particular day.  We wanted something airy & light to reflect our moods.

Final choice - Mud, Hallam's or Stillwater.

We regularly eat at Mud and think we've exhausted the whole menu.  Not that it's not worth exhausting over and over again, because quite frankly, it is!  With ever changing menus, I'm sure we'll head back there soon.

Stillwater's lunch menu didn't quite have any dishes that ticked the WOW factor so we opted out fro that.

We hadn't been to Hallams for a few months, and with a new & interesting menu, we thought our dear friend Helen would enjoy the ambience and the seafood choices on offer.

Minds made up, we headed out to an early lunch at Hallam's.