I was really tempted to make a booking at Aloft. It was relatively new and recommended/anticipated in a few online readings. The location at the end of a pier and the Asian-inspired menu appealed, but it seemed to not have much in the way of one thing I was looking for - Tasmanian seafood.
Looking for specialty seafood restaurants in Hobart was surprisingly difficult. Other than a few Chinese restaurants, a load of fish and chips and Mako fresh fish store, not much really showed up. Drunken Admiral was recommended to me by the hairdresser at Just Cuts (of all places) and I'm glad she did, because I was at a loss up until that point.
The reviews were a bit mixed, but generally positive and the menu was enticing. Unfortunately I called to make a booking and was told they had nothing available that night. Damn. The default was going to be Fish Frenzy down by the pier but enroute walking down Elizabeth Street, I called again just to make sure. They had two seats at the bar for walk-ins, but it couldn't be reserved. After arriving 10mins later the bar seats had been taken, but a table had become free - the condition was it had to be vacated in 45mins.
I couldn't quite work out why the 45min limit. When the time was up and we departed at 2045, there were a heap of vacant tables all throughout the back seating area. Maybe they had a large number of tables being filled at 9pm but surely that wouldn't be usual, even for a Saturday night...
- Fish Market Chowder $15.9 - very creamy and rich rendition, one of my favourites probably only behind that from Boudin in San Francisco;
- Sydney to Hobart $116 - chilled Queensland tiger prawns (quite nice and sweet), freshly shucked oysters (beautiful, large and creamy like all I had in Hobart), fresh mussels (decent size and flavour), smoked Southern ocean trout (mildly smoked), chilled marinated peninsula octopus (quite soft and not chewy), with a fisherman's selection of fried scallops, prawns, squid, fish of the day (overall decent with the scallops being the best) & shoestring fries (quite good but served unsalted). Served with caper mayo, cocktail sauce, lemon wedges;
It was a lot of food and certainly too much for 2 people to eat within 45mins.
The food quality was overall very good (as you'd expect for a seafood place attempting to utilise local produce). I guess when the ingredients are that good, you don't need to do a lot with it.
Next time I would order quite happily some different a la carte options first confirming which were local: more Southern Tasmanian oysters natural and dressed up, fried scallops, chipotle calamari, or the Admiral's Fresh Fish Pot.