My dining experiences in London showed me that high-end Chinese may be worth it. I never made it to Hakkasan (as noone I knew would do the £120 per head banquets with me) but the exceptional two meals at HKK (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/hkk-london-04-2013) made me understand a potential difference between standard and fine.
Hobart seemed to have a surprisingly low number of highly recommended restaurants. Me Wah has a large number of accolades - multiple top Chinese or Asian restaurant and wine list in Hobart and Australia over the years. My airbnb happened to coincidentally be down the road and after 4 days in the bush and not being able to fork out $685 for the Tasmania Seafood Seduction cruise meant I wanted to look forward to the best of Tasmania's seafood.
I limited myself to Tasmanian seafood. The option was for either lobster or the scallops and squid. What would I do...
- Jellyfish and seafood salad
I can't see the cold dish on the menu, so perhaps it was on the specials list. Unless the usual crunchy cold dish salads I'm used to, this jellyfish was so soft my teeth slid through it. I didn't understand why this was - I'm sure what I like better but I'm definitely used to the crunch texture. The scallops, prawns and vegetables came together very nicely in a mildly acidic dressing.
- South Cape Tasmanian Crayfish 2.1kg at $25/100grams
Do the maths. Yes it was ridiculously expensive for 2 people. I wanted a 600-800gram lobster (always taught those are the sweetest flavour from Japanese restaurants) but this was their smallest. After some deliberation, I said yes. YOLO... They sold it as not being too much by splitting into 2 courses (at an extra $25 expense which they didn't tell me about). Most of the time restaurants will show you (and maybe weigh) the live beast before taking it away to the kitchen.
1st course was sashimi with soy sauce and wasabi. Unlike previous places (eg. Shoya in Melbourne) the lobster wasn't moving on the table. The soy accentuated the lovely sweet flesh which was a little less crunchy and firm and more soft than I've had previously.
2nd course was sauteed with ginger & spring onion, Shao Xing rice wine and two serves of e-fu noodles. This was the typical Cantonese style and the flavour was standard and perhaps a touch dilute, but the difference was the huge chunks of meat in the tail and claws. The e-fu noodles were a change from the standard egg noodles (both good in their own right).
- Double Braised Tasmanian Greenlip Abalone (served whole with braised flower mushroom, steamed seasonal vegetables, ormer reduction) $95
Beautiful abalone (which looked a tiny bit small in the shell) with a soft sliding texture that was lovely. My previous abalone experiences tend to be chewier or crunchier but this was remarkably soft. The flavour accented the mushrooms to form a nice juice.
We couldn't finish the lobster so took away the de-shelled remainder with noodles. Microwaved for breakfast at least the cost was split over 2 meals. Dare I say the flavour was better and more intense the next day?
The service was nice and sometimes a little over-attentive. There's only so many times a few mls of tea need to be refilled. But I suppose that happens when two people order a $525 lobster...
Next time I would order the local seafood but not the abalone or lobster (as I can't help partially agreeing with a review I read about Tasmanian seafood restaurants - the quality of produce is so excellent that the quality of cooking doesn't need to be standout). The XO sea scallops and spicy salt Bass Strait squid would be a must. I'd possibly finish it with local fish or meat (lamb, chicken, pork, beef) or a vegetarian main (such as tofu or eggplant).