Introduction

The Rita's Bite website is an adjunct to the Hobart Food for thought blog site - a blog site which has been in operation since late 2006.

The Hobart Food for thought blog site essentially reviews restaurants and cafes mainly in the Hobart and environs area. It also chairs general discussions about food, eating and eating etiquette, and all things associated with these subjects.

It is read by many people, both professionals and casuals, engaged in the hospitality and tourism industries, and also many interested eaters. The average hits per week (of people checking out the blog site) is 1300.

The beauty of the blog site is that it is a level playing field, with everyone who comments being equal. All opinions are equally valid and listened to by everyone else. When we disagree with it, we say so. As we all write anonymously, it is very easy to be way more honest than you normally would be with your opinions in this situation.

That, to me, would be the beauty of checking in there every week. If I were a restaurant owner, I would check out a blog site like Rita's to get accurate and honest feedback about my restaurants performance, both food and service. Stuff people probably don't bother feeding back to the restaurant at the time a situation occurs.

The main point of difference, as I see it, in the Hobart Food for thought site is that the Rita character doesn't set herself up as the ultimate authority on anything food-related. She has opinions. Others have opinions. Her aim is to stimulate general discussion, and elicit as accurate a reflection of eating, dining and food in today's Hobart as is possible.

The fact that you ARE writing and putting all your words out in the public domain is a factor which should always be taken into consideration, for the reader as well as the writer. The reality of the potential of being sued for expressing your opinion or experience publicly is always present.

However, these sites (the website and blog site) will hopefully serve their purpose and people will still express their true feelings about the state of food play here in Hobart today.

The Restaurants Page

The restaurants listed in the Restaurant section comprise all the ones Rita has visited and reviewed over 2007 on the Hobart Food for thought blog site.

On the blog site, I generally didn’t issue any kind of hats or star rating system when reviewing eating establishments – mostly because I really feel that reviews are such a personal reaction to a situation, in this instance, a dining out situation, that it just doesn’t seem such an accurate reflection of the package.

So, I will preface my restaurant listing with the warning, once again, that the reviews are the results of how I found things at any given establishment on the day. You must build in my own personal tastes and predilections for various foods and flavours, as well as my expectations of the full package of the food combined with the ambience of the place, the prices, and most importantly, the service.

In a nutshell – it’s just one person’s opinions of what worked for her on the day.

I genuinely hope people will feel confident enough to add their own opinions and feedback regarding any of these reviews. It is good to hear about people’s experiences also because we need updates about how the food is going at each place. You can’t just say that the food is fabulous at xxxx and that’s that. You need to continually be up-to-date in your knowledge of these places for this website to be at all effective. Chefs change. FOH staff change. Owners change. Suppliers change. All these things impact on a place.

For instance, since the time I gave it such a glowing review, the Apple Factory at Cygnet has closed down. We need to keep a handle on what’s going on round the city, so if you know something – share it with us who care!

I also tend to disagree with some who feel you get what you pay for. I can name a few of my favourite places where I think the prices are way too low for the great food and service I receive. I can also name a few places where the food costs an arm and a leg but I leave there feeling really shitty that my needs were most definitely not met. Go figure!

You can use these reviews as a kind of guide if you’re planning a night out and not sure where to go - but make sure you read the comments as well, so you get a more balanced opinion or idea of the place.

By the way, it will be really useful to all of us if you have a meal you liked, hated or were indifferent to, to tell us all about it.

In the immortal words of chef Ian Parmenter, bon appétit!

The People Page

Consistent with being someone who was bought up in the 50's by my parents to believe that everyone on the planet is equal (a tough concept to follow through on these days!) I have the most eclectic, assorted bunch of friends I can imagine. They cover all manner of races, creeds, ages, sexual definitions, colours, beliefs, types and occupations. In fact, thank god I won't be at my own funeral (well, not alive anyway!) because I just can't imagine how the hell I'd handle a social situation like that with that odd assortment of people all present in a room at the one time!

The relevance to this page of my website is that people I've selected to include here are an assorted bunch as well. Having always had an extreme interest in and fascination for hospitality in Hobart, I have automatically been drawn towards people with similar interests, thus have got to know many who might, by some, be considered to be on the periphery of the considered hospitality 'scene'. Some are higher profile than others. Nevertheless, they are people with that common thread of a love of food