Ethos Eat Drink

First day in Tas and ate here for lunch. Their pumpkin salad and fresh bread is good but you must try their brownie! Amazing! So moist and chocolately … I think I’ll be back for another one :) Be warned though, their prices are extremely expensive.

We loved this place. It is a foody paradise — the dishes are creative and works of art each and every one. It reminded me of New Orleans which to my mind is the foody capital of the world. The wine menu is good as well. The interior is gorgeous and very romantic and the staff were very friendly and attentive. I definitely recommend it.

Hmm so much has been said about this
Place, expectations were high as a result. And whilst I hate to burst the bubble this place does not live up to the hype.
My friend and I opted for the 6 courses with matched wine, not cheap at 165.
Interior looked great, loads of staff, v attentive. But very early on we felt something was amiss. The staff constantly marched past us, we’d be in the middle
Of a conversation and be interrupted to be told some elaborate story about the provenance of our food. Food was slammed down and a couple of times my friend nearly lost his wine glass. The bill was brought to us when we hadn’t asked for it, nor had we finished. The service was weirdly, arrogant.
The food was the real let down. Just not all that. It was very simple. Too simple. So much so that a plate of sliced tomatoes with some sprouted seeds constituted a course. A goat starter quite frankly looked like cat food and there was a horrible desert that looked like cereal but was actually minted cream, jelly cubes, white chocolate and other stuff. I couldn’t eat it — and instead of asking what was wrong, one of the many waitresses simply said «had enough?» There was a sense that they think they are amazing. They’re not, they’re just ok.
I felt a bit robbed.
The wine was excellent though and worth the money. But food was simply below par and the service needs attention too.
Oh and the bathrooms! So small and ridiculously cramped. Not good.
Save your money and go get a slap up meal somewhere else.

Ethos. Ethos. Ethos. Where do I even begin? Came here for dinner on my first night in Hobart. Couldn’t have walked into a better restaurant on a Friday night. The staff is as friendly and welcoming as they could be. Each dish was better than the last. The locally sourced component of Ethos offerings is what really sets it apart, at least in this urban American’s mind. The wine list is mostly Tasmanian and my only wish was that is was 100% Tasmanian. To me this gem of a restaurant encompasses the fresh, fun nature of Tasmania as a whole. Can’t wait to come back.

Avant garde, cutting edge, outside the box food. We got off to a rough start when we showed up and were told we had no reservation. Our hotel supposedly booked us a reservation at 6:30 PM. We arrived three minutes prior to that time. After a fair amount of discussion amongst the people at the front desk, we were told that they would try to fit us in but it would be difficult as the restaurant was heavily booked for the entire evening. We were lead to a table next to the bathroom.
Things got better after that, but we were somewhat surprised by the menu. There were very few options. We could either have a six course meal or an 8 course meal. We could have the food with wine selections or without wine selections. We opted for the six course meal with wine selections.
Course one included baby mackerel fish piece with black radish, rapini, and fennel. The second course included daikon, beans, asparagus, amaranth and black garlic. We were noticing a trend that the chef is really interested in and good at working with vegetables and fresh herbs. Our third course included a pheasant egg with house made chorizo, broad beans, tarragon and garlic. The fourth dish was a stew of sorts with pork, broth, potatoes, cabbage, and spring garlic. After a sorrel granita, We were treated to two desert courses including rhubarb and buckwheat, followed by a chocolate, cherry, and whiskey parfait. All the accompanying wines were good, but we especially enjoyed the 2008 Lake Barrington Alexandra sparkling wine from Tasmania and the Frogmore Creek Ruby Pinot Noir port which was served with the final dessert.
Our impressions: very adventurous chef puts a huge effort into preparation and presentation of the food. We saw plenty of open tables during the 3 hours we were here and still wonder about the «no reservation» issue on our arrival. If you are a foodie, you must try this place. Vegetarians could eat well here. All the wines tasted better with the food. Kudos to whomever paired the wines with the food.

Ethos have changed since my first visit and I’ll admit this made me nervous; gone are the a la carte tapas and in is the 6 or 8 course set menu. The menu changes daily based on what is available fresh and the mood of the chefs, so we went in wondering how it would all turn out.
I’m pleased to report that not only was the food amazing, but Ethos have taken a refreshing approach to the set menu. On arrival you don’t receive the evening’s menu, instead you are presented with a list of ingredients the chefs have decided to use that night — you are free to indicate any that you don’t like or can’t eat and the kitchen then works around that.
We went the 8 course menu and it was just enough food. Some of the dishes were very small (bit sized) but the later dishes were larger and I left very satisfied.

What an amazing meal!
The idea at ethos is fairly simple– you choose six or eight courses (the only difference being that eight offers a cheese and a cured meat course) and then you let the kitchen work its magic for you. The staff gives you a list of ingredients that the chef will be using in case there are any allergies but beyond that you’ve just got to wait to see what’s going to pop out next!
The standout dish of the evening to me was the goat. I was a little hesitant as I’ve had goat a few times before and always thought it was fairly stringy and chewy, but this goat tasted fairly similar to a perfectly cooked slow roasted pork. It was amazing.
Expect a fair share of Asian influence and flavours throughout the meal. The portion sizes were perfect– we left the meal feeling satisfied but not overly full, which is often hard to do with that many courses.
For only $ 70 for six courses I think it’s an excellent bargain for delicious, high quality and unique food!
If you ever find yourself in Hobart do yourself a favor and eat here!

I love Ethos! This is one of the special places I take interstate visitors to get a WOW reaction.
A unique, delicious menu, quirky yet charming setting and very friendly staff.

Opening in 2011, this restaurant has received rave reviews ever since, both for their food and for the sustainable environment in which it is served.
The building itself has existed since the early 1800s, with the latest renovations making exceptional use of the limited space, ensuring the site retained much of its old world charm. To their credit, the ethos crew were quite particular in their desire to reuse as much of the ‘waste’ reclaimed through the building process as was possible. The result being some rather unique light fittings and other intriguing meldings of form and function both inside and outside the restaurant!
Having checked their website prior to making the booking, we were prepared for the degustation style menu on offer. However, where ethos do things a little differently is that out of the sixteen dishes on the menu, it’s up to the whims of the chef as to which ones you’re going to end up with! Not a problem as far we were concerned, but those with specific dietary requirements are given the opportunity to speak up. It did also make it a little difficult to select an accompanying bottle of wine, but chances are you’ll get at least one or two that will match either a red or a white.
We began the evening with a couple of glasses of a ‘real’ champagne, the Billiecart-​Salmon Brut Reserve from France. Perhaps a little sweeter than we normally prefer, but still very fine (and no fish were harmed in the making of this wine). Together with the wine we were served a couple of pieces of freshly baked bread, with butter and salt.
In fairly quick time we were brought our bottle of Priory Ridge Sauvignon Blanc (taking a punt that we would be served some ‘white’ food!) and were served our first meals for the evening, consisting of a small bowl of olives and cornichons, and two blue cheese dauphines. All very tasty, with the dauphines being surprisingly mild in flavour. I was expecting a big hit of musty, blue cheese funk, but it was actually quite restrained.
Before we had finished these appetisers we were brought our next dish, a large slab of fried haloumi with lemon. Initially filling the mouth with hints of lemon drizzled pancakes, the subtle flavour of the haloumi eventually won through. The texture of this haloumi was also very very good. It’s not uncommon for haloumi to be rubbery and ‘squeaky’ on the teeth, but this one was very delicate. Personally I would have preferred it to be a little less oily, but again not a major criticism. While the haloumi was perfect in size for two people, you’d have to be a real haloumi lover to get through one of these on your own!
The first of our next two dishes was interesting to say the least! Ox heart, served on a bed of gai lan (Chinese broccoli) with a sriracha sauce.
Unlike other hearts that I have tried before that were tough and gristly, the ox heart was tender and full of flavour. Full credit to the chef because I can’t imagine that it would be easy to cook this dish so well. The gai lan gave a nice textural contrast to the heart, while the sriracha sauce provided a sweet and spicy kick to the meal.
As we were making our way through the heart, our next dish was brought out. This time it was a vegetarian grilled zucchini with baby turnips.
Again, this was another perfectly cooked dish. While the turnips didn’t do much for me, the zucchini was fantastic.
Our final main meal was the topside beef with leeks. The presentation of this dish was just gorgeous, with the pink and perfectly cooked meat contrasting with the pale bed of smoky leeks, all topped off with a scattering of beautiful little flowers. A feast for the eyes! And then my belly…
To close the meal out we finished with an unconventional, yet superb dessert consisting of roughly chopped apricots, boiled rye and almonds. This isn’t a combination that immediately comes to mind when I think of dessert (chocolate…), but it was one of the best I’ve had in a long time. The apricots were perfectly ripe and full of juice, while the rye gave the meal some consistency and depth, with the almonds offering some good crunch in the mouth. An absolute winner!
While overall we were extremely happy and satisfied with the meal, there were a couple of tiny gripes that stopped this from being one of our all-​time great meals. The service was excellent at times, but also poor at times. Very friendly and willing to please, but the meal was a little rushed in the early stages. However this was balanced by a generous offer of two half glasses or red wine on the house, after I made an offhand comment regarding the fact that our white wine didn’t really suit the meals chosen by the chef.
Completely unexpected and unnecessary, yet it’s those human touches that you’ll remember months later when planning your next special meal.
ethos eat drink is one of Hobart’s finest establishments, setting a very high standard to which other restaurants in Hobart should be aspiring.

Dining at Ethos is an experience. The menu is ever-​changing, based on what fresh and local ingredients the Ethos team can get their hands on. There is a lot of local spirit in the menu, from the food through to the wine list (95% Tasmanian) through to the sweet treats, all made on site (if there’s any marshmallow, get your hands on it with a coffee to wash it down — delicious).
Make sure that you take the time to look around. The restaurant is hidden back off Elizabeth Street in a space that originally served as a hotel stable, back when hotels needed stables (yep, we’re talking a fair bit of history here). The site was also host to a chemist for a number of generations, and while the Ethos crew were constructing the restaurant, a lot of found items were taken away, cleaned up, and given a second chance at life in the restaurant.
Sitting in the courtyard on a beautiful sunny day is absolute bliss — there’s always plenty of shade provided so you don’t have to fear your skin crackling, but there’s enough sunlight streaming in for it to be close to perfect. I am in love with the vertical wall full of lush succulents and have to admit I spend a lot of my time at Ethos just staring at it, which is awkward if there are ever people sitting at the table right in front of it.
Ethos is, quite simply, charming.