templo

Not going to go into a long winded description of each dish. Basically it was awesome. Went with a friend and had the chefs feed me option. Basically small plates of everything on the menu. I would say 20% of it was OK and 80% was delicious. Really friendly service, nice drinks. Very VERY small place and so they have communal dining, which I don’t like, but it is what it is. Would definitely go back.

Called in «accidentally» today, not realising that they did Saturday lunch. It’s a small place that has a small sign outside and if you blink you will miss it. It’s just around the corner in Patrick St (on the right) from Harrington St.
The place is smallish and is designed for customers to sit around small tables, and a community table and share their offerings.
There is a blackboard with their menu on and the wine list is on there too. Not a lot to chose from but all freshly made and the wine list is only a few reds and whites, by the glass or bottle.
On siting down you are well greeted and receive some sparkling water from their own special water taps. That’s a + with the water coming from effectively beer taps. No extra charge.
WE opted for the Gnocco Fritto and Tagliatelle with a nice cream sauce. We were served 2 complimentary warm Italian slices of crisp house made Garlic Bread which was wonderful. Very moreish.
The Gnocco was lightly fried and crisp with 2 small serves of wonderful Parma.
The Tagiatelle was home made and the sauce was nice, but we did think it could have had a little more herb flavour. Not large portions and as we aren’t big eaters we were happy with the serving sizes.
Barbera wine was $ 12 a glass and we thought that a tad expensive.
We will be back and this place is a great addition to the buzzing restaurant scene in Hobart.

Where to begin? I’m going to start back in June 2014 when Sidecar, my favourite late night small bar, closed its doors and a piece of my heart turned black. Track forward to October 2015 and that black piece of my heart is slowly coming back to life, thanks to templo.
I knew templo was coming, but I wasn’t sure where it was going, until I literally walked past it on my way home from work the other night. There were still diners inside, but it was late (almost 10pm) so I stuck my head in just to enquire after last service. Within moments I was shown to a table and there was a negroni in front of me. I tried desperately to hold back tears of joy. (This review is going to be VERY floral, these things happen when I’m in love.) I also got reminded instantly of crusing through the streets of Brooklyn, passing little hole-​in-​the-​wall diners with amazing logos and warm insides.
No menus at templo – the short and sweet food offerings are displayed up on the blackboard above the peephole into the kitchen. Take your pick of what’s on offer or hand the reins over to the chef – my VERY FAVOURITE THING TO DO. SHUT UP. I ended up eating my way through half the menu, trying very hard not to get attached to anything because the board will be ever-​changing with fresh, seasonal, local ingredients. Having said that, every dish was delicious. I threw in a dessert to boot because I can’t resist a citrus-​forward dessert, and the meyer lemon semifreddo was just so, so good.
I also really love what they’ve done with the space… I’ve seen three different uses of this space now and this is absolutely my favourite. One big exposed brick wall, a lovely tiled bar, a window bench seat, a beautiful big round wooden table, great light fittings… and beautiful servingware too. It only seats around twenty people but when the tables are full it feels cosy and alive.
Matt and Chris looked after me so well that my only concern will be sticking to my budget in the future as I’ll be walking home past templo at least twice a week. I’m also over the moon that they’re open on Sundays and Mondays, as it’s rare to find somewhere good in town open during hospo weekends! Maybe I’ll just have to pop in for round two tonight, though…