“A great find”
Recommended by motel receptionist, how fortunate we were.
Just a 5 minute stroll from Motel 429 Sandy Bay and a few minutes more from the Casino. The restaurant is next to a closed 1950s servo, sounds strange BUT it is rather quirky and the water view is spectacular.
It is a small café, 6 tables inside, 8 outside, they also do takeaway. It certainly isn’t upmarket, their signage makes it sound more like a fish & chip shop, but the view, the atmosphere, the quirkiness and the staff make it so much more. Diners are coming and going all the time, a lot of professional couples seem to drop in for dinner on their way home from the office.
They serve seafood and wood fired pizzas. On Thursday night we shared a great pizza, washed down with an extremely nice chardonnay, their wines are almost exclusively cleanskins, they hand you glasses and you self-select from the frig. $20 a bottle – can pay more than twice the price for a half as good wine!
We were so impressed that we went again Friday night this time we shared an entrée of scallops, prawns and calamari then both had a whole flounder, cooked in the wood fired oven. Beautifully cooked and all for $24.50 each (entrée + main) and of course another bottle of the $20 chardonnay.
Highly recommended
“Locals eat here!”
A very unassuming eatery, in the old Jet service station on Sandy Bay Road. No frills, and a small menu of seafood and about a dozen choices of wood fired pizzas.
We ate there twice during our 5 week stay in Hobart. Both times the seafood and the flounder baked in the wood fired oven were delicious. The service is friendly, and there seems to be a steady take away trade of locals calling in on their way home from work.
Pizzas and seafood are inexpensive, and you can get a glass of wine to enjoy with your meal. This is a Sandy Bay suburban gem!
“Good fish and chips with a view “Wheelchair accessible””
I have had lunch at the Reef Café on a few occasions. The most recent a few days ago. I have eaten fish for 50 plus years and grew up in a fishing family, so I do know a thing or two about good fish and chips. I dislike any food that is battered however based on recommendation I tried the tempura battered fish and the batter was very light and not at all greasy. Recently I tried their grilled trevalla which was perfectly grilled with slices of lemon and very light and tasty. Another food item that I do not particularly enjoy is potato cakes, they are usually made from reconstituted potato and covered in thick greasy batter, well this definitely was not the case at the Reef Café. The potato cakes are the nicest healthiest potato cakes that I have every had the pleasure of eating. They are made from real potato slices and lightly covered in very thin crispy tempura batter. The chips are also crisp and not at all greasy. The serving size of the meals is a little on the small size, particularly for the price, however I would much have a small serve of good quality fish and chips than a large size of greasy fish and chips. The staff are friendly and the café is wheelchair accessible with a very nice view across the Derwent River. There is inside and outside seating. They serve a range of hot and cold drinks including bottled wine. Overall a nice casual café atmosphere with good fish and chips.
Visited December 2014
“Best Tasmanian scallop”
We went to manning reef cafe for lunch. We were told by the owner that he had fresh scallop just came that morning.
Wow it was good.
It is a casual cafe, minimum service but wine ( in clean skin) are cheap.
“A Nice Cafe”
Our last night in Tasmania found us along the waterfront of Hobart. We asked the desk clerk at our hotel if there was a good place to eat w/in walking distance and she said she always sends guests to The Maning Reef Cafe. We found this place to be a delightful cafe w/ a friendly engaging staff and the food was exceptionally good. The owner John Caire was there and recommended we try Garlic Scallops which was the nightly special. Very fresh, well prepared…not overcooked…and tasty. We could have scarfed a second order but our Caesar salad came and OMG proved to be so good I have to rate it as one of the top 5 Caesar salads I’ve eaten anywhere. The lettuce was fresh and crisp, the anchovies were canned but not too salty or fishy…and the dressing was perfect both in taste and in the amount on the salad. There was enough dressing to bring all the components of the salad together w/out it wilting the lettuce or having the salad swimming in dressing. It was perfect and again, since we were sharing everything…we could have ordered a second salad but our pizza was on its way. We had the Napoletana Pizza and like the rest of our meal it was delicious…there wasn’t a slice left when we were through. We had red wine w/ our meal and it is a special deal John has w/ a winemaker who bottles the wines under The Maning Reef label. They mostly serve “clearskin” wines (whites) but did have a Shiraz which we ordered. It was just OK and I will bring my own wine next time.
A really nice meal at this little cafe is certainly recommended.
Visited October 2014