After spending a little time in Melbourne after driving the Great Ocean Road Nick and I flew to Hobart to start our Tasmanian adventure. We saw the rest of the state first, check out that post here, before ending in the capital for a city break that involved a little walking, a spot of culture, some grade A eating, and a whole lot of relaxing. Our very first stop was the Salamanca Markets which we'd only heard good things about. Bury Me Standing Bagels was the place we were most stoked about trying, they have great Happy Cow reviews and they sell boiled bagels, otherwise known as proper bagels.
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As well as decent bagels that you can buy to go they also sell baked goods like cookie sandwiches and brownies, some of which are gluten free. We opted to get our bagels sliced and filled to eat right away and I went for a potato bagel with a schmear of vegan cream cheese and pickles whilst Nick opted for a plain bagel with Nuttelex (Australia's Vitalite / Earth Balance), sugar, and cinnamon. They also had vegan lemon curd which I was sorely tempted by but a vegan cheese option will sway me every time.
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Nick's Nuttelex and cinnamon bagel was like an epic doughnut bagel and I definitely ate more than the one bite I was meant to try! Mine was completely perfect too, it was everything I want in a bagel, a chewy dough and a simple creamy filling. Spot on. I was gutted that we weren't able to get our hands on any more of their bagels or treats before heading to Sydney but maybe one day. That cookie sandwich was one of the best I've ever eaten, it had soft flavourful cookies and the creamy filling wasn't so sweet that it hurt my teeth. I think I'll have to try to recreate them at home one day. As well as their stall at Saturday's Salamanca Market Bury Me Standing also have a hole in the wall spot on Bathurst Street. They just serve hot drinks on a Sunday and they're closed on Mondays but you can get your bagel and dessert fix any other day of the week.
The other spots we tried at the market were Spiced Lotus where I grabbed a delicious beetroot stuffed spring roll whilst Nick enjoyed a samosa. We also split a bean and vegetable pie from another stall with marked vegan options which we got covered in their homemade chutney. It was delicious but a little hard to eat with the chutney on the top and no cutlery!
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A lot of places in Hobart are closed of an evening but one night we popped out for a meal at conveyor belt sushi spot Sush Track. It wasn't the best sushi I've ever had by a long shot but it also wasn't the worst. I was pleased that they had a vegan menu available and the iPad ordering system was pretty fun.
One of the main reasons that we decided to visit Hobart was contemporary art gallery MONA and I would suggest that if you're considering that too that you think again. I hate bashing anywhere on the blog because everyone has such differing opinions, especially when it comes to art, and I'm not an expert, just someone who has visited a lot of galleries and has an appreciation of contemporary modern art. For me there was barely anything enjoyable about MONA, the works seemed, for the most part, completely devoid of meaning and it wasn't worth the $100 price tag for the two of us. Not at all. There are much better places to see good art for free in Australia so if I were you I'd skip it and spend the cash on bagels instead. The major plus in favour of MONA is that their cafe has an irritatingly excellent vegan chocolate cake, unfortunately the boat ride over there probably means it isn't worth travelling for but if you have a friend who's going definitely get them to grab you a slice!
Overall I'd say that Hobart is a great place to spend a night or two after road tripping your way around Tasmania, just make sure that you're there on a Saturday so that you can visit the wonderfully vegan friendly Salamanca Markets and don't forget to @ me in your bagel pic's!
As well as decent bagels that you can buy to go they also sell baked goods like cookie sandwiches and brownies, some of which are gluten free. We opted to get our bagels sliced and filled to eat right away and I went for a potato bagel with a schmear of vegan cream cheese and pickles whilst Nick opted for a plain bagel with Nuttelex (Australia's Vitalite / Earth Balance), sugar, and cinnamon. They also had vegan lemon curd which I was sorely tempted by but a vegan cheese option will sway me every time.
Nick's Nuttelex and cinnamon bagel was like an epic doughnut bagel and I definitely ate more than the one bite I was meant to try! Mine was completely perfect too, it was everything I want in a bagel, a chewy dough and a simple creamy filling. Spot on. I was gutted that we weren't able to get our hands on any more of their bagels or treats before heading to Sydney but maybe one day. That cookie sandwich was one of the best I've ever eaten, it had soft flavourful cookies and the creamy filling wasn't so sweet that it hurt my teeth. I think I'll have to try to recreate them at home one day. As well as their stall at Saturday's Salamanca Market Bury Me Standing also have a hole in the wall spot on Bathurst Street. They just serve hot drinks on a Sunday and they're closed on Mondays but you can get your bagel and dessert fix any other day of the week.
The other spots we tried at the market were Spiced Lotus where I grabbed a delicious beetroot stuffed spring roll whilst Nick enjoyed a samosa. We also split a bean and vegetable pie from another stall with marked vegan options which we got covered in their homemade chutney. It was delicious but a little hard to eat with the chutney on the top and no cutlery!
Whilst we were in town we stayed at an Ibis Styles hotel using some points that we built up a while back and wanted to use in a country where we couldn't afford to stay somewhere so nice. It was super relaxing and we had a couple of bed picnics, watched movies together, and swam at the pool. I also really enjoyed having my own bathroom after weeks of hostels. The only stressful part was the breakfast buffet as nobody else seemed to understand that putting the meat tongs all over the tots was gross. I mean really? Obviously that's disgusting y'all! We developed a system where we'd wait for the new tots to come out of the kitchen and swoop in with a bowl for scooping, I think that everyone thought that we were a little strange but I'm okay with that. If you'd rather eat your breakfast somewhere vegetarian then Straight Up is a ten minute walk away. I didn't realise before I went that everything they make is gluten free and that they don't have wifi (not ideal when you're meeting someone, have no phone, and no idea when they'll arrive!) but I still enjoyed relaxing with my book and one of their granola muffins.
A lot of places in Hobart are closed of an evening but one night we popped out for a meal at conveyor belt sushi spot Sush Track. It wasn't the best sushi I've ever had by a long shot but it also wasn't the worst. I was pleased that they had a vegan menu available and the iPad ordering system was pretty fun.
One of the main reasons that we decided to visit Hobart was contemporary art gallery MONA and I would suggest that if you're considering that too that you think again. I hate bashing anywhere on the blog because everyone has such differing opinions, especially when it comes to art, and I'm not an expert, just someone who has visited a lot of galleries and has an appreciation of contemporary modern art. For me there was barely anything enjoyable about MONA, the works seemed, for the most part, completely devoid of meaning and it wasn't worth the $100 price tag for the two of us. Not at all. There are much better places to see good art for free in Australia so if I were you I'd skip it and spend the cash on bagels instead. The major plus in favour of MONA is that their cafe has an irritatingly excellent vegan chocolate cake, unfortunately the boat ride over there probably means it isn't worth travelling for but if you have a friend who's going definitely get them to grab you a slice!
Overall I'd say that Hobart is a great place to spend a night or two after road tripping your way around Tasmania, just make sure that you're there on a Saturday so that you can visit the wonderfully vegan friendly Salamanca Markets and don't forget to @ me in your bagel pic's!