Stillwater, Launceston

Stillwater
Ricthie's Mill
2 Bridge Rd
Launceston, TAS 7250
(03) 6331-4153
Website

Down by the banks of the Tamar River, at the mouth of the Cataract Gorge in Launceston, is a lovely little restaurant called Stillwater.  They're actually the sister restaurant of the Black Cow Bistro (Stillwater was there first!), and do slightly cheffier food in a rustic setting.  They do breakfast, lunch and dinner, and we actually visited twice during our 3 days in Launceston - once for dinner, and again for breakfast!

Upon walking in, we felt that the restaurant was quite a bit more formal than Black Cow, with very polite waitstaff calling you "ma'am" and so on.  Interestingly, customers tended to dress quite casually - lots of hoodies and jeans.

Crusty bread roll... included in the price! Hehe.

Butter and salt

Here is my entrée - black lipped abalone with pickled cucumber. I'd never ordered abalone myself before, mainly because I don't like the idea of eating non-sustainable seafood.  But I asked our waiter, and this abalone was farmed off the east coast of Tassie, near Hobart.  Overall I found the dish a little sour, but the abalone itself was fresh and cooked perfectly.

East Coast black lipped abalone - pickled cucumber, yellow rock sugar, iceberg lettuce and wakame crostoli. $32

Sandra had a cheese soufflé to start.  It was quite rich, so it was good that it came with a nice refreshing salad.  Incidentally, all the different farms and stockists mentioned on the menu (Heidi Farms, 41° South, Yorktown Organics etc.), would probably be interesting places to visit for a daytrip.

Heidi Farm Gruyere soufflé - chive sabayon, candied walnut and pear salad. $18

I was in the mood for lamb, and absolutely loved my main course!  A rare lamb rack, sliced into individual chops, and prettily arranged on top of small salad leaves, sweet and tender carrots, and smoky baba ghanoush.  If we hadn't been in a public I would have picked up each of the little bones and gnawed the last bits of the meat off.  Delicious!

Rack of Clover Country lamb - 41° South ginseng spiced, baba ghanoush, glazed baby carrots and preserved lemon yoghurt. $39

Sandra's main was something I think many Melbourne foodies would love - eye fillet with whipped jamón serrano butter and a crispy jamón serrano shard.  It had a great mix of sweet (baby beets) and salty (jamon), but Sandra said it the smokiness of the jamón became a bit overpowering.

Eye fillet of grass-fed Greenham Tasmania natural beef - textures of Yorktown Organics beets, whipped Jamón Serrano butter and Jamón Serrano shard. $39

We only got one side - butter roasted Swiss brown mushrooms, with thyme and garlic chips.  Juicy and tasty!

Butter roasted swiss brown mushrooms, thyme & garlic chips. $7

We got one dessert to share - this item isn't on the on-line menu, so I can't be entirely sure if my caption is exactly accurate - but it was a disc of sweet mousse, studded with tiny pieces of fresh truffle.  On top of that was a quenelle of vanilla sago, some crunchy macadamias and a cruncy triangular tuille.  I'm not entirely convinced it worked as a dessert though, as I found the truffle taste in the dessert very overpowering.

White chocolate and truffle marquise - vanilla sago, caramelized macadamias, strawberry paint, fresh truffle. $18

Around the back of the marquise was a thin shaving of fresh black truffle.  Fascinating, as I'd never actually seen fresh black truffle before. I picked it up and couldn't stop smelling it - there were so many aromas in there - garlic, leather, mushroom and a zillion more I couldn't identify.

Even though we didn't order any coffee or tea, we got some complimentary petits fours - yay!  The round truffles were chocolate-mints, and the biscuits were mini-shortbreads drizzled with chocolate.  Just quietly, I liked these better than the truffle-infused dessert.

Complimentary petits fours

On our final morning in Launceston, we returned for breakfast.  Stillwater have a good breakfast menu with a very strong focus on local produce - savoury french toast, vanilla poached fruits, muesli and a range of hot breakfasts.

Coffee was blindingly hot, but once it had cooled down to a drinkable temperature it was rich and satisfying.

One tea, one latte

Sandra had a decadent breakfast of pancakes with apple and cinnamon syrup and lemon mascarpone.  I had one mouthful - delicious! - but it was extremely rich, and she only managed to eat one of the pancakes.

Pancakes, apple & cinnamon syrup and lemon mascarpone. $15

I was a little more restrained, and had a very simple breakfast of toast, butter and jam.  I must admit that the main reason I ordered this was because I wanted to try Ashgrove butter!  We'd visited the Ashgrove cheese factory the day before, and I desperately wanted to try their creams, milks and butters, but they didn't do samples of them, and I couldn't really buy any of those things to bring home.

Toast & jam toasted ciabatta, Ashgrove butter & house made jam. $7

The butter was very pale, almost like a whipped butter.  Combined with the crusty ciabatta and chunky house-made berry jam, it was a fabulous little breakfast!




To help me discover Tasmania, Tourism Tasmania generously provided return flights and car hire for the trip.  However, I selected all accommodation, tourist destinations and restaurants personally and visited as a paying customer.

Stillwater
Ricthie's Mill
2 Bridge Rd
Launceston, TAS 7250
(03) 6331-4153
Website

Down by the banks of the Tamar River, at the mouth of the Cataract Gorge in Launceston, is a lovely little restaurant called Stillwater.  They're actually the sister restaurant of the Black Cow Bistro (Stillwater was there first!), and do slightly cheffier food in a rustic setting.  They do breakfast, lunch and dinner, and we actually visited twice during our 3 days in Launceston - once for dinner, and again for breakfast!

Upon walking in, we felt that the restaurant was quite a bit more formal than Black Cow, with very polite waitstaff calling you "ma'am" and so on.  Interestingly, customers tended to dress quite casually - lots of hoodies and jeans.

Crusty bread roll... included in the price! Hehe.

Butter and salt

Here is my entrée - black lipped abalone with pickled cucumber. I'd never ordered abalone myself before, mainly because I don't like the idea of eating non-sustainable seafood.  But I asked our waiter, and this abalone was farmed off the east coast of Tassie, near Hobart.  Overall I found the dish a little sour, but the abalone itself was fresh and cooked perfectly.

East Coast black lipped abalone - pickled cucumber, yellow rock sugar, iceberg lettuce and wakame crostoli. $32

Sandra had a cheese soufflé to start.  It was quite rich, so it was good that it came with a nice refreshing salad.  Incidentally, all the different farms and stockists mentioned on the menu (Heidi Farms, 41° South, Yorktown Organics etc.), would probably be interesting places to visit for a daytrip.

Heidi Farm Gruyere soufflé - chive sabayon, candied walnut and pear salad. $18

I was in the mood for lamb, and absolutely loved my main course!  A rare lamb rack, sliced into individual chops, and prettily arranged on top of small salad leaves, sweet and tender carrots, and smoky baba ghanoush.  If we hadn't been in a public I would have picked up each of the little bones and gnawed the last bits of the meat off.  Delicious!

Rack of Clover Country lamb - 41° South ginseng spiced, baba ghanoush, glazed baby carrots and preserved lemon yoghurt. $39

Sandra's main was something I think many Melbourne foodies would love - eye fillet with whipped jamón serrano butter and a crispy jamón serrano shard.  It had a great mix of sweet (baby beets) and salty (jamon), but Sandra said it the smokiness of the jamón became a bit overpowering.

Eye fillet of grass-fed Greenham Tasmania natural beef - textures of Yorktown Organics beets, whipped Jamón Serrano butter and Jamón Serrano shard. $39

We only got one side - butter roasted Swiss brown mushrooms, with thyme and garlic chips.  Juicy and tasty!

Butter roasted swiss brown mushrooms, thyme & garlic chips. $7

We got one dessert to share - this item isn't on the on-line menu, so I can't be entirely sure if my caption is exactly accurate - but it was a disc of sweet mousse, studded with tiny pieces of fresh truffle.  On top of that was a quenelle of vanilla sago, some crunchy macadamias and a cruncy triangular tuille.  I'm not entirely convinced it worked as a dessert though, as I found the truffle taste in the dessert very overpowering.

White chocolate and truffle marquise - vanilla sago, caramelized macadamias, strawberry paint, fresh truffle. $18

Around the back of the marquise was a thin shaving of fresh black truffle.  Fascinating, as I'd never actually seen fresh black truffle before. I picked it up and couldn't stop smelling it - there were so many aromas in there - garlic, leather, mushroom and a zillion more I couldn't identify.

Even though we didn't order any coffee or tea, we got some complimentary petits fours - yay!  The round truffles were chocolate-mints, and the biscuits were mini-shortbreads drizzled with chocolate.  Just quietly, I liked these better than the truffle-infused dessert.

Complimentary petits fours

On our final morning in Launceston, we returned for breakfast.  Stillwater have a good breakfast menu with a very strong focus on local produce - savoury french toast, vanilla poached fruits, muesli and a range of hot breakfasts.

Coffee was blindingly hot, but once it had cooled down to a drinkable temperature it was rich and satisfying.

One tea, one latte

Sandra had a decadent breakfast of pancakes with apple and cinnamon syrup and lemon mascarpone.  I had one mouthful - delicious! - but it was extremely rich, and she only managed to eat one of the pancakes.

Pancakes, apple & cinnamon syrup and lemon mascarpone. $15

I was a little more restrained, and had a very simple breakfast of toast, butter and jam.  I must admit that the main reason I ordered this was because I wanted to try Ashgrove butter!  We'd visited the Ashgrove cheese factory the day before, and I desperately wanted to try their creams, milks and butters, but they didn't do samples of them, and I couldn't really buy any of those things to bring home.

Toast & jam toasted ciabatta, Ashgrove butter & house made jam. $7

The butter was very pale, almost like a whipped butter.  Combined with the crusty ciabatta and chunky house-made berry jam, it was a fabulous little breakfast!




To help me discover Tasmania, Tourism Tasmania generously provided return flights and car hire for the trip.  However, I selected all accommodation, tourist destinations and restaurants personally and visited as a paying customer.