The Gourmet Runner had done some serious research before our trip to Tasmania. She was determined to eat well, and we did, even while we were bushwalking. I’ll give you a report on that later though. Let’s start in the pretty town of Launceston with a fine breakfast at Tant Pour Tant. This patisserie specialises in cakes, breads and pastries, but they have a small cafe as well. The space inside looked tiny, so the three of us chose a table outside. It was a quiet street, so outdoor dining was quite pleasant. On the sunny side of the road it would have been perfect in winter. We were really grateful for the shade of the umbrella in summer though.
The waiter checked for me that my choice was gluten free, which is always reassuring. I had the poached eggs on truffled polenta with parmesan. The eggs were nicely runny inside and the polenta was very creamy. I wasn’t a fan of the sauce though. Hollondaise is a bit mayonnaisy for me.
The Gourmet Runner decided on the house baked beans with chorizo served on a slice of sourdough.
Miss Enthusiasm had the best breakfast of all. A beautiful blini smothered in berry compote and mascarpone. She and the Gourmet Runner have a good arrangement where they always swap plates halfway through a meal. Both of them liked the blini best. My sweet tooth was very jealous and I had to buy a bag of perfectly ripe apricots up the road as a consolation prize.
In preparation for the next day the girls also bought a selection of pastries for breakfast and an olive sourdough for lunch. They were quite impressed with these. At the end of the trip, when I was ranking our meals out, the girls said Tant Pour Tant was their favourite. I’ll keep you in suspense about my favourite until a later post.
I looked up the meaning of Tant Pour Tant. It seems to be a culinary term referring to a one to one mixture of icing sugar and almond meal. An appropriate name for a decadent patisserie.
Ratings (out of 5 snorts)
| Price | 3 snorts |
| Taste | 4 snorts |
| Service | 4 snorts |
| Atmosphere | 3 snorts |
Tant Pour Tant
226 Charles Street
Launceston
Tasmania
Reminder about Books for Love
Arfi’s Books for Love auctions have started, so have a look and see if you’d like to bid on something. This is a charity auction to raise money for Indonesian kids with cancer.
Y
29 January 2009
Mmmm.. Haven’t heard of this place before but I could certainly go for any of those dishes any morning of the week! Oh, and I use the tant pour tant ratio for macarons
Lorraine @NotQuiteNigella
30 January 2009
Interesting learning about the name. I was wondering what it meant
You don’t do the plate swap thing at all? I always do because I like to try as many things as possible.
Miss Honey
30 January 2009
That blini looks fabulous to me:D I always find it hard to decide between savoury and sweet breakies, so usually try and rig a share situation with someone lol.
arfi
1 February 2009
those poached eggs look so inviting. pity i have to delete them on my diet… sigh.
Arwen
2 February 2009
Hi Y – I haven’t tried making macarons before. The ones you made for Christie looked gorgeous.
Hi Lorraine – I’ve don’t usually do a plate swap, just have a taste. It’s a real let down if yours isn’t as good as theirs though!
Hi Miss Honey – I was jealous of the blini too!
Hi Arfi – it’s so sad to be restricted. You definitely have to make sure you enjoy what you are allowed.