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Red Velvet Lounge
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Restaurant
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Tasmania country
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Open:
Breakfast and lunch daily, dinner Fri - Sat
Price:
Moderate
Score (/20):
14.5
Reviewed By
Sue Dyson And Roger McShane
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Phone Number:
+61 3 6295 0466
Address:
24 Mary St, Cygnet
Cygnet, Tasmania, 7112
Country:
Australia
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Red Velvet Lounge is firmly established as a leading regional restaurant in Tasmania under the owner-chef Steve Cumper. Steve's passion for local produce combined with his technical skills in the kitchen place this venue on the must visit list.Expect dishes such as a warming soup made from chickpeas and lentils, house-cured gravadlax with potato salad or beef and red wine pot-pie with mash and peas or grilled lamb fillets with ratatouille and parmesan.The restaurant is also open on Friday and Saturday evenings where the menu reflects the seasons and the availability of local produce.And it was on a chilly Friday night that we ventured to the Red Velvet Lounge for an evening meal and a pleasant and enjoyable meal it was.The dishes we ordered for entrée were a 'wild greens' and Ashgrove Fetta spanikopita with yoghurt sauce along with a dish of Tongola goat curd tortellini with sage, pumpkin and nut brown butter. The spanikopita was a triangle sitting on a broad, white plate with a tiny salad to one side and the yoghurt sauce arrayed on the other. Slashes of olive oil finished the dish. This was a pleasant dish with a little crunch from the pastry that delivered on its promise. The wild greens were mainly domesticated varieties of greens that were growing wild in the garden and the Fetta was from Ashgrove from just outside Elizabeth Town in the state's north. In the second dish, three tortellini were filled with the scrumptious, local Tongola goats curd. The tortellini had cubes of pumpkin tumbled over them. The butter sauce was rich and tasty and helped integrate the disparate flavours.Main courses were wet roasted lamb with roasted almond couscous, labna and harissa and a Pork cotoletta with Parmesan mash, lemon and salsa verde. The pork was breaded beautifully and the mash was OK. The salsa verde sat in a dish on the side and was fine and fresh. A wedge of lemon was available to add flavour and interest. The lamb was deeply flavoured and commented by everyone at the table as a great dish.Chocolate and stout mousse with drunken sultanas and double cream was a very rich dessert with an incredibly light touch. We liked it. Warm Lucaston Park quince with vanilla custard and lemon pound cake was also a beautiful dessert with a panoply of flavours and textures.We were impressed and even excited about the meal so we decided to return to try the breakfast/brunch menu. The food we were served was very impressive. A dish of poached winter fruits with vanilla yoghurt was one of the best breakfast dishes we have had this year. The flavour of the local organic rhubarb was outstanding and a pear was perfectly poached and was cleverly matched to vanilla yoghurt served in a small side plate. This dish was accompanied by some excellent apple bread. A dish of lovely black pudding served with a cake of corned beef mash and a slice of bacon was also very good. Matched with a well-made short black coffee we were very impressed with the experience. We left very contented.Even though the restaurant is quite large it is a good idea to book on weekends as it gets very busy here.And it is worth noting that you can buy loaves of their very good bread here.
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