South Hobart Food Store

much more at The Food Store

Food

Service

Atmosphere

The Food Store. I like that name; unpretentious and unassuming, it reminds me of weevil infested sacks of flour and salted beef and a band of convicts sneaking into rum supplies while a guard stands by daydreaming and oblivious . With a name like The Food Store, the south Hobart café doesn’t send your expectations skyward before you’ve even glanced at the menu. All it promises is food, and food it does provide, although there is more involved than flour and water damper of course. 

Perusal of the breakfast menu takes time and a calm controlled demeanour. It’s easy to get anxious during this process as one is forced to encounter various mind-bending dilemmas (Berry bircher museli or the French toast? Scrambled eggs with mushrooms or roasted tomato?) The stakes are high here because the choice is vast and varied, with each dish promising some kind of culinary delight. After much debate, discussion and deliberation I lock in my order with the expectant waitress: fruit toast. Fruit toast? You say, chucking back your head and laughing in disbelief, Boring! Well my friend, the fruit toast you know isn’t the same as the fruit toast I know. You are accustomed to phoney fruit toast: play dough lumps implanted with tiny withered raisins masquerading as fruit toast. Fruit toast in which the fruit is clearly absent; where the fleeting taste of a single raisin buried within mouthfuls of bread is enough excitement to bring about a fever and heart palpitations. I’m happy to say that fruit is actually present in the Food Store fruit toast, and it is there in abundance. Raisins, sultanas, dried apricot are all contained within every chunky toast slice, as well as nuts and spices and other exotic and tasty things. Yum. The fruit toast was exactly that: fruit + toast. They say what they mean at the Food Store. I like that. 
And so you can imagine my fascination when I noticed 'Chocolate Cake Smoothie' listed on the drinks menu...