Ball and Chain (Hobart) 10/2010

This no frills restaurant has an air of American efficiency about it.

A member of staff with a clip board takes your name and puts you on his list to await a table. There are no reservations for small parties. It not for want of tables, there are stacks of them on two levels and up stairs as well. It’s that the chefs can not cope! Décor is simple and unobtrusive. One painting was particularly appropriate.
 
Jarrah, who happened to be my nephews son, provided us with exceptional service and took this snap of us.

 The main feature of the menu is the grill. They offer porterhouse, scotch fillet rump and eye fillet in three sizes 180, 300 or 500 gm which translates as large, very large and gigantic. These are cooked as you wish from genuinely warm blue, rare, medium rare and so on and come with roast potato, a range of sauces e.g. pepper, garlic, Hollandaise and more and a free salad bar.
There are plenty of other choices on the menu including whole ocean trout, trevalla, chicken and other meats.

We started with the Ball and Chain tasting plate for an entrée. This handsome serve contained a good variety of Tasmanian produce including prosciutto, liver paté, a beetroot and nut paté, marinated octopus tentacles, marinated fish, sun dried tomato, olives, capers, a very good choice.
It would be unfair to go to a grill bar that specializes in steak and eat fish or fowl so we had no hesitation in ordering a couple of medium steaks. My fillet was excellent, cooked as requested, with roast potato
while Sandra had a porterhouse blue and it really was, with a Hollandaise sauce and chips as a special request.
 
We ended the meal with an extremely rich chocolate pudding.

 Score: 13.75/20