Ethos Eat Drink is chef Iain Todd’s latest creation, in terms of both the style of food and the sensitive and thoughtful transformation of what were originally 1820 pub stables into modern dining spaces of relaxed ambience and unusual elegance.
While fronted by the Ash Chemist and Druggist from 1830 to 2000, the buildings now comprising Ethos had lain dormant for around 100 years since the carriageway access to Elizabeth Street had been blocked off. Hundreds of chemist bottles recovered during the renovation have now been cleverly recycled as chandeliers, sugar and milk jugs, Hobart’s first plumbed toilet is now a display feature as are a hand-sawn 1820s weatherboard wall and a unique internal section of cobblestone flooring. The arched carriageway now leads from the street to a paved, alfresco courtyard space, banquettes line one internal wall, there’s a large communal table for casual coffee and a read of the paper while the upstairs has been converted to a small private dining cum fully-equipped conference room. Only one new wall was erected during the renovation, sectioning off the kitchen.
Previously at Piccalilly in Battery Point, Todd introduced Hobart to the multi-course assiette or small-plate style of dining. Here he’s gone one logical step further and broken new culinary ground with tapas-style dishes grouped in menus each with five or six options priced at $3, $10, $15 and $20, most of the dishes, very much in the modern way, designed to be shared. Endlessly flexible, you can pop in for a heart starter and palate pick-me-up anytime from morning ‘till late or, as one recent group did, snack their way through the $3 dishes as they explored the wine list or alternatively do as we did in meandering our way through the variously priced options as our appetite and inclination took us.
The individual menu items change regularly and there are always plenty of vegetarian options. But the stand-outs on our visit were the pincho of smoked cherry tomatoes and Ortiz anchovies; a seductive, silkily textured duck liver parfait presented in a tall lidded jar; a generous bowl of toasted almonds with chilli salt which we kept nibbling throughout the meal; tender, chunky pork hock croquettes; braised ox tongue with skordalia; a grilled tail of flathead with juicy, snow-white flesh; and a beautifully tender and charred hanger steak with grilled lime.
Service is attentive, informed and friendly and the wine list too is a good one, small, but with an approachable and interesting spread of varieties and prices without any superfluous decoration or show-off wines.
In much the same way, the menus are mercifully free of such preachy, self-congratulatory terms as organic, diver-caught, line-caught, iki-jimi, artisan, sustainable and so on. One is simply left to draw confidence from the respect and authenticity shown in their restoration and recycling work that similar ethical considerations and professional attention to detail inform everything else about the operation. The food and wine are there to be enjoyed, not to have the kitchen’s principles or ideology rammed down your throat.
I like the quiet confidence such an attitude shows both in what they’re about and in their clientele. I like that, and I like Ethos, a lot.
