A bottler of a day!

The wonderful thing about this time of year in this part of Southern Tassie is the amazing amount of fruit available. Right now I am preserving nectarines, peaches, apricots & cherries. I’ll also be making raspberry & blackberry jams to complement the vanilla apricot jam & strawberry & rosewater jams we have already made. Look out for the fruit cordials & preserved lemons we’ll have available soon. Later in the year we’ll have Passata available from out own tomato plants.

Karen picked up some ace apricots just this side of Huonville, half of which I preserved, the rest went into jam. This might go well in our yeasty jam doughnuts that we serve on the weekends but I am holding out for the raspberries personally!

Like sentinels they stand, Leatherwood preserved Franklin nectarines & vanilla preserved Sorrell Apricots

We made use of the Fowlers Vacola method to the letter!


These little beauties are made from Cygnet Strawberries & rosewater how more local can you get!?

Vanilla apricots & yes I will pack them tighter next time!

Come on down & taste our region in a bottle!
Cheers Steve & the team

Cygnet Folk Festival 2009

Wow what a festival!
Three days & nights when Cygnet bulges tenfold with people & we go from being busy into hyper-drive! The whole town is energized & without sounding too ‘New Agey’, is full of good will & positive energy.
We were swamped from the get-go by waves of excited festival customers from the first encouraging waves on Friday morning building to the tidal mass of Saturday & Sunday finally the lapping at our feet by Monday morning.
To our staff Nigel, Jenna, Michelle, Kaye, Steph, Sally, Ben, Kate, Imke, Ben T, Kira, Leah, Joe, Tasha, Cate, Dave & Emma, thank you for your smiles & all your hard work.

Old School chips!

Yes in an age where most cafes cut the top of a bag of generic chips before dumping them into the fryer, we dont.
In fact we get our Tasmanian Pink Eyes from Malcolm Dance in Middleton. We wash them, chip them & blanch them in low temp oil befor frying them to a golden crispness for each order.
Aren't all chips from potatoes you ask might ask reasonably? Well, yes they are of course,
but how many places can actually lay claim to coming from the area they are served in, yet alone go to the apparent trouble of actually making them?

We at The Red Velvet Lounge would like to put this question to any other cafe not only in Tasmania but Australia as well!

On another note, soon we will be doing very special dinners on Friday & Saturday evenings. By this we mean really local & unique foods to this area, food that you cant get anywhere else!

Yep, Friday & Saturdays evenings at the RVL will soon be real special!

see you soon

Cheers Steve & the team

RVL news

Thanks Rita for the prompt. Here are some updates from the RVL.

We will be closed on Christmas & Boxing days only.
We are not open on New Years eve for dinner but its business as usual during the day.
We are part of the exciting Green Tea project for 2009
We have just re-stocked our huge wholefoods section
Our wood fired oven is nearly ready for baking, we are after some really dry wood!

Wishing everyone a safe & happy festive season

Cheers, Steve & the team

New menu launched today!

Healthy kids grazing plate 7.90
Soup of the day with our own sourdough bread 8.90
‘Old school’ chips with jalapeno & tomato salsa(vege)(gf) 6.90
RVL dips plate with grilled flatbread(vege)(can be gf) 10.90
Mezze plate with dolmades, olives, fetta, dips, cured meats & flatbread(can be gf) 14.90
RVL wraps served eat in with three salads eat in 12.90
· boks bacon, tomato, iceberg & mayo

· tongola goats curd, roasted red capsicum & pesto(veg)

· malay curried pumpkin, red lentil & coconut(vegan)
or take away 8.90
A slice of warm tart of the day with three salads(vege) 16.90
Pasta with Spanish sausage, roasted peppers, chilli, tomato, parmesan & fresh parsley 17.90
Tongola goats curd piccatta with crushed nuts & fattoush salad(vege) 16.90
Salad with tuna, white beans, fresh herbs, tomato & celery (gf) 14.90
Pot pie of the day with mash, relish & three salads 17.90
Earnest bean tofu fritter with asian slaw & chilli caramel(vegan) 16.90
Salmon fish fingers with native pepper aioli, old school chips & cucumber-mint salad 18.90
Pot roasted nicholls chicken with artichokes, olives & tomato (gf) 18.90
Open steak sandwich with rocket, tomato, parmesan, dijonnaise & old school chips 18.90
Slow roasted greek styled lamb with horiatiki, tzatziki & pide 18.90

A Sunday in the life of The Red Velvet Lounge

As always, the day starts with one of many coffees. Its easy to be inspired by this view over the paddocks to the vales & hills beyond. The day feels like it will be a busy one, its in the air. The town is swollen with cars & early risers already knocking on the door for coffee & brekkie. Crowds are here for the organic herb festival. The sun has already got a sting in it & its only 7.30am & there's no breeze so you can feel the heat building.

Inside the ovens are all heating up ready for the first waves of breads to go in. Overnight they have been patiently proving & the bakery is full with the heady smells of fermentation.

we try to get everything out early so when we open there a good selection of stuff to temp you. From pastries, old school eclairs & doughnuts on the weekends & to the ever changing cake display

The breads available on the weekends are: light rye(mainly in Vienna style but often in loaf tins) Fruit bread, wholemeal & multigrain. All are sourdoughs. On weekdays we limit the bread to sourdough light rye only.

We like to jam as much into the display as possible!

Midway through lunch the place is heaving, there were people everywhere! Hope we see you back another time.

Steve & the team

Current day menu

Oh. we'll be changing this very shortly!

Healthy kids grazing plate $6.90
Soup of the day with sourdough $8.00
Potato cakes with smoked paprika mayo (vege) $6.90
Grilled Velvet tortilla wraps: Eat in with three salads $11.90 or T/a $8.00
Spinach, fetta, dill & pine nut(vege)
Chicken, spicy mayo, tomato & rocket
Hummus, cous cous, tomato & salsa(vegan)
Warm quiche of fetta & baby spinach with three salads (vege) $14.90
RVL dips plate with grilled flatbread or corn chips (gf) (vege) $9.50
House cured gravad lax with potato salad(gf) $12.90
House made gnocchi with blue cheese, cream & toasted nuts (vege) $14.90
Salmon cakes with spinach salad & roasted garlic aioli $15.90 Chicken scaloppine with mash & salsa verde(gf) $17.90
Beef & red wine pot-pie with mash & peas $16.90
Beef Kofta with cous cous, labna & Harissa $15.90
Char sui Earnest Bean Tofu with steamed rice & wok tossed Asian greens (vegan)(gf) $14.90
Vegetable curry of the day w/soused cucumber & rice (vegan) (gf) $14.90