Marque IV

Marque IV comes very close to being very, very good indeed. We ate some truly accomplished food here and my husband's pork loin was an absolute paean to perfectly cooked, moist meat. Yet somehow this Hobart venue doesn't quite carry it off.

Partly this is due to Hobart's own strange, ghost town tendency of dining early and getting home before 9pm. When we arrived the restaurant was very quiet but there were about 4 tables being served. By the time we had finished our meal at about 8:45pm the place was deserted and one of the waitresses was stacking chairs. I've been the last person in a restaurant before but usually we're talking around midnight after a long and thoroughly enjoyable evening. If you came by Marque IV after 9pm on a Thursday night in winter I can guarantee you'd find it closed. Call me picky but having a waitress stack chairs didn't make me feel like lingering over coffee.

Which brings me to the question of petit fours. Marque IV asserts itself as a fine dining restaurant, and certainly what we ate from the á la carte menu would support this assertion. Yet what fine dining restaurant worth the name would serve tea and coffee at the end of a meal and not offer some sort of petit fours? I was longing for a macadamia shortbread but a stale after dinner mint would have done the job. You are paying serious money to eat at a place like Marque IV and it is the little extras, like an amuse bouche (also lacking) and petit fours that help make the whole experience memorable.

But to the positives. This is a menu I could quite happily drool over and there were at least three items in each part of it that I would happily have tried. As I was so close to the sea and had tried some excellent local Bruny Island oysters the day before I decided to have three as my entrée: one natural, one with limoncello and chilli (which didn't work in my opinion but wins points for innovation) and a quite wonderful warm oyster coarsely crumbed and topped with some astringent pickled fennel, anchovy and chive. My partner ate an excellent caramelised onion and Gruyère twice baked soufflé sitting on a bed of creamed leek and spinach.

For our mains I was won over quite simply by the name of a local fish: the Striped Trumpeter. This was a fish I had never tried, and was described as being meaty and firm. I decided to try it while I could but was a little disappointed. The fish was almost flake like and was too meaty for my taste. It was well cooked but I had food envy when my husband's slow roasted Cuckoo Valley pork belly, pear and apple pickle, seared fillet and pumpkin, feta and almond tortellini arrived. This was the dish which included the sublimely moist fillet which was a revelation in and of itself. The actual pork belly was good but had no significant crackling and the tortellini added nothing in terms of flavour to the dish. We ordered mash as a side dish and it was absolutely excellent when it arrived but it was also slow to get to our table - which was bizarre as there were more chefs than diners in the restaurant by the time our mains were served.

Undaunted by the fast emptying tables we decided to have dessert. I chose the Banoffee tartlet, praline gelato, chocolate and crème de cacao sauce and must compliment Marque IV's pastry chef as the pastry shell for my tart was short crust perfection. My layer of caramel and perfectly ripe banana was then topped witht he most sublimely perfect Italian meringue and the chocolate sauce and praline gelato were both excellent as well. Full marks.

My husband ordered the intriguing Degustación de chocolate which consisted of three mini chocolate based experiences: a Cream Catalana and white chocolate mousse, powdered orange and fruits; a Spiced dark chocolate espeso con churros and a Callebaut Noir fondante, dulce de leche, almond cracker, muscatel ice cream. Although neither of us much like white chocolate normally the mousse was the winner in this dessert - the vanilla and blood orange contrasting superbly with the smooth white chocolate flavour. The churros were fresh baked and the most delicious I had ever tasted. However the spiced dark chocolate accompaniment was too heavily chilli flavoured for our taste. The fondant was covered in the most magical fairy floss which tasted just as we remembered from childhood visits to the show. The cracker was enormous and provided a good play between textures with the icecream and the smooth fondant itself.

There is some serious talent in the Marque IV kitchen. Some of what we ate here was absolutely inspired and moments such as my dessert and the pork loin were nothing short of magical. If only the restaurant can add the few final touches, and fill a few more tables then this restaurant would stand on a par with many of Australia's top fine dining restaurants. In the meantime however as we drank our coffee - without petit fours - while they stacked chairs behind us the whole experience left us feeling a little flat.