HOBART HAPPENINGS Hello Spectra @digitalhippie67
THUMBS UP Check out the new Sushi Sandy Bay (near Woolies), serving beautiful sushi rolled to order. Toilet paper hoarding has had a silver lining, Who Gives A Crap has just donated $5.85 million (50% of their profits) to charity partners working on water, sanitation and hygiene projects. Holy shit! In light of the Victorian Labor branch stacking scandal and the upcoming Major Projects Bill hitting parliament, it’s time to review the rules on reporting donations to political parties. We currently have the least transparent rules in the country. Got a sniffle? Get a covid test. There are new tests out now with skinnier probes, so don’t let sticking a little stick up your nose stop you from playing your part. We can’t go to Mona, but we love Spectra each Saturday night.
PANDEMIC OPENINGS During lockdown 1.0, sign ups to Ashley Madison, one of the world’s biggest married dating sites soared to 17,000 new members worldwide a day. Albury topped the homegrown list for the most activity and Hobart came in at a respectable #17.
THUMBS DOWN
Your partner signing up to Ashley Madison during lockdown... Does the Northern Tasmanian prison need to be around a small village when a city could absorb it easier without too much fuss? And to make it even harder for the government, the new site gets environmentalists in a flap too.
Imagine you’d been slogging it to open a new business, then a pandemic hits. Do you troop on or quit it? Hats off to those who have opened businesses in the past few months. In early July, Hobart Crowne Plaza rolled out the red carpet for hotel and restaurant guests, and Replay Bar, a retro video game arcade, got busy serving drinks in their bar in Elizabeth Mall (above Off Ya Tree!). The much-awaited Crescent Hotel is now open just off the North Hobart strip, with a refreshed downstairs bar and upstairs dining room featuring a modern pub menu and solid drinks list with local wines, beers and spirits. Dana Eating House, a concept by Hobart brothers Dan and Ollie Lancaster, is set to open on Murray Street early August. “We want to implement a charitable model alongside our regular trading. There’s room in our industry to do more. As a business we’ll endeavour to work alongside charitable groups to create a dining experience that enables our customers to do a little more than the ordinary,” the guys shared with us. Cygnet is also heating up with the recent opening of The Port Hole Cafe in late July in the location that once was Lotus Eaters and the Red Velvet Lounge changing hands.
Six and the City. Six feet apart does not make for an easy dating life. People on the run after arriving from interstate, dodging quarantine. You’re covidiots. See ya Falls Festival. 12
Dana Eating House co-head chef Sam Cooper.
