Cycles at The Empire — Restaurant in Tasmania

Whilst searching for somewhere to have breakfast on a Sunday morning in Deloraine, with most cafes closed and looking for something more substantial than was offered at the local bakeries we discovered Cycles @ The Empire. This cafe is located on the ground floor of the historical (c.1900s) two storey hotel on the town's main street, Emu Bay Road (not far from the bridge over the Meander River).

Being a Sunday morning there was plenty of on-street parking in front of the hotel. We were not certain what to expect but it was relatively well patronised which was promising. We manged to score a free table near one of the windows looking out, so plenty of light on a cool morning.

I went with the pesto eggs and broccolini - it was so fresh, vibrant and absolutely scrumptious - made my taste buds sing, certainly not what I was expecting. My wife found her meal equally as delicious - no sharing this time around.

Given that we were just passing through Deloraine, we didn't get a chance to try an evening meal, maybe next time. I can thoroughly recommend their breakfasts - kudos to...

We stayed at the Deloraine Hotel just around the corner, they had run out of the crispy skin Tasmanian salmon at their pub that night and that’s what we felt like at the time. With disappointment we walked across to the Empire to see what they had on offer. To our pleasant surprise, the pub was buzzing with a lovely crowd- turns out they had a Celtic music gig on! Fun and lively, however, they were booked out. The staff were kind and accomodating, I asked if we could wait since we were t starving yet, they let us know it would be hopefully a 30 mins wait, with people going upstairs to the gig soon. We went for a walk and came back. Glad to say it was the best meal in Deloraine!!! We had the special duck Maryland, cos lettuce salad and tuna entree. Everything was cooked to perfection and very generous portion. Fresh produce and homey flavours!! We finished off with their sticky date pudding and it was to die for. Soft and moist, with pistachio praline, vanilla bean ice cream and butter Scotch sauce. Yummy! We would...

Poor food and rude wait staff. The male waiter who I spoke to about my salad (which seemed to have gone off) was the rudest wait staff I have ever encountered. The waiter was patronising and curt towards me, speaking over me. I came away from the conversation shocked at the way I had been spoken to. He told me that "brown avocado tastes the same as green avocado" and suggested that it was my personal taste that was the issue rather than the dish. The salad was well below the standard I had expected for $22. It was a shame that the food was poor but it is the behaviour of this particular waiter that has led me to write this...