View 42º Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Tasmania

Good buffet-restaurant with first row sunset harbour view

S42°9.132' E145°19.857' With Bushman’s Bar & Café closed not paying the rent and drinking too much, the pub grub of Hamer’s Hotel was the only refuge option on the Esplanade. With every tourist present inside and outside and no appetite for hamburgers with fried chips, in February of 2020 we involuntarily climbed the stairs to the Strahan Village hilltop hotel and its restaurant View 42°. Inside, this large buffet-restaurant gives the impression of a dining hall. A bit too cramped for many people travelling between the buffet and their tables, but the beautiful view of the harbour at sunset compensates for this.

Although our natural inclination is to avoid buffets, the View 42° buffet was a pleasant surprise, featuring well-prepared Tasmanian produce including plenty of fresh seafood such as salmon, trout and squid. Beef stew was also good. We noticed that the buffet was supplemented with freshly cooked products until the last guest left. Impressed by the quality of the food and no desire to queue at Hamer’s Hotel, we booked a table with sunset view for the next day. The food next day did not disappoint us either. Beautiful oysters.

We met employees from Sweden, Hongkong and Jamaica. Almost a cruise boat crew. They took good care of the guest. Very thoughtful.

The buffet costs $60 per person. This price corresponds with the variety and quality of the buffet....

$75 dollars for a spectacular harbour view and comprehensive buffet. Perfect end to a busy day exploring Strahan.

I suggest booking in advance as we were not able to get a spot as a walk in on our first night.

Highlights: 42⁰ Ceasar was incredible with perfectly poached eggs and whole brown anchovies, just remember to add your own parmesan and croutons as you see fit. endless oysters were fresh and delicious, could have been improved by a choice or two of garnish for them but personally I was happy with natural. the incredible sun drenched dining room looks over the water. If you get a window seat and it's too hot you can also ask the staff to lower the shutters. soup of the day was a beautiful delicate pumpkin soup I ate a small bowl as an entree before attacking the buffet.

Staff were friendly and cleared our table quickly as we went over to get more food each time. Service was good and the staff explained the chefs specials and the menu.

Drinks list and cocktails were good. I had two of the Spreyton Ginger Beers over a full glass of ice which I found perfect for that style of afternoon sun drenched dining. You wouldn't want to order a heavy wine or beer.

Lowlight: not much to say in the negative but on the day we went the prawns must have been overcooked or something because they were difficult to peel and quite tough and dry to eat. Required a lot of chewing and the usage of lots of sauce...

This restaurant opens at 6pm and closes at 8.30, we had a booking for 7.00 (just after the finish time for the local play that has been running for over 30 years) and we arrived at 7.10pm. At $75 perhead plus wine (ave price approx $70), we did not expect some of the signature dishes including the whole ocean trout to be completely gone, there was pitiful pickings for the smoke salmon, the oysters had been off the ice clearly for over an hour, and the cheese board looked as though it had been through a hoard of starving cheese freaks.

Meat and vegetable dishes had been on the bain-marie's for well over an hour.

The desserts seemed fine.

To add insult to injury major cleanup was occurring from 8.00pm utilising pungent cleaning sprays with replacement cutlery being set with the use of large industrial size containers clanging around the restaurant.

This is a restaurant perched on a hill with great views however all the lights were on as bright as possible so the only thing you could see is the reflection of yourself and the somewhat depleted food selection.

My strong suggestion is spend your money at one of the other establishements in town, don't be fooled that there are only 3, a short walk/drive reveals additional choices.

A fabulous day finished on a low due to a really poor dining experience. The owners, NRMA...