As a mainlander it pains me to say this, but Tasmania has the best produce of anywhere in the country - from beef to squid to veggies to wallaby. Throw in its wild and windswept scenery, a world-class wine and whisky scene and a host of fabulous festivals and it’s a state that punches well above its weight. Here’s where to eat when you’re visiting the capital of the Apple Isle.
South Australia might come out swinging when I say this, but I stand by my certainty that no state has better produce than Tasmania. Because of that blessing, the island’s best restaurants tend to have the most mercurial menus: changing endlessly, and only using fruit, vegetables and seafood that are in season that very moment. But nowhere - nowhere - does it as faithfully or beautifully as Rodney Dunn and his team at The Agrarian Kitchen. Your meal here begins with a selection of snacks inside the on-site greenhouse (you could be eating fresh lettuce right next to a hothouse banana tree, for example) before continuing inside the convivial, canteen-style dining room, where the best of the property’s vast garden will be amplified using the kitchen’s homemade pickles, kojis, kimchis and other ferments.
The idea of tucking a tiny omakase restaurant into the back of a Lexus showroom feels so very deeply, charmingly Tasmanian. The fact that every small sliver of fish and vegetable at at Omotenashi (a Japanese word that describes the act of nourishing and nurturing guests) has been sourced and prepared by co-chefs Lachlan Colwill and Sophie Pope with deep commitment and care, feels even more so. It’s not easy to snag a seat - there are only 10 - but this gentle and quietly noble restaurant is so special that I’d recommend making the booking first, and worry about flights second.
The Aloft team have recently opened a Mediterranean-style restaurant immediately below their original venue at Brooke Street Pier (Restaurant Maria), but the original will always hold my heart. The premise is simple: a multi-course chef’s menu of excellent Tassie produce, lifted beyond the basics with a magician’s hatful of clever tricks. Sticky, tender lamb ribs are braised in a masterstock and served with a locally-picked nasturtium dressing, while their signature wallaby tartare makes use of one of the island state’s most delicious resources. The view out over the Derwent River looks like a soft-washed watercolour, especially in the early evening.
They don’t make them like Me Wah any more. This iconic Cantonese restaurant is almost equally famed for its faithful and high-quality take on traditional dishes - Peking duck, har gau, braised chicken feet - as their impeccable service. Weekend yum cha (do not let the prawn toasts or mango pancakes trundle by on their trolley without flagging them down) is one the most convivial ways to while away a Hobart weekend.
You’ll need a little luck to grab a seat at this walk-ins only vinyl, wine and snacks bar but if at first you don’t succeed, give it a minute or two, circle back and try again. Beautiful wines, lovingly selected are the focus at Sonny - an ever changing selection of small-producer, low intervention drops from around the globe. But the tunes - spun through a set of Hobart-built Pitt & Giblin speakers - are also a big part of the draw. A bowl of fusilli, a splash of methode traditionelle bubbles and a little Charlie Parker? That’s a recipe for a good time.
Charming Euro bistro Fico has long been one of Hobart’s ‘you have to go here’ restaurants for both locals and visitors. Now, it’s spawned a sparkling little sibling, Pitzi. The focus here is pasta but there are plenty of very good reasons to order entirely from the top half of the menu if that’s where you’re at. Pull up a stool at one of the speckled terrazzo countertops and explore the snacks: a few slices of fennel salami with quail eggs and pickles, maybe, or an oblong of crisp pork belly seasoned with porchetta spice.
Like most - scratch that, all - Australians, Tasmanians take their coffee seriously. Born In Brunswick, a blonde-wooded, sunshine-bright cafe in North Hobart flies the coffee nerd flag perhaps higher than most. You can select from a constantly-rotating range of single origin or blended beans, for the most fragrant of cups. The breakfasts are more decadent than delicate: extravagant pancakes piled with lemon curd and praline, generous blankets of smashed avo on sourdough and bronzed and crunchy corn fritters.
It feels a little like a tiny, cozy farm barn at Sunbear. The tables and chairs are sturdy and wooden, the tableware is all warm shades of cocoa and mustard and there are vases of backyard flowers clumped on every surface. The food is simple and nourishing: fresh juices, well-stuffed salad sandwiches, the toastiest of toasties and perfectly turned omelettes made from local chook eggs.
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