The Source: Hobart’s epicentre of cool

The Source, at Hobart’s Mona modern art museum, has finally loosened its style to reflect its avant garde setting.

The crisp-shelled octopus tentacles in a gently piquant XO sauce made with prosciutto.

Even to someone lucky enough to have visited Tasmania many, many times, and Mona/Moorilla on several occasions too, the sheer momentum of the site in 2017 — still — is mightily impressive.

On a balmy Thursday afternoon, the place is truly Hobart’s epicentre of cool as people stroll the sculpture park gardens, drink the house-made beer (Moo) at outdoor tables, snack at the Mona Wine Bar or wade through founder David Walsh’s ever-surprising museum.

If you’re a bit fancy, hungry, or both, you’re maybe heading for The Source. Mona is the Museum of Old and New Art, as you probably know, and like the pieces on display, The Source, too, is both old(ish) and new.

It’s been around a while, but there’s a new groove, largely ­attributable to the exit of chef Philippe Leban and the arrival of his successor, Vince Trim.

The Pitch: A proper, quality restaurant that’s in synch with the vibe of Walsh’s progressive artistic bent. That wasn’t always the case. In fact, past visits suggested a disconnect between the slightly starchy atmosphere in this elegant glass box dining room and the challenging ethos of the ­museum’s curation. That shouldn’t suggest it’s gone bistro. Far from it. This is an expensive place to eat, but the Trim era seems to have ushered in a new, looser, less prescriptive restaurant style that has personality and fun stamped all over it.

The reality: Restaurants attached to tourist destinations get the most mixed of crowds. Some are serious food-and-wine buffs, which isn’t surprising here: the food is excellent, ambitious but sensible, and the wine list extraordinary — by Australian standards, not Tasmanian. But some wander in in shorts and baseball caps they never take off, and leave after realising the starter they just ate cost $26.

The cuisine: Contemporary food with multiple influences that showcases local produce without making a song and dance about it.

Highlights: Pretty good waitstaff is just the start. While the wine prices are quite commercial, the ­selection is vast, informed and while Tassie-proud but not parochial. And you’d be silly to pass up warm oysters with kombu butter and crisp, diced bacon; ­unless of course you don’t eat pork. The crisp-shelled octopus tentacles are superb, too; firm and gnarly in a gently piquant XO sauce made with prosciutto ­(instead of Yunan ham). And the Flinders Island wallaby tartare, bound with a little yolk on a kind of tapioca crisp flavoured with ­(Tassie) seaweed. This is like the quintessential modern Aussie ­bistro dish: beautiful, veal-like meat, rough-cut macadamia, ­garlic chive, garlic chips, salted breadcrumbs, saltbush, wattle seed and mountain pepper for seasoning. It’s a “wow”. The desserts are fairly wonderful too.

Lowlights: Discovering the $54 price of a Curley Flat chardonnay is for a half bottle. And the Sambonet cutlery, sorry, flatwear, is an ­ergonomic nightmare to anyone with hands bigger than a child’s.

Will I need a food dictionary? You’ll be expected to know that Shima is a brand of wasabi grown in northern Tasmania, but apart from that, this is a menu written for customers, not other chefs.

The damage: Big city sophistication comes with big city prices.

In summary: Old and new, like the museum. And just as good.

The Source
Address: Ether Building, Mona, Berriedale, Tasmania | Contact: [phone], mona.net.au | Hours: lunch Wed-Mon; dinner Fri, Sat | Score: 4.5 out of 5