Savour Tasmania’s culinary heritage with our list of the island’s best new restaurants
The island’s dining scene goes from strength to strength with the addition of these outstanding new eateries, as featured in The Australian Weekend Magazine Hot 50 Restaurants issue.
Tasmania has become a must-visit destination for food enthusiasts, with a burgeoning restaurant scene that showcases the island’s rich culinary heritage and innovative spirit.
The Australian Weekend Magazine has canvassed four of the island’s best new dining spots for its annual Hot 50 Restaurants issue.
Chefs are crafting extraordinary dishes that reflect both local produce and global influences. At the heart of this culinary renaissance is Six Russell Bistro in Sandy Bay, where a creative potato menu takes centre stage. Oirthir in Bream Creek offers a delightful fusion of Scottish and French cuisine, set against stunning coastal views.
Tolpuddle Vineyard provides a sophisticated wine and dining experience, while Scholé in Hobart focuses on building community and striving for sustainability.
Each of these venue celebrates the best of what Tasmania has to offer.
Top Tasmania Restaurants
Six Russell Bistro, Sandy Bay, Hobart
Two words: potato menu. Hobart’s Six Russell Bistro, headed by Kobi Ruzicka, owner of Dier Makr and Lucinda, has an entire section of its menu dedicated to pommes de terre, a fitting move for a state that produces such delicious potatoes. If spuds aren’t your thing, there’s also a beef tartare jazzed up with onion rings, a veal holstein (a fancy veal schnitzel with a fried egg and anchovies) and a silken Chartreuse ice cream. All of this is subject to change, as Ruzicka and his team make the most of whatever seasonal produce they can get their hands on in this welcoming neighbourhood restaurant.
Oirthir, Bream Creek
The former Van Bone site at Bream Creek on Tasmania’s east coast has new owners and a new direction. Oirthir (it’s pronounced “or-heer”) blends the Scottish heritage of chef/owners Jillian McInnes and Bob Piechniczek with their Michelin-starred French experience and the coastal produce of Tasmania. What’s created is a restaurant of charm and harmony. Open for lunch and supper from Friday to Monday, typical dishes include local lamb with haggis, and the warming Scottish dessert cranachan, made with oats and whisky. What hasn’t changed are the views: each window is filled with a montage of watercolour hills and pastel fields.
Tolpuddle Vineyard, Coal River Valley
Don’t come expecting a full restaurant. Instead, Tolpuddle Vineyard’s share-plate menu amounts to an elegant light lunch – all matched to the high-end chardonnay and pinot noir diners can sample as part of the vineyard’s wine flight experience. Tongola Curdy Goats Curd, from the milk of Swiss Toggenburg does in Huon, sets off the chardonnay, as do Tasmanian scallops baked in lemon and butter. Tête de Moine cheese is twirled with a girolle and a Huon Me crumpet comes with Calvisius white sturgeon caviar. There’s mushroom and artichoke pâté, plus a duck and prune terrine. Finish off with Kenyak chocolates from Hobart. And take home some wine for later.
Scholé, Hobart
Chef and restaurateur Luke Burgess (Garagistes) has opened one of the nation’s most intriguing new venues – a 10-seat diner in an erstwhile confectionery shop. Called Scholé, which means “leisure” but also comes from the same Greek root as “scholar”, the venues expresses Burgess’s desire to move beyond simply being a place to eat and drink, but to celebrate community, social responsibility and the purpose of every day. The architecturally designed space is flexible and welcoming: for most of the week the 10 diners sit at a communal table where they are served dishes such as fröknäcke, a kind of Swedish cracker with albacore tuna and local espelette pepper, or grilled rice cakes topped with a green spring onion sauce. But on Tuesdays, the space transforms into a tachinomi – or standing bar – for drinks and snacks. All of it is grounded in the principles of sustainability, both for the land and for the people who visit and work within its walls.
View the Hot 50 FULL LIST here.
To discover the best new restaurants in NSW click here
To discover the best new restaurants in Queensland click here
To discover the best new restaurants in Victoria click here
To discover the best new restaurants in South Australia click here
To discover the best new restaurants in Western Australia click here
Australia’s Hot 50 Restaurants has been compiled for The Australian Weekend Magazine by Elizabeth Meryment, with additional submissions from Alexandra Carlton, Lara Picone, Nick Ryan and Max Brearly.
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