World class chefs: Dark Mofo winter banquet is a feast to satisfy all appetites
Winter Feast is in full flight – but don’t spend too long pulling on your beanie and puffy jacket (or fishnet top with nipple pasties), it finishes tonight, writes Alix Davis >
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Towering rusted pyramids burp flames, firecrackers whistle randomly overhead and huge firepits welcome chilly revellers into their circle of warmth and light. Yes, it’s Dark Mofo and the Winter Feast is in full flight – but don’t spend too long pulling on your beanie and puffy jacket (or fishnet top with nipple pasties), it finishes this weekend.
While there are more than 85 stallholders offering Tasmanian food and libations, this year’s star billing goes to Slovenian chef Ana Ros, who brought a team from her Michelin-starred restaurant, Hisa Franko, to work with Rodney Dunn and Stephen Peak, of the Agrarian Kitchen, in creating a unique dining experience.
Their purpose-built outdoor restaurant – a long, low-slung shelter designed by Soda Projects – allows patrons to sit around the perimeter, observing the chefs at work in the centre. Dunn is in charge of an enormous spit that rotates four lambs – marinated with fermented leeks – over a bed of charcoal, while Ros oversees the careful plating of the dishes that are delivered directly to you – no lining up here. I recommend ordering the entire menu – four dishes for $65 – split it between two and you’ll have room to try offerings from other stallholders; as a meal for one, it will be more than satisfying.
The slow-cooked lamb comes with tender-chewy rye and a salsa of green tomatoes, and is a wonderful melange of textures and flavours that pair Slovenian influences with premium Tasmanian produce. A petit delicata squash half has been chargrilled then filled with a sophisticated spin on gremolata – using lemon miso – to create a very more-ish dressing. Fire has also been used to good effect in the radicchio salad – chargrilled stems and leaves sit atop a tangy and creamy blue cheese dressing studded with candied walnuts, thin slices of apple and jewel-like cubes of plum. In fact, these two dishes are so good, we order them twice.
Dessert is a sultana-and-walnut dumpling drizzled with butter and cinnamon that harks to winters in Slovenia’s Soca Valley, where Hisa Franko is situated.
Pair your meal with a glass ($14) or bottle ($60) of small-batch wine from Future Perfect or a beer ($10) from New Norfolk’s Eleventh Order.
Of course, there is plenty more on offer with many stallholders creating Winter Feast-only dishes to entice diners. On a second visit, I can’t resist Full Metal Kitchen, by the Mona culinary team. True to its ethos of sustainability, it’s serving up wild pork (from NSW as, thankfully, we don’t have feral pigs in Tasmania) and feral venison – which is currently undergoing a year-long trial to make it commercially available. Both dishes ($26 each) are perfect winter fare, hearty offerings rich with beans and grains. We pair those with a nasi goreng ($22) that’s cooked in huge paella pans and comes with a fiery sambal that’s not for the faint of heart.
Pizzas showered with freshly shaved truffle ($35) from Deloraine’s The Truffle Farm are a popular item and it’s worth the wait for a cheese pizza generously covered with these dark and earthy delights. I feel a truffle is very on-brand for Dark Mofo with its dark hue and mysterious aroma.
Nearby, at Pizzirani, they’re cranking out freshly made pasta topped with umami butter and enoki pangratto, and I can’t wait to try a bolognese spring roll with smoked cheddar and jalapeno salsa.
You won’t go thirsty at the Feast with wineries including Hughes and Hughes, Small Island Wines and Quiet Mutiny (a good opportunity to taste Young Gun Greer Carland’s wares as she doesn’t have a cellar door) and distilleries such as Killara Distillery (one of the world’s only female-led distilleries) and Taylor & Smith. For something even more niche, try a digestif or cocktail from Osare (one of Tasmania’s smallest producers) or dance with the green fairy after a nip from Local Absinthe.
Finish up (for now, the night is still young at this time of year) with something sweet. We enjoyed a square of traditional Persian soufra ($18) from Soufra. This delicate dessert is layered and crinkled filo pastry baked then topped with a sweet custard and baked again. It’s served with Van Diemens Land Creamery ice cream and we eat it standing up at the back of the vast wharf building that’s lit by the glow of thousands of candles and hundreds of red crosses.
Then it’s back outside to find a band at one of the many stages or grab a seat by a firepit with a glass of something strong and Tasmanian to tell winter’s tales long into the night. Congratulations to director Amanda Vallis and her team for pulling together a feast that satisfies so many appetites. See you there tonight!
WINTER FEAST
Princes Wharf No. 1, Salamanca
Opening hours: Saturday-Sunday, June 17 and 18, 4pm-late
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