International foodies raving about Restaurant Australia gala in Tasmania

TASMANIAN food and wine is receiving global praise as a result of the Restaurant Australia gala dinner.

Guests for the Restaurant Australia dinner arriving at the the GASP for drinks picture guest lining up to sample the Baked crayfish

TASMANIAN food and wine is receiving global praise as some of the most-read news sites report on the Restaurant Australia gala dinner held in Hobart recently.

A story published by the American Wall Street Journalwas one of the top five most viewed items on its website.

Invite The World to Dinner, staged largely at MONA, was part of Tourism Australia’s $40 million campaign to convince international visitors that the country is one of the world’s best eating destinations.

Publications such as The Guardian, The Times of India and Bombay Times, as well as French, Asian and Italian websites have written about the event that hosted about 100 of the world’s most influential foodies, including Heston Blumenthal and Indian celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor.

Social media also played a dominant role in putting Tasmania in the spotlight with the hashtag #restaurantaustralia trending on Twitter during the event on November 14.

“The world’s food elite gathered in Tasmania last week for one of the most lavish meals in Australia’s history,” Adam Liaw wrote for the Wall Street Journal.

“Instead of being seated under a canopy of stars next to Uluru in Australia’s red-desert centre or floating above the Great Barrier Reef surrounded by sea and sun, the guests found themselves dressing for dinner in Hobart, one of the country’s least-visited capitals. They could hardly have missed the message. This is the Australia few foreigners ever see.”

The article continued with rave reviews of Tasmanian lobster roasted with kombu butter and “world-beating Tasmanian whiskys”.

Wine critic James Halliday rated the lobster “sensational”.

At the Italian websiteIdentità Golose, Paolo Marchi wrote: “The choice of Tasmania was perfect and also a little of a paradox because even Aussies themselves have always defined it as Australia’s best kept secret, and for this very reason something that needs to be unveiled with care.”

This week Tasmania was also listed by Billionaires Australia website as one of the best destinations to travel to in 2015 because of it “boasting some of the most beautiful, unspoilt scenery in the world, amazing food and wine, and friendly locals”.