The Black Footed Pig is a ray of Spanish sunshine in Tassie winter

An evening at The Black Footed Pig is a delicious reminder of travel through the Spanish countryside, with Tasmanian and Australian produce creating dishes influenced by Moorish and Mediterranean flavours.

THE BLACK FOOTED PIG

18 Hunter St, Hobart Wednesday-Thursday, tapas from 4.30pm and dinner from 6pm Friday-Saturday, lunch noon-2pm, dinner from 6pm, tapas from noon

In the Before Times, when overseas travel was a reality not just a fond memory or a future dream, my husband and I travelled to Spain. As we cycled through the hills (such large hills) and towns of Andalusia we feasted on plump olives and plates of tapas that magically appeared every time we ordered a drink. It was heaven, and an evening at The Black Footed Pig is a delicious reminder of an incredible trip. Sure, I’m not baking in the late summer sun but I’ll take what I can get!

Roasted pumpkin with pickled walnuts. Picture: Eddie Safarik

We begin with three plates of tapas between the two of us – the selection is broad without being overwhelming and, before our plates arrive, we enjoy a housemade sourdough roll served with olive oil and a red wine reduction for dipping. The reduction is boldly flavoured and makes a tasty change from balsamic vinegar.

As the dining room rapidly fills – they’re usually booked out 10 days in advance – we make a start on roasted pumpkin with pickled walnuts and goats curd ($11), served crostini-style on a slice of sourdough. The subtle vinegar bite of the pickled walnuts contrasts nicely with the slightly sweet and creamy pumpkin.

Salt-roasted beetroot ($15) with grapes and ajo blanco is next. Ajo blanco is a popular Spanish soup of bread and almonds. Here it’s been reimagined as a thick and lightly textured sauce that perfectly complements the tender roasted beetroot and the slightly tart pop of red grapes.

Beef and pork meatballs. Picture: Eddie Safarik

“We love exploring the Moorish influences in Spanish food,” says Bethany De Silva, who with her partner Aaron Windsor has owned the restaurant since 2017 and moved it to its new location on Hunter St under MACq 01 Hotel in April. Think spices like cinnamon and saffron along with fruits and nuts served with meats and fish. The many centuries of Moorish reign left an indelible mark on Spanish cuisine and their influence is evident in the pork and beef meatballs ($19) with fruit, nuts and chocolate. These well-sauced balls come topped with pine nuts, and the chocolate is just a hint of an aftertaste.

“We want to use Tasmanian and Australian produce to create Spanish dishes influenced by Moorish and Mediterranean flavours,” Bethany says.

Salt-roasted beetroot. Picture: Eddie Safarik

While all the dishes we eat are full-flavoured and well-balanced, there are subtleties in each one – like the delicate touch of saffron that’s picked up by my finely tuned dining companion in the beans that accompany our main course duck. All the dishes here are designed to share, which is fortunate as I would have been taking food from her plate if it wasn’t.

Our duck maryland ($32) is fall-off-the-bone tender and sits atop a bed of white beans flavoured with orange and the aforementioned saffron, two flavours that are ubiquitous in Spanish and North African cuisine.

Duck maryland with beans. Picture: Eddie Safarik

The other main is a slow-cooked Meander Valley pork cheek ($34) with Pedro Ximinez reduction and a celeriac and apple gratin. It’s rich without being overwhelming and the syrupy sauce is just begging to be mopped up by a serve of duck fat patatas bravas ($13) (aka Spanish hot chips). Other tempting menu items include Tasmanian wild-caught octopus with corn migas ($33) and a paella Valencianca ($38) with chicken and artichokes.

The wine list, like the menu, is a mix of Tasmanian and Spanish influences across wines, spirits and aperitifs – bringing back memories of drinking vermouth in Barcelona.

The Black Footed Pig has re-opened at a new venue within the MACq 01 complex in Hobart. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

While many of us discovered a love of sourdough during 2020, burnt Basque cheesecake was also finding its way into the ovens, hearts and Instagram feeds of home cooks around the world. This crustless cheesecake is baked until, as the name suggests, it’s top is dark and caramelised.

Created by chef Santiago Rivera in 1990 for the La Vina restaurant in the foodie hotspot of San Sebastian, the cheesecake is rich and creamy with a slightly softer centre and firmer edges. Spanish-Australian chef Frank Camorra of MoVida helped popularise it when he added it to his menu in 2009, and the Black Footed Pig’s version is an outstanding example of this much-loved dessert.

It’s a fitting end to a meal that has been a ray of Spanish summer sunshine in a cold Hobart winter’s evening.

ON THE MENU

Roast pumpkin montadito, $11; salt-roasted beetroot with ajo blanco, $15; Pork and beef albondigas, $19; Duck maryland with grilled leek and fabada, $32; Meander Valley pork cheek with apple and celeriac, $34; Burnt Basque cheesecake, $16.

Port Cygnet Cannery fires up again

PORT CYGNET CANNERY

60 Lymington Rd, Port Cygnet. Opening hours – Thursday: Takeaway pizza from 4.30pm; Friday: Pizza night from 5.30pm; Saturday: Farm lunch from 12.30pm; Sunday: Sunday roast from 12.30pm. Check website for other events

A Friday pizza night could be a sad stack of cardboard boxes full of lukewarm pizza and a Netflix binge, but in the hands of the Port Cygnet Cannery it’s a memorable evening of outstanding food, service and atmosphere.

The fixed-price menu ($45) begins with an entree of pickled vegetables (radishes, carrots, green beans and more) from their sister farm at Gardners Bay and is served with a velvety cashew cream topped with vibrant basil oil.

Port Cygnet Cannery's Franca Zingler is creating food that celebrates place. Picture: Damien Milan

It’s simple but effective as the table collectively sighs with delight at their first mouthful.

There are six pizzas to choose from and between us, we manage to try four of them including the Peggy (pork sausage from the farm with tomato and smoked mozzarella), the Sally (salami, olives and pickled chilli) and the Terry featuring Spring Bay mussels with potato and sour cream.

“Some people have said there are not enough toppings,” says creative director Franca Zingler, “but when your ingredients are this good, you don’t have to overload it.”

The pizzas – a thin sourdough base with a puffy crust, “the kind of pizza we like to eat,” says Zingler, are baked in a wood-fired pizza oven imported from Naples and nicknamed Dante. It sits proudly at one end of the open kitchen and, on cold nights, the table near the oven is the place to be.

A selection of Cannery’s Friday night pizzas. Pictures: Franca Zingler

A chunky garden salad for the table accompanies the pizzas, which are pleasing blistered around the crust and in my opinion contain the perfect amount of truly excellent toppings.

Housed in a former apple cannery on the banks of Catos Bay in Cygnet that has been beautifully transformed into a restaurant and event space, the Cannery team, headed by creative director Franca Zingler and chef Lachlan Colwill is creating food that truly celebrates place. The Saturday lunch (now rescheduled from dinnertime to enable people to drive home in daylight) is a nine-course festival ($95) of vegetables expertly prepared by Colwill, who has a history with outstanding regional restaurants. The menu changes depending on what’s ready to harvest at the farm and Colwill works closely with the farmers so they can “plan ahead together. It’s beautiful to see,” says Zingler. She and her partners were inspired by Denmark’s Farm of Ideas, established by chef Christian F. Puglisi, to establish a farm and restaurant that run together. “Initially we had to buy from local farmers, but last year was very productive, which is great. It’s a closed loop – anything that’s left over goes back to the farm for compost.”

The Farm Lunch experience at the Port Cygnet Cannery. Picture: Franca Zingler

The night we dined, the menu included a dish of beetroot that had been cooked and then thinly sliced and served with ponzu and sesame oil, to be eaten with chopsticks. The presentation was exceptional as were the flavours. A rogan josh pie was warming, rich and eaten with relish by even the most enthusiastic carnivores in our party. “Lachlan tweaks and changes the dishes so much,” says Zingler who made some changes to the Cannery as a result of Covid. “That gave us time to reassess – it had really been a flurry since we opened.”

Now, rather than an a la carte restaurant, the Cannery offers pizza on Thursday and Friday nights – a family-friendly affair that can include a game or two of table tennis. Saturdays are a more refined option with the nine-course degustation menu for those who are interested in pushing the boundaries and the Sunday lunch ($65) is a more relaxed event featuring roast pork (from the Gardners Bay farm of course) as well as exquisite dishes using local seafood and other produce.

Desserts at the Farm Lunch at the Port Cygnet Cannery. Picture: Franca Zingler

Desserts are no afterthought either – at pizza night I was impressed by a beautifully presented bowl of caramelised white chocolate ganache, topped with Jerusalem artichoke ice cream (don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it) and apple sorbet. This is, without doubt, one of the best things I’ve eaten all year.

The Saturday event’s finishing touches were just as impressive – a chocolate-dipped rhubarb popsicle, quince with white chocolate yoghurt and a delicate sandwich of thin wafers sandwiching a cloudlike marshmallow.

Pork from Gardners Bay Farm at a Sunday Lunch at the Port Cygnet Cannery. Picture: Franca Zingler

Arrive at the Port Cygnet Cannery without expectations and leave with a new appreciation for what can be achieved when exceptional ingredients are prepared by an expert.

ON THE MENU

Gardners Bae pizza featuring seasonal farm vegetables (part of the fixed-price Pizza Night menu, $45); Beetroot, ponzu, parsley (part of the fixed-price Saturday Farm Lunch, menu, $95); Wood oven roast pork with mushroom XO rice and bitter greens (part of the fixed-price Sunday Lunch menu, $65). Note these dishes are not sold individually.