Revived Port Cygnet Cannery restaurant keeps dishing up good reasons to journey south
A popular southern Tasmanian farm-to-plate restaurant is now offering new menus and extended hours to join its long farm lunches on weekends. See why this eatery is always worth the drive >>
TasWeekend
Don't miss out on the headlines from TasWeekend. Followed categories will be added to My News.
I NEVER really need an excuse to take a drive through the Huon Valley, so an overseas visitor plus a glorious 27C day was more than enough reason to head south and check out the new hours, and casual menu, at the Port Cygnet Cannery.
Blue skies and cherry orchards that will soon be bearing fruit greeted us as we wound our way through the rolling hills and, after a short shopping stop at Cuckoo, in Cygnet, we arrived in time for lunch.
The Cannery space is always impressive, with its central pizza oven, soaring ceilings and rough brick walls, and my friend was fascinated by the history of the region.
But on to the food! After a bushwalk that morning, we were both hungry and I ordered with alacrity.
Rosemary and smoked sea salt focaccia ($4) was a no-brainer, as was the stracciatella cheese with green garlic ($10) (rather confusingly, stracciatella is also a flavour of gelato – with shards of dark chocolate – as well as a Roman soup with eggs beaten into it).
This creamy, freshly made cheese, which originates from Puglia in Italy’s south, is a cousin of burrata and its name means “rags” as it is stretched and has a somewhat shaggy appearance. Served drizzled with green garlic oil (don’t harvest your garlic yet if you want fully formed bulbs), we scooped it on to chunks of the salty focaccia. A little messy and a lot delicious.
The cotechino terrine is a variation on a traditional Italian sausage – a slice was sauteed and served with a dollop of smooth apple sauce. It’s full of flavour and is made in-house, as is just about everything else using produce from the Cannery’s sister farm at Gardner’s Bay, just 3km away. Paper-thin slices of fennel-spiked salami ($9) are a wonderful example of charcuterie done well. “We get a new pig in about once a month,” says head chef Rick Dyson.
“And after we break it down into traditional cuts of meat, chops, bacon etc, then we use the trimmings and fat for sausages and charcuterie. It usually takes a couple of hours to prepare and season the fillings – then five to six weeks of curing before we can serve it as a part of our farm lunches. We really try to use a nose-to-tail approach – it’s a great way to honour the animals we butcher and make the absolute most of what is available.”
The Cannery has recently extended its hours and is now open for casual lunch and dinner three days a week in addition to its long farm lunches ($95) on the weekends.
The cavatelli puttanesca ($26) is a generous serve of handmade pasta. Cavatelli is an eggless pasta made with semolina that is popular in the south and here it’s paired with a classic puttanesca sauce with its punchy flavours of olives, tomato, capers, anchovies and a kick of chilli. Fresh oregano provides a top note and the pasta is pleasingly dense and chewy. Our other main is pizza topped with a bright green sauce and freshly plucked kale. The crust is pleasingly blistered and Dante, the pizza oven imported from Naples, has done a great job.
Not surprisingly given the restaurant’s close relationship with the farm, the menu is ever-changing. “Even though we are constantly working with our team at Gardners Bay, we never quite know what is going to arrive for the week,” says Dyson.
“Brainstorming and collaborating to make the most of what is ripe and ready that week is definitely one of my favourite things about the dynamic at the Cannery. You can really taste the difference in super-fresh produce and, with our farm only 3km away, I want to make the most of that! It is an honour to really know the process from seed to harvest to plate.”
Our pretty-in-pink dessert is a delicate scoop of subtly flavoured strawberry ice cream with housemade honeycomb and milk crumbs. It’s rich and creamy without being overly sweet and is an appropriate finish to our hyper-local lunch.
Weekend lunches are a set menu designed to showcase the farm’s bounty. “People who come in to dine over the summer really do get the absolute best of what we have to offer,” says Dyson with enthusiasm. “There is an abundance of amazing produce, and this is the time where it all shines. The flavours, the colours and we really want people to come in and experience that.”
Set your course for the south this summer!
PORT CYGNET CANNERY
60 Lymington Rd, Cygnet
Opening hours: Wed- Fri 11am - 9pm, Sat-Sun 11am - 5pm
On the menu
Rosemary focaccia, $4; stracciatella cheese with green garlic, $10; cotechino terrine with burnt apple sauce, $8; cavatelli puttanesca, $26; spring brassica pizza, $22; strawberry ice cream, $12.
Wharf eatery is perfect spot to lap up some Greek Isle vibes
After a balmy night at this Hobart eatery transported me to Greece – I was thrilled to hear that when new chef Paul Foreman originally worked here it was a Greek restaurant, says Alix Davis.
Tassie couples share secrets to success
Could you work with your partner? In honour of the month of love, we chat to four Tassie couples, who live and work together, about the highs and lows and their secrets for relationship success