Derwent Valley’s Agrarian Kitchen Eatery set to reopen for takeaways before the end of May

A Tasmanian restaurant lauded by national and international food publications is planning to throw open its doors to customers again after closing several weeks ago due to the coronavirus crisis.

ONE of Tasmania’s most acclaimed restaurants will throw open its doors to customers before the end of the month after several weeks of closure.

The Agrarian Kitchen co-owner Rodney Dunn said the popular Derwent Valley eatery and cooking school had been closed during COVID-19 restrictions, but would reopen for takeaways on the weekends by the end of May.

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“It will be something people can come get and take it to wherever, depending on restrictions, maybe down to the river,” he said.

“Then we’ll look at opening for dine-in when it opens up to 20 people at a time, and we’ll be doing a set course menu.”

Agrarian Kitchen co-owner Rodney Dunn at New Norfolk. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

Mr Dunn said the restrictions on diners made operating not financially viable, save for the Federal Government’s JobKeeper payments.

“JobKeeper takes some of the cost out of it, so while that’s in place it could be financially viable, but it’s depending on the bookings we get and how popular the takeaway is,” he said.

“Remaining stagnant too long means you’re out of practice so I feel like it allows us to develop our offering for the future while having that safety net of the JobKeeper.

“Once we’re at full capacity again at least all the staff will still be in practice.”

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Agrarian Kitchen Eatery. Picture: ADAM GIBSON

Mr Dunn said the team had also begun to think about the future of the popular cooking school.

“We’ll do it obviously with all the required safety measures in place, but we’ll be looking at what it mean in terms of numbers in the space we’ve got,” he said.

“I feel like the offering at the cooking school should only be more popular given what we’ve been through.

“We’ll also be looking at doing gardening classes given what’s been going on and people’s desire to re-engage with their gardens.”

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Delicious magazine released its inaugural list of the top 15 restaurants in the country last October, with The Agrarian Kitchen Eatery coming in at number 9.

World famous British chef Nigella Lawson popped into the restaurant in 2018 during a visit to Tasmania, and in the same year, the renowned eatery was named in the New York Times top 52 places to visit in the world.