Acclaimed chef Luke Burgess to settle in Hobart for new food venture

Acclaimed Tasmanian chef Luke Burgess will settle in Hobart permanently next year and has a new venture in the works. What he has planned. >>

Lauren Byrne from Felds Farm, Luke Burgess, Todd La Marr and Nadia Danti at falafel pop-up in South Hobart. Picture: Caroline Tan

In news to delight Tasmanian food-lovers, acclaimed chef Luke Burgess will open a permanent shop in the Hobart CBD early next year.

The Liverpool Street shop will serve as an extension of his falafel pop-up store, which has been operating on a Sunday for the past three weeks.

The falafels were made entirely with local seasonal produce from Felds Farm – a one-acre organic farm in North Lilydale.

A champion of using local produce, Mr Burgess said the collaboration was about “producing quality takeaway food”.

“It’s very uncommon to make a single item like falafel with produce all from the one farm,” he said.

“What’s good about working with small growers in Hobart in particular is that the farms are only 20 or 30 minutes away, so we can bring the farm to the city very easily.

“We can actually control the way things are grown, in what context, and the extent they are grown to as well.”

Luke Burgess at falafel pop-up in South Hobart. Picture: Caroline Tan

The idea for the project came about five years ago after a one-day pop-up at In The Hanging Garden.

“It just felt fun,” Mr Burgess said.

“And it encourages you to spend time out on the farms and focus on what is best about the relationship with the grower.”

Mr Burgess, best known in Hobart for co-founding restaurant, Garagistes, said the customer expectation for quality produce had grown over the past 10 years.

“A lot of people are moving down and making a life here and they’re bringing standards from overseas and Sydney and Melbourne,” he said.

“They want to come back because they have great access to good vegetable and other products, and they’ve made it part of their way of life.”

Felds Farm co-owner Lauren Byrne said the project reflected a uniquely Tasmanian approach to food and produce.

“Tasmanians in general are much more connected to their food source then perhaps in the mainland,” she said.

“Tasmanians have a favourite type of potato, or someone in the family who loves to go fishing or gardening, and I think that comes through in the cooking you see in restaurants and markets.”

A former chef, Ms Byrne said over her eight years of farming she had learnt that “the best tasting produce comes from working “with not against your environment”.

“Harvesting with care and when vegetables are at their optimum is really important to us,” she said.