Call it the “Mona effect”. Every year, some 330,000 visitors are drawn to Tasmania by the Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) in Hobart, the state’s capital. And this cultured crowd comes hungry. The result is a steady evolution: Tasmania is emerging as a world-class culinary destination.
“Expectations have really risen,” says chef Christian Ryan. “We’ve always been known for our high-quality Tasmanian produce, but now, we’re becoming known for our restaurants, too – this tiny island at the bottom of the world.”
In urbane Hobart, the diversity of Tasmanian dining venues is a particular strength, Ryan says. “Hobart has amazing Japanese food, amazing French food – even Scottish food. And sure, we’re all using goat’s cheese, we’re all cooking wallaby, but in completely different ways.”
Restaurants in Hobart
The home of global dining
Credit: Fiona Vail
Ryan co-owns Aloft and Maria , neighbouring restaurants on Brooke Street Pier. Both share harbour views and a produce-led approach but sit worlds apart gastronomically. At the moody, minimalist Aloft, Chinese and Thai flavours pepper a nine-course tasting menu – wallaby tartare lifted by Sichuan pepper and raw scallop doused in nam jim jaew, a sweet and sour dipping sauce. At Maria, meanwhile, peach-and-cream interiors meet Aegean-inspired dishes such as chargrilled octopus with taramasalata and Campari-spiked kingfish.
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Credit: Jon Gazzignato
Just up the hill in North Hobart, a restaurant renaissance is taking place in the back lanes off Elizabeth Street, the neighbourhood’s main thoroughfare. Newcomer Smith Street , a walk-in-only spot, sits on the corner of Smith and Argyle, with a roaring wood-fired oven and sleek Tasmanian oak bar. Expect hibachi-grilled skewers, frosty beers and craft cocktails.
Three streets away, Trophy Room began as a doughnut stall before graduating to a café, then a fully-fledged restaurant. The kitchen is open, and the mains are made to share – a wood-fired pork chop with peach chutney, perhaps, or ricotta ravioli in shiitake butter. Crullers – deep-fried, doughnut-like pastries – remain a standout signature, served with a rotating selection of soft-serve flavours.
Restaurants in Launceston
River-to-table cooking
While Hobart is Tasmania’s modern culinary capital, the northern city of Launceston has long been its food bowl. The River Tamar – or Kanamaluka – sustained the Palawa (Tasmanian Aboriginal) people for about 40,000 years, yielding vegetation, waterfowl, fish and shellfish that supported their hunter-gatherer way of life.
In a modern expression of that abundance, the Harvest Market gathers the region’s best producers together in an inner-city car park each Saturday morning. Elgaar Farm brings organic milk, yoghurt, cream and Bavarian-style cheeses – also found at Hobart’s Farm Gate Market on Sundays – while Wild Pepper Isle specialises in native spices and West-Bee Honey produces honey made from the blossoms of the endemic Leatherwood tree.
On the banks of Kanamaluka, Stillwater occupies an 1830s flour mill. Now 25 years after opening, the award-winning restaurant continues to pair Tasmanian ingredients – wild venison, spring lamb and blacklip abalone – with Mediterranean and pan-Asian influences, plus a wine list that spotlights local vignerons. Co-owner and sommelier James Welsh notes that while the region is known for sparkling wine, Riesling is the sleeper hit. “Due to the soil’s natural acidity, it produces wines of great ageing potential,” he says, citing local wineries Haddow & Dineen and Two Tonne Wines . The latter was founded by Ricky Evans, also behind Havilah , a wine bar near Launceston’s Princes Square that offers tastings by appointment.
Restaurants in Bicheno
Coastal cuisine
The Midland Highway is the most convenient link between Hobart and Launceston, but the Great Eastern Drive rewards those with more time. This route runs along the east coast of Tasmania through Bicheno, famed for its southern rock lobster, or crayfish. Lobster Shack is a bustling fish and chip shop with a wraparound deck and ocean views, while wine bar Le Gulch hosts monthly sunset barbecues starring catch hauled in by fisherman Miles Franklin, the bar’s co-owner.
“They’re definitely large format,” Franklin’s business partner, Shelley Bickerstaff, says of the 4kg-plus crays, which are “served natural, just with lemon, and we encourage people to crack open the claws”.
Tasmania’s maritime climate also favours whisky production, and you’ll find one of the island’s most picturesque distilleries in Bicheno. Waubs Harbour Whisky , set in a former oyster hatchery, provides whisky distillery tours of its ocean-powered stills and open-air bond store, ending with a guided whisky tasting of new and rare drams. The perfect pitstop for those who prefer their souvenirs bottled rather than boxed.
Five Hobart restaurants to add to your hitlist
1. Scholé
Luke Burgess’s first restaurant, Garagistes, shaped Hobart’s culinary identity. A decade later, he’s back with a 10-seat wine bar .
2. Doux, Doux, Doux
Shanghai emigré Alex Liu puts a pan-Asian spin on European-style pastries . Her black sesame custard choux buns are filled to order for maximum freshness.
3. Ranita Ramen
This nine-seat ramen bar , which offers just two soups and a seasonal rice bowl, boasts a cult following.
4. Lucinda
There’s no glass list at this natural wine bar – instead, waiters offer samples from open bottles. The snacks are top-notch, too.
5. The Tasmanian Inn
At this produce-driven pub , which also offers guest rooms, the steaks are juicy, the sauces house-made and the chips piping hot.