Ten reasons to visit Tasmania
The Apple Isle's capital certainly doesn't need talking up. A combination of David Walsh's gallery of kook, Mona and its winter festival Dark Mofo, plus the might of restaurants like Franklin captained by Analiese Gregory, Fico by Francesca and Oskar Rossi, tiny Italian hero Templo (and its essential new sister bar Sonny's) and paddock-to-plate Agrarian Kitchen Eatery have landed Hobart on lists across Australia, and the world. But have you taken your Hobart training wheels off? From Huon Valley to the wild west coast and Flinders Island food adventures are flourishing. Go beyond.
1. Pumphouse Point, Lake Saint Clair
The renovated pumping station rising from Lake Saint Clair is already the luxurious light at the end of Cradle Mountain's Overland Track, and now it offers a new private retreat. Forget their group dinners. Stay inside with your bespoke furniture, two baths, roaring fire and the all-inclusive cellar of Tassie whiskies, gins and wines, cheeses, charcuterie and soups and an on-demand hot bread service. Punishment. Reward. Heaven. pumphousepoint.com.au
2. Agrarian Cooking School, Lachlan
It's your last chance to learn paddock-to-plate cooking by foraging, harvesting, cooking and eating at Rodney Dunn and Sevarine Demanet's bucolic, goose-and-goat-girt cooking school in Lachlan. After a final class on December 14, the duo are reclaiming their home and moving the school, lock, stock and gardens to their New Norfolk restaurant, the Agrarian Kitchen Eatery. A huge garden is taking seed, ready for launch mid-2020. theagrariankitchen.com
3. Flinders Island Wharf, Flinders Island
Jo and Tom Youl are turning mountainous, turquoise water-frilled Flinders Island into a hot spot for adventure eaters. Flinders Wharf is their newly open restaurant, bar, distillery and all-action hub for eating those crays in house, or booking helicopter lunches, fishing tours and catered weekends in boutique accommodation. Their guest chef series brings stars like Luke Burgess, and Matt Breen over to forage, dive and create Flinders-specific feasts. theflinderswharf.com.au
4. Great Oyster Bay tours
Great Oyster Bay tours are Instabankable gold for bivalve lovers. In Freycinet Marine Park, you'll don waders to knock back fresh-plucked-and-shucked Pacific oysters with Tasmanian sparkling, staged at a linen table beneath the glowing Hazard mountain range. Book direct, or, it comes included for guests of luxury resort Saffire where chef Iain Todd of Hobart's late great Ethos Cafe has also ended up, creating fresh degustations of Tasmania's best seafood and produce daily. oysterbaytours.com
5. Stillwater Seven, Launceston
What's better than eating at Launceston's prizefighting food star Stillwater (and its hot new sibling Black Cow Bistro)? Staying there. The ex-flour mill's seven luxury suites are personalised with your favourite music, magazines and milk, the minibar is stocked with batch negronis, fresh terrines, Coal River cheeses and room service comes direct from Craig Will's hatted restaurant. How's this for service? Catch a fish and they'll cook it for you. stillwater.com.au
6. Currawong Lakes, Lake Leake
A 30-minute dirt road terminates at this highland fishing and shooting retreat, which, if you're a Royals fan, you can picture as Australia's Balmoral. Wild deer dot the landscape around lakes teeming with trout for catching and cooking up in your private bush cabin or lakeside lodge. Expert tutelage in the subtle art of fly fishing is provided (no bait or lures allowed) but if you're rubbish, there's always clay shooting. currawonglakes.com.au
7. Port Cygnet Cannery, Port Cygnet
In November, the one-time Port Cygnet Cannery will reopen as Three Blue Ducks-style haven of self-sufficient cooking. Bracketed by a winery and a farm, chefs Asher Gilding and pastry chef Franca Zingler will be transforming the properties produce (and later, animals) into turnips with lemon verbena yoghurt, devilled eggs and woodfired pizzas for Hobart day trippers. portcygnetcannery.com
8. Off the Table tours, around Tasmania
Like to get under the hood of your produce? Off the Table tours link detail-oriented diners with producers for a true backstage experience. Rumble a truffle from its bed (until late October), or head to the north coast for a steer-gazing and abalone adventure led by Provenance Kitchen and Cape Grim beef. offthetable.io
9. Tour the wild west
Done the East to death? The rugged west coast, once barren for food fans, is blossoming, and the untamed wilderness is a tourers dream. Get a power car (Overdrive Car Hire rents luxury 4WDs, mustangs and convertibles for touring), and hit up new northern restaurants Charlotte Jack in Devonport from science-loving TV chef Ben Milbourne or the Tasmanian Food and Wine Conservatory in Sassafrass where you can stock up on Tasmania's best products and picnic on isolated beaches. overdrivecarhire.com.au
10. Festivale and Mona Foma, Launceston
Launceston summers are becoming electric. Strange, vibrant and shimmery Mona Foma returns with its weird art and eclectic music from January 17-19, chased closely by Festivale, a food celebration of the whisky-makers, brewers, growers and chefs who make the north sing. Markets and masterclasses overtake City Park January 31-February 2. mona.net.au, festivale.com.au
Restaurant reviews, news and the hottest openings served to your inbox.
Sign up
Gemima Cody is former chief restaurant critic for The Age and Good Food.