FIVE TOP HOBART FEASTS
Hobart’s reputation for exciting, boundary-pushing cuisine is well deserved and strong enough to make the rest of Australia sit up to attention, writes Kerry Heaney.
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hether you are dining in the basement of Mona, the back streets of the city, or a CBD hole in the wall, the food is fresh, original and exciting. It draws on the abundance of excellent Tasmanian produce and serves up the expected with flair. Here are five dining options that will make you hungry to visit.
Faro, Mona
The only thing you can predict about dining at the Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) is that it is unpredictable. Dining at Faro, where the restaurant is reverse engineered around an art installation, turns a meal into an experience. Built around the enormous white globe of James Turrell’s Unseen Seen with his Weight of Darkness waiting around the corner, the restaurant is an eye-stopping space. Walk in here and you’ll be stunned by the 13m high ceilings and the first natural light in the museum. Do you look at the expansive Derwent River views, the white sphere, or your plate? Probably all three in quick succession until eating becomes your imperative. Mona’s executive chef Vince Trim describes Faro as a place to invigorate you for the rest of your exploration. Originally from New Zealand, Vince has been ‘let loose in the Mona kitchen’, as he describes it, for 10 years. His culinary passion is evident, and it drives the eclectic European-inspired seasonal menu to great heights. The menu teases, starting with little and small plates, then working 26 Journeys
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up to large plates, and is spiked with ingredients you have never heard of before. It’s okay to ask the wait staff to explain what guindilla, kunzea or saltbush furakaki might be before you order. They may be new flavours to your palate, but you can be sure your taste buds will be delighted to meet them. The drinks do not disappoint either. Faro’s black margarita with a feral pig eye encased in ice is a beautiful but confronting concoction. An offshoot of Mona’s Eat the Problem exhibition, which aims to deepen the appreciation of sustainable thinking, the cocktail is available on request, when the tricky ice cube ball machinery is working. mona.net.au
Templo, Hobart
Dining at Templo is like going to a party at someone’s house where the crowd is pumping and the food is deliciously approachable. Small and cosy, the restaurant might be located in the back blocks of Hobart, but it does not miss out when it comes to awards, taking home a hat in the Good Food Guide 2019. The small, seasonal Italianinfluenced menu is filled with the sort of dishes that make your mouth water just thinking about them. The cooking is inventive but not over-the-top, the service fast and friendly. Owners Chris Chapple and Matt Breen, who is also head chef, source their produce direct from a handful of suppliers, farmers and producers. The menu changes regularly, but the gnocco fritto (small fried bread
puffs) is available every day, along with handmade pasta. You might also find baked sardines or pork neck with braised greens alongside fried quail. If it all sounds too tempting, a chef’s menu with small tastes of everything should suffice. There’s also a window through to the kitchen so you can see all the action unfold. templo.com.au
Tasmanian Wild Seafood Adventures
If you have never been fond of the flavour of sea urchin, this half-day cruise on the Derwent River and around Bruny Island could change your mind. You’ll see skipper and diver Shane Wilson jump overboard and bring up the ocean’s bounty ready for your feasting pleasure. There are sea urchins and periwinkles in the bag when Shane emerges and climbs, dripping, onto the deck. Those periwinkle shells that have been colonised by cute red hermit crabs get thrown back into the sea. The sea urchins are not so lucky. They are the fourth course in this deep-to-dish experience. The decadent degustation takes place as the two-storey catamaran motors in through pristine Tasmanian waters. After an oyster shucking lesson, there are oysters natural, or kilpatrick if you prefer. As the boat pulls up next to a salmon farm, Shane brings out a large salmon.
