Hobart’s dining boom draws Australia’s top chefs
Once upon a time, Hobart was regarded as a sleepy little town.
But that changed with its terrific local produce and extraordinary natural environment that you wouldn’t find anywhere else in Australia, combined with the remarkable Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) that opened in 2011 turning Hobart into a cosmopolitan centre drawing visitors around the world.
Hobart, with a population of only 200,000, is now drawing some of Australia’s top chefs and now has some of the country’s best restaurants.
Menus across the city source dishes from local ingredients both purchased and foraged. Examples include the kitchen at The Source, located at MONA, which offers Tasmanian produce from cinnamon-simmered lamb shoulders to Norfolk Bay oysters.
One example of chefs who have relocated is rising star David Moyle who spent years working in kitchens in Melbourne and Byron Bay.
He now runs the industrial chic Franklin with its polished concrete floor and enormous open kitchen, producing what he calls “low intervention” dishes like the locally grown zucchini that he grills and pairs with a slightly tart but creamy goat’s curd.
“I realized that I wanted to connect with growers, with the source,” Moyle told Vogue. “It’s addictive once you start cooking this way. You can keep it quite simple, leaving a lot unsaid.”
This has him now commuting weekly between restaurant projects in Melbourne and Hobart.
Then there’s Sarah Fitzsimmons and Kobi Ruzicka who moved from Melbourne last July and set up the Dier Makr bistro in December.
The menu there offers such dishes as smoked tuna belly, fig leaves with apricot, and sourdough bread made from 100 percent Tasmanian flour.
Fitzimmons says she was drawn to Hobart’s sense of community and high quality local ingredients. The place is also more affordable than other cities.
“We wanted to jump on board to help create this scene, which has been blossoming so much over the past year,” she told Vogue.
“I think it’s going to continue to thrive and strengthen as it attracts like-minded people who all want to escape the big-city vibe and join a much purer scene like this one.”
by Leon Gettler, June 8th 2017
