Tasmania: Food Guide - Dining Out

Tasmania has some world-class restaurants, with creative chefs who use fabulous local ingredients. The locals love their basics done well, so you can expect to find plenty of good pots of tea, great scones and even better seafood and burgers. Tasmania also abounds with fresh produce, which means that you will find many excellent restaurants, to suit every budget. In Tassie you will find locally-produced fine cheeses and dairy in the North-west and King Island, apples from the Huon Valley and soft fruit everywhere. (You would expect a place known as “the Apple Isle” to produce fruit in abundance, and Tasmania lives up to its nickname admirably). If seafood is your thing, then the seas around Tasmania yield a wealth of scallops, mussels, abalone, shrimp, crayfish and numerous fresh fish. Fresh ingredients from Tasmania satisfy demand from interstate and international restaurants, and also from the local market. To wash all of this food down try some wine from the vineyards and wineries in the Tamar Valley, the East Coast and South-East. The island is also home to two of Australia's premier breweries - Boag's in Launceston and Cascade in Hobart (The Cascade Brewery is Australia's oldest still in operation). In fact, Tasmanians have only recently escaped from the traditional British meat-and-two-veg school of cooking to discover and embrace enthusiastically their version of modern Australian cuisine. The change, to what is now a strong food and wine culture with an emphasis on a wide variety of simply-prepared, fresh ingredients, has mainly come about through migrants from mainland Australia and overseas. Nowadays, fresh ingredients from Tasmania satisfy the demands from interstate and international restaurants, and also from the local market. Prices in Tasmanian restaurants are reasonable too, you will pay about £12.50 on average for a steak dinner with all of the trimmings and you can get a roast lunch for about £9. In Hobart you'll find some of the best seafood restaurants in the whole of Australia, as well as fantastic new restaurants and great cosmopolitan dining. Explore the North Hobart area, as well as Sandy Bay or Sullivan's Cove, for restaurants. In Launceston, the central area is small enough to explore in its entirety. You may what to try the Star Bar Cafe. Above all do not be afraid to try any restaurants you may find in any small town throughout the state. There are countless hidden places that will serve the local delicacies in the best way possible - bought straight from the farmer and fisherman on that very day.