FACING MY WATERLOO
A historic pub on Tasmania’s east coast turns back time with ease and style, writes KATIE SPAIN.
Don’t let the ’80s red-brick hotel exterior and original “Steak & Seafood Restaurant” signage fool you. Exciting things are going on inside this Tasmanian diner.
Generations of Swansea locals have sipped, supped, and chin wagged decades away here since the hotel opened in 1989. It is simultaneously charming and disarming. Anyone fortunate enough to remember the
’80s can expect a barrage of flashbacks; maroon carpet, wooden tables with original vinyl placemats, bar shades with glass bead tassels, framed photographs of locals, and curtains that have to be seen to be believed. In among the vintage kitsch are modern pieces from the new owners’ private collection. Somehow, it all just fits.
The little seaside town is an unlikely place for a British chef and Melbourne girl to call home but after falling for each other in Tasmania, they fell head over heels with Swansea and its unashamedly antiquated hotel. A week after leasing The Waterloo’s restaurant and bottle shop in December 2021, they opened.
It was a bold, gut feeling-driven move. Zac Green (ex-MoVida, Melbourne) had lived and worked on Tasmania’s east coast for seven years, during which he forged meaningful relationships with local producers. After opening without fanfare, word of mouth spread, largely due to the menu. The dishes (scrawled on the venue’s original mounted chalkboard) are comforting, complex, hearty, inspired.
Sundays are all about the set long lunch but evenings offer a small, beautifully executed menu that changes daily. Individual orders are discouraged; it’s simply small dishes on the left, big dishes in the middle and sweets on the right.
Sumner, who works the floor with an infectious smile, encourages a “herd mentality”. Order at the bar then share everything. Fried potato with caviar arrives as soldiers constructed with delicate slivers of potato topped with finger-licking taramasalata and caviar that pops. Quail saltimbocca (stuffed with pancetta and mozzarella) is served whole and crumbed with fried sage from the couple’s garden. Larger dishes include delicate fazzoletti with rich oxtail ragù, succulent roasted kingfish atop char-grilled Basque peppers swimming in broth, and lamb shoulder with silverbeet
(big enough for two). Even a simple bowl of fries is memorable. Sweets are an ode to classics, like the rum baba and ice-cream; so boozy you’ll need a moment on the Chesterfields to recover.
For a truly relaxed experience, stay a night in Swansea and devour the Tasmanian beer and wine-focused offering. There’s no wine list as such, instead prices are scrawled on bottles displayed on the bar. Natural wines from across the globe are championed and there’s spirits and an impressive elderflower spritzer in the mix, too.
If the number of winemakers (local and interstate) dotted throughout the room on any average night is any indication, The Waterloo Inn ticks all the boxes.