Tassie’s top 30 culinary talents

7 SCOTT HEFFERNAN Frank and Suzie Luck’s, Hobart

Heffernan, founder of much-loved Salamanca institution Smolt, sadly now closed but funkily rebadged as the fresh pan-Asian eatery Suzie Luck’s, and the Argentine-inspired Frank at Franklin Wharf has long been ahead of the game. 8 ANALIESE GREGORY Franklin, Hobart

Gregory’s menus have attracted praise for their displays of restrained talent and bold offerings.

Seemingly every conversation on Hobart’s food scene at the moment, no matter how brief, inevitably turns towards Franklin. 9 KOBI RUZICKA Dier Makr, Hobart

With a recent nod by the New York Times in its listing of top 52 places to travel in the world, Ruzicka’s wine bar cum restaurant has certainly turned the global gaze firmly onto humble Hobart.

It has a lot to do with this Melbourne-born chef’s whimsical creations.

A playful approach to food stems from Ruzicka’s time working for quirky UK chef Heston Blumenthal. 10 CHRISTIAN RYAN Aloft, Hobart

Could there be a more inspiring location for a topnotch restaurant than this top-floor spot at the end of Hobart’s Brooke Street Pier? Head chef and co-owner Christian Ryan — who also has a stake in popular burger joint The Standard — has taken the lofty ambition of offering a tapas-style, Asianleaning dining experience. 11 MATT BREEN Templo, Hobart

Chef Matt Breen’s CV reads like a Good Food Guide: Templo, Smolt, Frank and Saffire.

Breen cut his teeth overseas at restaurants in Italy, the UK and Argentina before returning to his home state of Tassie to open up this small, 20-seat neighbourhood food venture.

The eatery’s Italian-inspired menu is winning over locals and visitors alike. 12 OSKAR ROSSI AND FEDERICA ANDRISANI Fico, Hobart

The pair opened Fico in 2014, the much-lauded Macquarie street eatery serving silky pastas “the way pasta should be eaten”.

Fico has quickly become known as a restaurant that’s notoriously hard to get in to. The pair’s home-style cooking embellished with plenty of flair is garnering a national audience. 13 PHILIPPE LEBAN A Tiny Place, Battery Point

The founder of this petite eatery nestled among workers’ cottages in Hobart’s Battery Point has a CV that’s far from small. Before making a run of it on his own, Leban was at the helm of Mona’s The Source for six years. And before that he spent time in Europe honing his craft. 14 IAIN TODD Saffire, Freycinet

For Todd, his best culinary creations are not the dishes with the most expensive ingredients but rather those with simple ingredients presented in new ways.

The former owner of Hobart restaurant scene darlings Ethos and Piccalilly, he has also graced the kitchens at Frogmore Creek vineyard and Mona.

He consistently delivers when it comes to producing some of Tassie’s most innovative dishes 15 JOSH RETZER New Sydney, Hobart

If you’re after fine dining on a beer budget, you could do worse than to pull up a stool at this popular pub specialising in craft brews. Retzer is developing a near-cult following for his brash, ever-changing menu, with offerings including Tassie calamari, a whitefish popcorn and crispy pigs’ ears. 16 LUKE BURGESS Watch this space

Instagram nearly goes into meltdown every time a Luke Burgess hashtag is trending — and with good reason. The trailblazing chef of former Hobart favourite Garagistes was well ahead of his time when he began promoting Tassie’s fresh produce in innovative ways.

While Burgess has been quiet of late, rumour has it that we’ll see his name charting the top of a menu soon. 17 TOM WESTCOTT Tom McHugo’s, Hobart

The word around town is that gastropub Tom McHugo’s is where Tassie’s top chefs love to eat.

Westcott blends his Pigeon Hole, Franklin, Westend Pumphouse and Mona teachings from a former life into a menu that balances bold pairings with good, dependable comfort food. 18 ANDRE KROPP Wrest Point, Sandy Bay

A stalwart on the dining scene, Kropp — the executive

chef presiding over Wrest Point’s offerings — is as much admired for his abilities at the hotplate as he is for his pivotal role in training the next generation of chefs.

As the executive chef it’s not unusual for Kropp to cater for groups up to 700 in a banquet, which he handles with aplomb. 19 MASAAKI KOYAMA Masaaki’s Sushi, Geeveston

A nibble on a nigiri by sushi chef Masaaki could set you back a two-hour wait or more, and that’s after you’ve committed to the hour-long trek out to Geeveston.

But Masaaki’s hand-rolled maki, temaki and on-the-boil miso soup is well worth joining the back of the queue for; just ask Iron Chef Hiroyuki Sakai, who piled praise on the Japanese-born Tasmanian on his last trip to our humble state. 20 ALI CURREYVOUMARD Agrarian Kitchen, New Norfolk

If this were a list of hot new talent Currey-Voumard would be sitting pretty in the top spot. She’s had a slew of recent awards to add to her quiver, including Gourmet Traveller’s 2019 best new talent gong in August.

She’s a rising star in the Hobart hospitality scene. 21 JAY PATEY Pigeon Whole Bakers, Hobart

Sourdough, sprouted wholemeal, ficelles, flaky croissants and galettes: is there nothing this man can’t bake? Patey’s loaves are a staple on plenty of cafe menus across town and he has a near-cult following of food tourists who cross the Strait to sample his sourdough doughnuts. 22 MATT ADAMS Timbre, Legana

Adams’ uncomplicated lifestyle as chef at Timbre and tending his commercial goat herd plays out on his natural, unfussy menus featuring locally sourced produce. 23 SAM ADAMSON Iron Pot Bay Vineyard, Rowella

The full-bodied flavours are a feature of food being regularly dished out by this solo chef who heads up the kitchen in a team of one.

Cooking on her own has meant the 38-seat Tamar Valley restaurant has a simple menu with generous helpings. Adamson makes most of the eatery’s pickles, chutneys and preserves herself, along with the pastries and towering cakes. 24 STEPHEN HICKMAN Driftwood, Lauderdale

Recently, the restaurant he owns with wife and business partner, Ruth, picked up Best Regional Restaurant of the Year at the Tasmanian Hospitality Association Awards. It was some nod to the young company, which is a few months shy of hitting the two-year mark with Driftwood. 25 TOBY ANNEAR Peppermint Bay, Woodbridge

Under Annear, the restaurant makes it own onsite-cured meats, sourced from Bruny, and the bulk of the produce comes from within a 20km radius — which includes their own sprawling kitchen garden bordering on the block next door. 26 MICHAEL MACKAWAY Bluestone Bar and Kitchen at the Sebel, Launceston

Wild clover lamb cutlet, kimchi arancini and apple strudel gyoza are some of the Australian meals with a hint of Asian influence being prepared under executive chef Michael Mackaway’s watchful eye. 27 SAM PINKARD Geronimo Aperitivo Bar and Restaurant, Launceston

Pinkard presides over Geronimo, a paddock-to-plate offering in the main street of Launceston. Almost everything on the menu is trucked in from the owners’ farm 20km away in Longford. 28 JUNWEI LU Kwan Ho, Sandy Bay Chopstick-licking Chinese meals are synonymous in Tasmania with Me Wah in Sandy Bay and Launceston, and this culinary genius is the man behind the menu. Lu headed up the Launceston post of Me Wah for more than a decade before landing the plum role as executive chef at Kwan Ho, Me Wah’s sister restaurant in Wrest Point. 29 JOSH MATHEWSON The Den, Salamanca

Wasabi buttermilk crispy chicken niblets and loaded kimchi and cheddar fries are some of the satisfying morsels this ex-Saffire chef is dishing up in new Hobart restaurant, The Den. 30 ALISTAIR WISE Sweet Envy, North Hobart

His North Hobart patisserie is a go-to for all things sweet, with mile-high lemon meringues and practically every-flavour macarons. His savouries also tick a few boxes.