THE LOVELY BONES
A surprising and deeply nurturing experience awaits at Tassie’s new fine diner,
Leaden clouds hang heavy over the rolling hills and paddocks of Marion Bay, 50 minutes from Hobart and, as your gaze is drawn to the bluffs and headlands of Tasmania’s east coast it would be easy to miss the building nestled into the slope below. But slide open the heavy timber door that marks the entrance, step into the sparse, low-ceilinged foyer and prepare to enter another world.
Conceived eight years ago by friends Joe Nalder, Tim Hardy and Laura Stucken, Van Bone was literally built by hand from the ground up and opened in February. Designed by interior architect and now maître d’ Stucken, with towering rammed-earth walls built with the assistance of garden manager Nalder and head chef Hardy, Van Bone serves uniquely Tasmanian cuisine in an environment where no detail has been overlooked.
The 10- to 14-course set menu traverses land and sea with an emphasis on hyper-local produce and drinks and closed-loop sustainability. A series of snacks includes a crisp sliver of potato topped with ground dried oyster, sea urchin and powdered seaweed and the classic Tasmanian scallop pie appears as a bite-size wakame-based pastry filled with Bass Strait scallops and XO sauce made from the roe. Golden beets are served with a thin slice of wallaby pastrami and pickled bone fruit, a foraged coastal succulent. Each course is explained by Stucken, who worked with Launceston furniture designer Simon Ancher to create the dining tables that feature individual cutlery drawers, stocked with their families’ vintage silverware.
Hardy has cooked at regional restaurants including Brae, The Lake House and Vasse Felix, and here works almost exclusively with fire. A wood oven is used to roast vegetables and slow-cook meats, then coals are transferred to the custom grill where many dishes are finished. Seasoning felt a little underdone at a visit soon after opening, but now salt – harvested from local seawater – is applied deftly.
The menu changes frequently but may include delicata squash with buttery sea urchin, house-grown kale and a slightly sweet roasted onion syrup and a glossy Peking duck Maryland, served complete with webbed foot.
Service is well-paced and it’s easy to get lost in the landscape as the meal unfolds. A walk around the garden before dessert is made all the more worthwhile by the warm roasted apple syrup spiked with eucalyptus-scented kunzea that’s served on return.
Every element has been considered to create a magical visit to a world that is both surprising and nurturing.