TRASH INTO TREASURE

Sometimes the best kind of old treasures are buried in the scrappy boxes out the back. And they are usually right at the bottom. That’s why Mountain River lamp maker Andy Causon never settles for just what’s on display on the antique shop shelves.

He knows all the best dealers to drive to for his one-of-a-kind creations and because he’s a cheerful people person, has contacts happy to put special retro-industrial pieces aside for him.

“I always like to ask to riffle through what’s out the back,” Andy says. “And I usually find something that’s a bit different.”

Most people in these kind of shops are drawn to old-wares in good nick, while Andy is busy digging around for the things nobody else would ever look at.

“The dirtier the better,” he says, because dull brass and bronze and copper always clean up a treat anyway.

“I don’t buy shiny things,” he says. “I pick up the dull and collect the kind of things that nobody else sees value in.”

Andy, a talented portrait painter who exhibits at Gallery Salamanca, turns ugly and unwanted relics into at least two unique lamps a week. He’s made about 300.

He once bought a “higgelty piggelty” ball of brass that was an old bilge pump out of a very old boat — “a ball of twisted junk” — and created five lamps.

He’s also crafted lamps from old car parts. He’s drawn to Victorian gas fittings and Edwardian switches and fire hydrants and the kinds of things that end up at the Moonah scrap dealer. They are the bits and bobs that allow him to create simple designs and forms, he says, that are both practical and pretty.

“It’s not just like throwing a whole heap of gauges and valves together,” Andy explains. “It has to have beauty to it. I’m making lamps that capture graceful, Georgian lines. I don’t think anyone is making lamps quite like mine.”

Sometimes when he’s at the Willie Smith market in the Huon Valley customers will pick up one of his lamps and instantly connect with it. They’ll give it a hug and tell him they just have to have it. But usually they go away and think about it and come back just as he’s packing up to let him know they’ve decided they can’t live without it.

Lately he’s been dabbling in touch lamps which he says are a big hit with the older customers who want the comfort of being able to reach over and tap the lamp for some subtle light at night. In the four years he’s been making his lamp he’s sold a stack to tourists who’ve taken them home to far away places.

Sometimes when he’s out hunting pieces, he will spot a piece for a lamp and he’s already designed it in his head before he’s even paid for it. “When I’ve got a piece like that I can’t wait to start making it,” he says. “Other times I will pick something up and not really know what it will be used for. I just know that it will be useful one day.”

His creations range from $160 to $1200.

Organisers of The Tasmanian Craft Fair at Deloraine have selected Causon and his wife Margaret, who makes handbags from recycled leather, as this year’s featured artists. The fair is the largest working display of arts and crafts in Australia with more than 200 stalls and is on today until Monday, November 4.

SHORELINE HOTEL DINING ROOM

10 Shoreline Dr, Howrah

Open Wednesday-Sunday lunch from 12pm and dinner from 5.30pm

Chef Ruben Koopman’s food is almost too beautiful to eat. Each of his dishes is resplendent with vibrant-looking mousses, foams and jus, all items arranged artfully on the plate and invariably topped with herbs and flowers. It’s obvious that an incredible amount of skill, dedication and hours of hard work goes in to creating the individual elements that make up each dish.

My dining companion and I arrive at the Shoreline Hotel around lunch time on a Friday. The venue is in Shoreline shopping complex in Howrah right beside the highway. It isn’t the prettiest of locations, but as I walk through the sliding doors past the bistro area and through to the dining room I am pleasantly surprised by the serene atmosphere.

There are linen tablecloths, comfy booth seats and a tactfully placed blind that blocks out the highway but lets in ample natural light. It’s just the right amount of fancy while still being laid back and approachable. The venue is buzzing, so much so we are lucky to secure a table. Clearly, word is out that this is the place for Friday lunch on the Eastern Shore.

As the venue is so busy, the staff let us know as we are seated that there is a bit of a wait on food so we order the bread with herbgarlic butter and tapannaise to tide us over. As it arrives we are told that it’s freshly baked sourdough but in actual fact it’s more of a white baguette. Nonetheless it is crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside and the accompaniments are delightful.

Our entrees arrive shortly after. I have opted for the Duck “Al Orange”, which again, is

visually a work of art and a clever take on the traditional dish. Koopman’s version is roasted confit duck leg terrine with pickled cabbage, Jerusalem artichoke, bacon crumb, baby figs and orange dressing. It is cleverly arranged in a checker-like formation so as to ensure every fork-full picks up each of the flavours Koopman is putting down. The richness of the terrine works perfectly with the sourness of the pickled cabbage.

My counterpart goes for the “Butter nut”, a round layer of charred butternut pumpkin topped with Meredith’s fetta mousse, micro leaves, pickled parsnip, crostini, pepitas and basil pesto. The mouse is light and delicate with the right level of goat’s cheese flavour, not overpowering. Again the plate is full of colour.

Serving sizes are incredibly generous. So much so that each of us leaves food on our plates to ensure we have room for our mains.

Our mains are “Pork Many Ways” (slow cooked pork belly, scotch, croquette, strip loin and crackling with Parisian mash, apple, pickled swedes and brandy jus) and “Eye to eye” (charred eye fillet with duchess potatoes, bone marrow, pumpkin beef dumpling, squash and charred onion jus). Again, lots of different elements to both dishes but each one expertly executed. Koopman’s food is anything but boring. I admire how he has approached traditional dishes such as steak and veg.

As well as being beautiful to look at, making my way through the “Eye to Eye” dish is a kind of process of discovery. In one mouthful there is a beautiful piece of steak, in another there is melty and nourishing bone marrow, then the freshness of the squash followed by a satisfying burst of flavour when I bite in to the pumpkin dumpling. Not bad for a restaurant in the middle of a shopping complex! And the fact that the restaurant is teeming with people is a credit to the good food.

Front of house staff are extremely friendly and efficient, happy to talk through the menu and make suggestions.

There is a great selection of Tasmanian and international wine and beer along some spirit options and cocktails (though, as it’s lunch time and we have to go back to work we choose not to indulge in this occasion).

There’s no doubt that Koopman’s offering at this unassuming venue is a true asset to the Eastern Shore.