TRAVEL: Hobart’s waterfront wonders, and feasting on Europe’s rivers
Sometimes a holiday is as much about the food as it is the scenery. Sharon Hunt steps up to the plate to investigate Hobart’s burgeoning gourmet scene, while Fran Abdallaoui inds that cruising on Europe’s grandest rivers can be a movable feast.
I last visited Tasmania’s capital city of Hobart almost 20 years ago while on a family holiday. Believe me when I say that at that stage my sullen teenage years were in full effect. Thankfully I’ve grown up since then – and it seems I’m not the only one. The striking natural beauty of Hobart remains gloriously unchanged (even through my angst- lled teen haze I observed it back then). The city’s no-skyscraper policy means the skyline is unblemished. Luscious mountainside serves as the city’s backdrop, and parked on its doorstep is the picturesque waterfront.
However, what’s evolved in recent years is an intangible energy that the city now exudes – and the locals con rm this shift. From what I’ve discerned, it can be classi ed as the MONA effect. The contemporary, edgy art gallery sits 20 minutes outside Hobart but its in uence on the city spans beyond just the art- loving crowd. In particular, the gallery’s annual Dark Mofo outdoor installation festival has enchanted a trendy new breed of visitor to Hobart.
Running alongside this energy shift is a bourgeoning food scene. Across the waters, Melbourne may hold the title of Australia’s unof cial food capital, but Tasmania is making up solid ground. At the heart of this change is access to top-quality regional produce along with the air of talented chefs, bakers and restaurateurs for showcasing this to full effect. Food a cionados (and wannabe connoisseurs like myself), prepare to feast, Hobart style!
Small plates at Peacock and Jones: Locals adore Peacock and Jones’ signature chicken liver parfait served with house brioche and with good reason – it’s sensational. The restaurant and wine bar is tucked away in an old sandstone warehouse on the Hobart waterfront and offers a polished yet understated dining experience. The delectable small plates are perfect for enjoying with a glass of Tasmanian wine, naturally. peacockandjones.com.au
Cape Grim sirloin and duck fat chips at Landscape Restaurant & Grill: Just a steak and chips? Hardly! Since opening in 2017, this upmarket restaurant has nabbed a slew of accolades and is in Australian Gourmet Traveller’s Top 100 restaurants. Curated artwork adorns the walls of the dark, modern dining room, while the menu features premium steak and seafood cooked on a wood red grill. It’s the place to go for a special occasion. landscaperestaurant.com.au
Fresh seafood at Pennicott Wilderness Journeys’ Seafood Seduction Tour: There’s fresh seafood.
And then there’s “I’ll just hop overboard and grab lunch”. Pennicott Wilderness Journeys operates a range of cruises but the Seafood Seduction is its blue-chip offering.
The on-board day trip includes watching your tour guide snorkel to retrieve sea urchin and abalone right from the ocean oor and cook it on the spot. For $685 per person, guests get all-you-can eat food and drinks, and a once-in-a-lifetime experience. pennicottjourneys.com.au
Cook with a celebrity chef at Fat Pig Farm: Any foodie worth their weight in Himalayan pink salt will know The Gourmet Farmer host Matthew Evans. In the celebrity chef’s full-day cookery classes on his farm at Glaziers Bay, just south of Hobart, you can venture out to raid the garden and bring the bounty back to cook up. Or you can take the lazy option and rock up for a meal at the farm kitchen. Your choice. fatpig.farm
Seasonal handmade pastas at Fico: Whenever I asked locals to name just one restaurant hotspot, one resounding answer came back time and again – Fico. The 35-seat restaurant is so popular that it can be tough to nab a booking, and the Italian-meetsJapanese seasonal menu tells you why. co co.net
Pastries, doughnuts and bread (oh my!) at Pigeon Whole Bakers: If good old-fashioned carb-loading is right up your alley, then pencil in a visit to this beautiful bakery, where it’s impossible to choose just one of the shiny pastries behind the glass counter. Save room for savoury options such as ham and pickle milk buns and cream cheese and bacon bagels, all showcasing the breads made in-house. pigeonwholebakers.com.au
Market fare at Salamanca Markets: Wondering where everyone is on a Saturday morning in Hobart? They’re probably along the waterfront, wandering through the market stalls, where if you are peckish there’s always little bites and wines to sample. You’ll probably need room in your carry-on luggage for nds like locally produced spreads, fudge and cheese. salamancamarket.com.au
Sharon Hunt visited Hobart as a guest of The Henry Jones Art Hotel and Tourism Tasmania.
Imagine sitting under a spinning windmill by the River Zaan in the Netherlands while sipping hot chocolate and devouring sugary waf es, or doing a tour of the massive Lindt chocolate factory in Cologne and testing the nished product. Ahem, make that products, plural. Our testing was very thorough!
For two Women’s Weekly food editors and lovers of all things delicious, a 15-day Scenic cruise on the Rhine, Main and Danube rivers is an epicurean extravaganza. The cruises run between Amsterdam, a city of beautiful canals and shop fronts lled with rounds of Edam cheese, and Budapest where, in between relaxing at its famed spas and hot springs, you can sample a ne goulash and gorge on rustic Hungarian street food at the Great Market Hall.
Along the way, you’ll see gorgeous European scenery: terraced vineyards,
hilltop castles towering over river bends, and picturesque villages and towns such as Rothenburg, often described as Germany’s fairytale medieval town. In the Bavarian part of the journey you’ll also see lots of sausages, pretzels and beer – yes, it’s Octoberfest territory, but at any time of the year you can have a fun afternoon in a festive beer hall complete with jolly bands and cheeky waitresses.
On this trip, in Wurzburg, however, things got a little serious: work called. My colleague Michele Cranston and I were due to give a cooking class on board the Scenic Jade. We found inspiration aplenty at the local market, stocking up on pumpkin seed oil, paprika, sweet local mustard, autumn vegetables, cinnamon and apples. The menu? A salad inspired by the golden leaves of the rustic landscape we’d been passing, and a Women’s Weekly favourite – spiced apple cake – to celebrate the many cake shops we had gazed into.
More amazing cake shops were to come in Salzburg, Austria, where the outdoor scenes in The Sound of Music were lmed. Feeling like sixteen going on seventeen, we took a horse and carriage ride with a uniformed guide around its beautiful cobblestone streets, marvelling at its fairytale beauty.
Time to shed some calories! In the Austrian town of Melk, best known for its vast hilltop monastery, we rode our bikes along the Danube to Durnstein, taking in the most beautiful scenery lled with castles, mountains, apricot orchards and amazing vineyards dangling from the rocky cliffs – you’d need the agility of a mountain goat to pick the grapes.
If I had to choose a personal favourite, though, I’d go for Vienna, an elegant and beautiful city that surprised us at every turn. We visited the famous Café Central, which is renowned for its extraordinary cakes and beautiful interior, and later found a marvellous antidote to all the sweet stuff – a prosciutto cafe where the menu proclaimed “the secret ingredient is always ham”. At other times we were content to sit at cafe tables drinking schnapps and watching the world go by. But the best was saved till last: the famous Naschmarkt where our wonderful guide took us past the most amazing (it’s 1.5 kilometres long!) array of stalls selling goods I hadn’t come across before. Quince vinegar. An incredible pumpkin seed oil the greenie-grey colour of pepitas, and the most extraordinary array of breads. It’s a market I would love to return to with more time and larger bags!