Eight of Tasmania’s Best (and Most Affordable!) Gourmet Experiences

Top Oz Tours offers a great range of Tasmania tours and experiences. You can browse the options here.

Travelling in Tasmania is like being let loose on the world’s biggest buffet; and you’re going to have to get those steps up to a gallop to contend with the extra calories coming down the line!

From pillar to post, everything looks, smells, and tastes absolutely incredible — thanks predominantly to the island’s fabulous fresh produce and amazing seafood, but also lashings of innovation and a whole lotta love. Here, gourmet food producers take pride in what they make, and it shows; you can literally taste it in every bite.

If you have the budget, prepare to be dazzled by talented chefs pushing boundaries in the State’s many renowned restaurants. Upscale eateries across Tasmania include The Source at Mona, Franklin on the Hobart waterfront, Stillwater in Launceston, and New Norfolk’s The Agrarian Kitchen Eatery. But sampling the island’s bounty doesn’t have to mean spending a motza. You’ll find affordable taste sensations on offer in markets, delis, bakeries, cafes, farmgates, cellar doors, and the list goes on.

Here are eight of Tasmania’s best and most affordable gourmet experiences to get you started.

1. Sample the gourmet goodies on Bruny Island

It’s hard to believe that so much deliciousness could be squeezed into one small(ish) island, but there you have it. Situated 30 kilometres south-east of Hobart and involving a short ferry ride from Kettering, Bruny Island is one of the capital’s most popular day trip destinations. It’s a beautiful place to begin with, but we’re not here to coo over the views. The island hosts an array of gourmet providores, each more moreish than the last. Sample the wares of the Bruny Island Cheese Company (try the nutty Raw Milk C2 made from unpasteurised milk), Bruny Island Honey (special mention to the sweet scented light Summer Blossom variety), the Bruny Island Chocolate Company (did somebody say freshly made fudge?), and the Bruny Island Berry Farm (ooh, a chocolate covered strawberry? Don’t mind if we do!). We warn you now, you may never want to leave!

2. Browse the farmgates of the Huon Valley

Similarly, the idyllic Huon Valley makes an easy day trip from Hobart and offers access to a veritable cornucopia of wholesome delights. Bring a basket and some cash; this is serious farmgate territory — and from freshly picked cherries to beautifully bottled preserves, you’ll find yourself pulling over to the roadside numerous times to inspect the offerings. The Huon is also home to much of Tassie’s apple industry, and in recent years a boutique cidering scene has blossomed. Swing by popular Willie Smith’s Apple Shed in Grove to learn more. They offer cider tastings and have an onsite museum dedicated to all things apple.

3. Feast on fresh seafood in Freycinet

Up on the east coast, the ocean off Freycinet Peninsula isn’t just lovely to look at; it also yields some of the best seafood in Oz. Drop into the Freycinet Marine Farm just outside Coles Bay to sample reasonably priced local oysters, along with steaming blue sapphire mussels, delicate Tasmanian scallops, fabulous fresh prawns, whopping rock lobsters, and more. The Farm’s kitchen is open daily and only takes walk-ins. If you’re keen to see where the mollusc magic happens, throw on a set of waders and harvest your own oysters straight from the lease with Oyster Bay Tours.

4. Head for the Harvest Market in Launceston

There are lots of tasty reasons to visit Tassie’s second biggest city Launceston, and the weekly Harvest Market is certainly one of them! Drawing some 70 growers and producers to the centre of town on a Saturday morning, the market is solely focussed on food and boasts cheesemongers, sourdough bakers, pastry chefs, truffle farmers, winemakers, and more. Leave room (if you can!) for a pastry from nearby Bread & Butter — an artisanal bakery and small batch butter factory. We have no words.

5. Follow the Cradle to Coast Tasting Trail

Lonnie makes a great base for tackling the north-west Cradle to Coast Tasting Trail — a self-drive pilgrimage past dozens of providores. And with names like Plump Berries, Blue Hills Honey, Leaping Goat Coffee, Dixie Blue Gelato, and the Ashgrove Dairy Door to tempt you, deciding which outlets to visit will be no mean feat! Special mention to the House of Anvers Chocolate Factory at Latrobe, which is housed in what faintly resembles a Swiss Chalet and offers generous tastings in their onsite store.

6. Go grape grazing in the Tamar Valley

Also on Launceston’s doorstep is the renowned Tamar Valley wine region, and here we suggest putting yourself in the hands of the experts at Prestige Tours Tasmania. They’ll take care of the driving as you sip and sup your way across the region — visiting up to six cellar doors depending on the tour you choose. Tastings and a shared cheese platter are included in the price of the half-day tour, while a sumptuous grazing platter lunch with wine will come your way on the full-day option. Highlights of our tour included Velo Wines (which does a sassy sparkling chardonnay), the rustic and organically certified Small Wonder Wines, and characterful Swinging Gate Vineyard — where minimal intervention is the mantra and everything is done by hand.

7. Try some top distilled drops

In recent years, Tassie has taken the world by storm with whiskeys, gins, and vodkas crafted from its pristine snowmelt waters. But what may surprise you to learn is that distilling was actually illegal right up until the 1990s! Legendary Bill Lark got the ball rolling and today the industry is killing it internationally. Learn more at The Still in Hobart, which is housed in part of the old Mercury newspaper building on Argyle Street and stocks product from every whiskey distiller in the State. Up in Devonport, Southern Wild Distillery offers a guided tasting of their Dasher & Fisher range of gins (named after the rivers that provide the water used in the production process).

8. Enjoy fresh fish and chips

Head to any Tassie town with a dock and you’ll likely see a fishing fleet to match. And no visit to the island would be complete without tucking into a serve of fresh fish and chips. Haute cuisine it ain’t; delicious it is! The floating outlets along Hobart’s Constitution Dock are always busy and the stiff competition keeps prices in check. Fish-shaped Flippers is a perennial fav, and the local population of garrulous seagulls will be more than happy to do quality control as needed.

Over in east coast fishing capital St Helens, Skippers serves sustainably sourced seafood from its floating digs. It’s a local institution, as is Hurley Seafood in Stanley on the north-west coast. Sitting in the shadow of the famous Nut, it sports a giant lobster on the roof and a reputation for its fare to match!

This post was published thanks to Tasmania.com.

Browse our range of Tasmania tours and experiences here.

Do you have any suggestions to add to our list of Tasmania’s best gourmet experiences? We would love to hear from you. Please leave a comment below.

Additional images: Depositphotos, Bigstock, and Envato