With fresh produce from organic vegetable bundles, crunchy Tasmanian apples, a variety of fresh mushrooms and herbs sourced from local forests, fresh honey and mead, a variety of cheeses and freshly baked sourdough bread, single origin coffee, pork, beef Salmon with people queuing in front of bursting stalls and aromatic coffee and kimchi stalls. Expert dancers revolving around salsa music, moms with kids in prams, kids in raincoats and families – volunteers run Harvest Launceston Market In a large parking lot opposite the Albert Hall in Launceston, Tasmania’s second largest city, on Saturdays, there’s a heartwarming community scene with a cheerful atmosphere where locals meet, do their weekly grocery shopping, and enjoy Tasmanians. Enjoy the best of food and produce.
The stall owners and farmers are friendly and look forward to chatting about how they make or source their produce and invite you to sample their wares. The food truck sells everything from bagels and roasties, breaky pancakes and kimchi and veggies. I savor an Afghan samosa, some cashew cheese with black garlic, wasabi and pickled ginger, vintage cheddar with wasabi and pickled ginger, Tasmanian hazelnut butter and leatherwood honey from a food truck and sample some local gins as I walk through the stalls I make my way
Launceston (called Launi by locals) with its Georgian, Victorian and Federation style architecture and rich history of flour mills, is a valley town and long regarded as the gateway town to tourist destinations such as Cradle Mountain. But over the years the second city in Tasmania has become famous for its food culture and fresh produce, as well as its wines and gins. It was designated by UNESCO as a city of gastronomy in 2021 under its Creative Cities programme.
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Launceston Market
Today, it is a hotspot for farmers, creative chefs and paddock-to-table restaurants, cellar doors in the Tamar Valley close to the city, and artisan producers making honey, butter, cheese, and meats. From Bass Strait Abalone and Pacific Oysters to Wild Wallaby, Mount Gnoman Pork Belly to Flinders Island’s Saltgrass Lamb, it’s all about the fresh, local produce. Launceston is also home to Festival, the largest food and wine festival in northern Tasmania.
Our local Tasmanian guide Anthony Cowles says that Launceston has always been a food basket and fed the First Nations long before Europeans arrived here. Our first dinner is at the award winning Stillwater Restaurant, housed by the Tamar River in a rustic 1830s flour mill with rough wooden beams and beautiful light fittings is billed as ‘contemporary Tasmanian cuisine with an Asian touch’ with a long drinks list . The menu is seasonal, serving everything from Pacific oysters and black truffles to house-made gnocchi. From beef tartare to salmon, and served with delightful pinots from the pork belly region, this is hyperlocal food at best.
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Stillwater Restaurant
I feast on steamed dumplings with a Bream Creek Riesling wine topped with a crisp chili dressing. Tapioca crusted tofu served with udon noodles and picked bok choy that is very spicy and Asian influenced is served with a Stony Rise Pinot. By the time we arrive at the dessert of yuzu ice cream with raspberries with Riesling, I’m already in love with Launceston through her plates.
My day begins with a hearty breakfast with pancakes with fruits, eggs and gourmet coffee at our hotel’s ‘Grain of the Silo’ restaurant. chili siloHoused in a heritage building, which once stored grain in four large silos, has been converted into a 9-storey hotel with spectacular views of the river from its windows.
Launceston Restaurant
Not far from Launceston is the Tamar Valley wine region, where fluffy sheep graze pastures, with more than 30 wineries producing some of Australia’s best cold climate wines – Chardonnay, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir – as well as sparkling wines. Huh. For a spot of wine tasting, we visit the award-winning Joseph Cromy Wines in Relbia, set in English plantations with old oak groves, only a 10-minute drive from the city, with its high-tech winery and cellars Spanning 61 hectares, gardens dotted with benches, trees adorned with autumn colors and a picturesque lake, where we hear about the fascinating history of the Czech immigrant joseph cromey Emerged from a poor migrant into a well-known wine producer.
The basement door is set in a charming 1880s wooden house with a wood fire and panoramic views from the windows. The winery offers a variety of experiences from harvest brunch, a two-course lunch paired with wine and your own sparkling wine and yoga and a two-course lunch with a view of the vineyard. It is also a popular venue for weddings with a gazebo near the lake and a popular comedy festival held every year on the grounds. The winery has been awarded one of the top 10 cellar doors in Australia. We feast on local oysters, a new-season potato and quince risotto with miso glazed leeks, and a roasted sweet potato and white onion galette with red and white wines with garden herbs and pickles.
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Our Last Meal in the Eating City is Charming Timbre Kitchen On Tamar Valley Highway, with floor-to-ceiling windows, a wood-burning oven set in the vineyards of Velo Wines, fried cauliflower, Happy Place Ale, wood-oven grilled cheese, sourdough bread and more. It has a happy, carefree vibe and simple decor and seems like a fitting finale to our foodie adventures in Launceston.