Garagistes has closed – but we have included it here due to its historic importance
This is a review we published on the international foodtourist site in 2013 while Garagistes was still in operation – it closed in March 2015 after opening in 2010.
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Garagistes is now in its third year of operation and in that time it has had a profound effect on diners, producers and other restaurants in Tasmania. It has won a string of national awards and has featured in an international documentary about five world-class restaurants that was launched recently in Paris.
The accolades have come because the chefs not only forage for hard-to-find local produce but also for the singular way in which they encourage local producers to strive for excellence. Producers such as Richard Weston and Paulette Whitney have relished the challenge and they have therefore contributed to the success of the restaurant.
One of the things we most admire about this restaurant is that it keeps evolving. There is a restlessness and a nervy energy here which means they are always searching for perfection, always seeking to make things imperceptibly better.
They will work away at improving a dish even though their diners already love it.
The same goes for the edgy wine list which has a dazzling array of natural wines in its line up and has done since day one. There are always new lines making an appearance as they discover new regions, new grape varieties, new wine styles and new winemakers.
The restaurant was founded by Katrina Birchmeier, Luke Burgess and Kirk Richardson, although Katrina has now moved on to a managerial position in a restaurant in Brooklyn.
Luke is the amazing talent at the stoves who has an unparalleled intuition for flavour, texture and plating. He is the Dr Michael White of the kitchen (or maybe we should call him the Bob Wilder since his on-stage performances are so controlled and calm). Katrina was the brains behind the ground-breaking wine list which features natural wines from Europe and Australia. Her amazing palate and on-the-fly ability to match these wines to the dishes often created on the day is legendary.
Kirk has had a significant effect on the design of Garagistes where he has imagined the layout of the interior and the contribution of the design of the ‘peep’ window into the curing cellar and the Ned Kelly-like design of the wood-fired oven.
And we would be remiss if we didn’t mentioned the role played by William Gleave who more than ably assists Luke in the kitchen. He is a highly talented and creative chef who contributes to the creation of new dishes.
Diners enter Garagistes via the huge, black, metal-clad door to occupy one of the four large, refectory-style tables with their wooden-backed stools and a view of the open kitchen where the intense chefs studiously go about their business preparing and plating food that looks as good as it tastes.
Black-clad waiting staff glide purposefully through the large space pouring water, proudly serving the food and providing advice on what to choose from the massive wine list crammed with all the mega-stars from the natural wine world, with particular emphasis on those from France and Italy. However, they do work with locals who share their philosophy with the beautiful wines from local winemaker Dirk Meure featuring prominently on the menu.
Wine aficionados are delighted to find names such as Belluard, Foillard, Gramenon, Mosse, Prufer, Panevino, Occhipinti, Souhart, Gahier, Marie Courtin, Simonutti, Robinot, Ganevat, Pacalet, Lauer, Bornard, Barral, Cantina Giardino, Zidarich, Princic and many more.
The food celebrates fresh, local and organic produce. The first thing visitors comment on is the depth of flavour achieved through the partnership between producers and chefs. Sometimes the products are transformed into more complex forms through fermentation, salt-curing or pickling – processes which add extra layers of interest.
On the plate the chefs combine these flavours with texture and colour to form harmonious creations that are further enhanced by the earthy textures of the plates made by local artisan Ben Richardson.
We have eaten well here ever since the doors first swung open. Dishes from this year that have rung our bells include the world-class Garagistes charcuterie which includes light-as-a feather lardo that literally melts in the mouth, a dish of raw blue mackerel, sake-marinated Wisconsin cucumber and sea urchin roe where the disparate elements melded together to form an harmonious eating experience and a clever dish of Kifler potatoes cooked in squid ink, house-smoked eel, oca and golden purslane where each element was perfect with the potatoes being dense, the smoked eel exposed to the gentle vapours for just the right amount of time and the oca and golden purslane acting as foils to the main protagonists.
More recently the smoked eel has been served with poached rhubarb, laver and pickled hawthorn blossom to stunning effect.
Other dishes we enjoyed were Garagistes’ Wessex saddleback guanciale accompanied by house fermented vegetables, a dish of Detroit and Chioggia beetroot, grilled oyster mushrooms with cured duck egg yolk and a pil pil sauce, a dish of Jerusalem artichoke, truffled egg yolk, braised shiitakes and roasted hazelnuts and any of the tartar dishes such as Robbins island beef tartar, potato noodles, crisp fried onion and sesame oil.
Another feature of the food here is the amazing desserts that always have a savoury edge to them. A recent dessert of kunzea ice cream with gooseberries and green almond cream was a standout. Another that was equally beautiful was a dessert of autumn figs with fig leaf ice cream.
Garagistes definitely is a destination restaurant!
The editors of foodtourist.com supply some of the wines to Garagistes through their wine importing business Living Wines.
Luke also ran another restaurant in Hobart some time after Garagistes closed which we have described here.
