Great food and service. Tasmania has a lot to be proud of in terms of high quality produce and it was very pleasing to see it all on display.

It’s a somewhat pricey experience and the portions could be a tad more generous (definitely put more crispy kale with the chicken please!) but all in all hard to fault.

We went to the Agrarian Kitchen after visiting Mona (Museum of Old and New art). From one quirky establishment to another, Agrarian Kitchen has set up in an ex mental asylum and this time we were committed. The fit out was impressive, keeping many of the original ornate features and sprucing them up.

My foodie friends and I made this reservation quite far in advance as we knew it was a definite go to! Located outside of Hobart, luckily we had hired a car as made it much easier to get to after our visit to Mona.

The facade on the outside doesn’t really reflect what’s on the inside as used to be an asylum. Once you enter the gate and head towards their garden, you totally understand the paddock to plate philosophy as a chef was actually cutting a few ingredients from the garden when we arrived. The brainchild of Rodney Dunn and Séverine Demanet, we fully embraced how lovely it was on the inside as it was very light and had a modern farmhouse feel. The servers were absolutely delightful and nothing was a problem for them.

The food is designed to be shared so we took that on board.

We started off with some House Made Sourdough Bread With Kefir Butter. Fluffy bread and delicious butter was a great start. Haven’t had a bad slice of bread in Hobart!

Onto the Fried Sourdough Potato Cakes With Spicy Ketchup and Stracciatella With Peach, Pancetta + Olive Oil. The potato cakes were an upmarket potato scallop to me with its crisp batter and soft potato inside. The stracciatella was nice and stretchy in texture with nice fresh peaches and topped with pancetta and doused in olive oil.

The main highlight was the Half Wood Smoked Duck To Share. It also came with potatoes, beetroots, cherries, and sauces. The duck was perfectly cooked and the sides accented the tastiness of it all. We also got a Farmer’s Cheese Dumpling which was served with zucchini, olives, and Parmesan. It was presented as one giant ball of polenta like dumpling.

To finish our meal we had Salted Honey Ice Cream + Fennel Pollen. It was so creamy and had a rich intense flavour. We had ordered the Bread Pudding however the Buttermilk Pudding was brought out instead. The waitress apologised profusely for the mix up and whisked it away to check with the kitchen. She then brought it back and advised they did mix up the order and that this dessert would be complimentary whilst we waited for the correct dessert. I found it to be creamy and a lovely consistency. The sour cherry granita was refreshing. After a short while the Bread Pudding was brought out. It kind of wasn’t what we thought it would be texture wise. Lots of crunchy bits and plenty of apple, there wasn’t any softness that is in a traditional bread pudding. The cream gave it some much needed moisture.

Overall it was a great meal and perfect for a long lunch amongst friends. Just make sure you book in advance to nab a table here.