Why this humble Tasmanian hideaway was named Australia’s BEST restaurant

A modest Australian restaurant with its own garden and greenhouse has just been named the best in the country.

The Agrarian Kitchen, hidden in Tasmania’s Derwent Valley, a 30-minute drive from Hobart, has been named Restaurant of the Year by Gourmet Traveller.

Rodney Dunn of Tetsuya’s moved to Tasmania and set up shop in a 19th century schoolhouse on the site of an old mental institution with a dream of offering simple, produce-based dishes.

Sixteen years later, the property now includes a restaurant, a kiosk and a lush 4,000-square-foot vegetable garden with a greenhouse that guests can stroll through before sitting down to enjoy a meal that few of them will ever forget.

Chef Stephen Peak takes advantage of the bounty of The Agrarian’s garden, rich in living clay soil, to create simple, elemental meals that his fans call “insanely good.”

The menu features produce from the state’s rich meat and cheese supply, combining stunning flavors without the usual gourmet stress.

Inspired dishes include burrata with fermented lemon, tostada with crayfish and avocado, polenta, mushrooms and mountain cheese, and petit fours with boysenberry jelly.

Fans of the New Norfolk culinary institution also rave about the changing menu of cocktails and mocktails made from aromatic house-made syrups and fermented liquids.

Rodney Dunn has realised his dream of produce-led cuisine at The Agrarian Kitchen in Tasmania, where 90 per cent of the food used in the kitchen comes from the garden and greenhouse – and the restaurant was just named the best restaurant in Australia by Gourmet Traveller.

Plenty Provisions’ Bresaola made from three-year-old Dexter X Scottish Highland beef is one of the simple and “amazing” dishes that restaurant visitors describe as the “most unforgettable meal” of their lives.

Agrarian Kitchen’s polenta with buttermilk, goat cheese and black truffle is “stunning” according to guests

Raspberry tonic, strawberry rhubarb collins and blueberry sake negroni are three of the kitchen’s popular sparkling drinks.

For a more casual meal, there’s the on-site agricultural kiosk, which offers stuffed focaccia-style sandwiches, savory pastries with lamb, goat’s curd and root vegetables, and thick slices of sourdough bread with spicy cheese and salami.

In the kitchen, pickling, preserving, cheese making and bread baking are all part of the work. Those who want to delve deeper into the world of agriculture can also attend cooking courses there. Gardening courses are also offered.

The manicured grounds host weddings all year round and now boast some of the finest cuisine in the country.

News of the win comes as no surprise to fans of the popular Tasmanian restaurant, who are already familiar with the culinary magic of Rodney Dunn and Stephen Peak, with some calling it their most “unforgettable” meal ever.

The cozy and inviting interiors are a perfect setting for the best restaurants in the country.

French breakfast radish and burnt leek, Tokyo beet and hemp seed and puntarelle and celeriac miso are some of the dishes that characterize the culinary institution TAS

The ever-changing menu features the best produce the garden and the state have to offer.

“It was a transcendental experience in a culinary monastery. Exquisite local products, well thought out, balanced, reduced and without ego. I am still enlightened,” said one guest.

“I love everything about this place. The history, the ambience, the energy, the food… It’s truly an experience to be had,” agreed another.

“One of the most incredible meals I’ve ever eaten. I can’t recommend it enough. If I could, I’d give it more stars. 11/10,” agreed a third.

The restaurant is open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and offers a fixed menu with optional drinks.

Other winners of Gourmet Traveller’s 2024 Foodie Awards included The Lake House in Daylesford (the Readers Choice Icon Award) and Sydney chef Pasi Petanen of Cafe Paci as Australian Chef of the Year.