Page 22 - foodservice magazine August 2019

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DINING
From top:
The facade of Tom McHugo’s, which sits on the corner of two main roads in Hobart’s CBD. The blackboard at the pub’s front door, listing the names of the local producers who supply to Tom McHugo’s.
“We’re all wanting to create something that everyone misses. You’re trying to create this comforting sense [that] you’re going to get something that just makes you relax and come back to what it means to actually be nourished and to eat, rather than it just being about making things look good.”
Westcott rails against the dated training at some cooking schools, the influence of social media in encouraging presentation-first cooking, and the rise of celebrity television chefs. And keeping young chefs on the island is just as hard.
“We have young guys that have worked for me that are like, ‘I can’t wait to move to the mainland’, and I’m like, ‘yeah but you can’t see the forest for the trees. You know, you’ll get there and you’ll be like, where’s the Castlefranco radicchio that’s still dripping with dew?’”
Whether it’s on the beverage list of low-intervention and biodynamic wines, the range of Tasmanian-only tap beers (from James Boag’s XXX Ale to hand-pumped ales from micro-breweries), or his menu, Westcott certainly can see the forest for the trees, or the cabbage patch for the cabbages. And it’s coming together at a time that, buoyed by the success of Mona and its festivals, Hobart’s hospitality industry is shining. But rather than simply aping the mainland, restaurants like Tom McHugo’s are cherishing the bounty of the island, and creating something uniquely Tasmanian in the process.
“I can drive for 20 minutes and be at any one of our farmers. I’ve known them since I was an apprentice or a very young cook,” says Westcott. “We’re all wanting to create something that everyone misses. You’re trying to create this comforting sense [that] you’re going to get something that just makes you relax and come back to what it means to actually be nourished and to eat, rather than it just being about making things look good.”