Summer is here and Hobart’s bar scene has never been hotter. Tassie nightlife hits its peak when the weather is warm and our city offers intimate and quirky watering holes like no other. Here are our top picks for Summer.

“This is a really nice early summer dish using buffalo mozzarella, it’s the most delicious thing! I remember when I was a first year apprentice in my first few weeks of working in a little restaurant in Melbourne after I had just moved there. My head chef gave me a little slice of buffalo mozzarella to taste when the cheese van had come around to the back door of the kitchen. It was one of those moments where the world stood still. So simple yet so delicious. That’s when I knew that I was going to be stuck in the kitchen forever.”

Sitting at the bar on a busy Friday night, my partner and I immediately have flashbacks of a ski trip we took to Japan a couple of years back. After skiing all day, the izakaya, (a Japanese version of a pub) became our go-to each night for dinner, drinks and fun. Bar Wa Izakaya, on Elizabeth Street between the city and North Hobart, is a cranking little spot which feels about as close to authentic as you can get this side of Tokyo.

The Aussie summer comes with two big advantages. While we take an opportunity to relax and enjoy time with friends and family, the kitchen garden peaks in full swing. The abundance of growth and colour nods to a positive start to the new year. Resolutions to address expanding waistlines acquired over the festive season are buoyed by an array of choice to inspire creative salads, with bulging garden beds and pops of fruiting colour beckoning one to get moving outdoors and start picking summer’s harvest.

I love simple, balanced cooking. Good ingredients prepared well never fail to impress and delight. I also – like any self-respecting human being – love fried food. Putting together this dish on a Sunday night with a movie and some of my partner April’s ice cream for dessert is the simplest of joys.

With a name like Mullet Cafe and being perched above the rolling surf of Park Beach at Dodges Ferry, you’d think this place would be full of wax heads chugging on milkshakes and dimmies. But there’s more to this little local secret than meets the eye.

Ever wondered what Italians do for tomatoes in winter? Family traditions are still in common practice across this truss-loving nation to make homemade passata (uncooked tomato purée, strained and bottled), estratto (rich tomato paste), whole peeled tomatoes (canned in jars with lemon and salt), as well as Giardiniera (pickled vegetables in oil or vinegar and herbs) at Summer’s end.

Pretzels are a firm favourite in my house. They are quick and fun to make, and you don’t really need to follow a prescriptive recipe so you can add any toppings and flavours you like.

There’s family friendly, then there’s family friendly. The first is an establishment that has a kids menu – a few fried options and not much more. The second is somewhere that you genuinely feel comfortable being.

If you’re feeling the pull towards hibernation – wellness practitioners say it’s time to slow down. Resist overloading your schedule, embrace the longer nights with adequate sleep and above all else – don’t push yourself. ‘Winter in Tassie is not the time to be feeling like a hamster on a wheel,’ Goulds naturopath Belinda Robson says.

If there’s one thing we can all agree food should be right now, is that it’s got to be hot! Steaming porridge, simmering soups, roasts and ragus are all the rage, if not a vital requirement to keep us thermally stable.

The tuna in the picture is how we plate it in the Dining Room at The Shoreline Hotel. Of course, like always in cooking, you are free to present in any way you see fit!

Sometimes you just need to go back to a place and rediscover it all over again. When Fico first opened back in 2016, I enjoyed the full experience of the tasting menu and savoured every dish.

Some food is just worth going an extra few miles to experience. Timbre Kitchen, just outside Launceston in the Tamar Valley wine region, has been on my radar for some time now. So when we popped up to Launceston recently with our two young kids in tow, we seized the opportunity.

Unless you’ve gone to the trouble of fattening up a fowl yourself, you may be gobble-smacked to know procuring a Tasmanian turkey is off the menu, literally.

As a nutritionist, gut issues are my bread and butter. However something most people wouldn’t associate with gut issues are mental health disorders. Yet I see it over and over again and research has proven that patients with persistent gut issues are much more likely to present with anxiety, depression and sleep disorders.

Years ago I travelled through Morocco and there’s one dish that still haunts my memory. It was a smoky evening in the Djemaa El Fna, Marrakech’s main square, and I found a very busy but non-descript stall serving fish with a seemingly simple fresh, cold tomato sauce.

You might have noticed the term ‘plant-based meats’ more and more recently. It seems everywhere you turn, another business is creating a product that doesn’t contain any animal products and is made from plants. But why is there such an increase and is it any good for you?

You need nutrients to survive. They’re the building blocks of all matter within your body. However no other topic on earth seems to have as much controversy as nutrient intake (your diet). It’s complex, it’s messy and no one seems to have all the answers.

There’s no doubt that chef Analiese Gregory has commanded the attention of the food world over the past few years, taking Franklin restaurant to the next level and becoming a poster girl of sorts for where food in Tassie is at right now.

The vacant stare in front of the open fridge or cupboard has afflicted us all on occasion. No matter how much food we have in store, there seems like nothing to eat. When you’re hungry and lacking cooking inspo, the ‘hangries’ can easily take hold.

March is a magical month when it comes to food. While technically Autumn, it really should be a special season unto itself and more aptly named “Late Summer”.

If I asked you to think of a food item that makes you sexy, healthy, attractive, youthful and energetic I can almost guarantee that you didn’t think of gelatin.

Although we’re learning more about Coronavirus everyday, there’s currently no accepted conventional treatment or prevention of Covid-19. Because of this, natural alternatives are worth investigating.