If you’re looking for a date night restaurant where you can have a private conversation in a dark corner, move along. If, however, you’re up for a shared table meal with eight strangers who might just become friends by the end of the night, then highly regarded chef Luke Burgess’s new diner, Scholé, is the place for you. Situated on the fringe of Hobart’s CBD, this is a tiny jewel box of a restaurant where Burgess serves elegant, Japanese-inspired dishes for just 10 diners at a time. It’s intimate.
Once a confectionary shop, the building also served time as a casket showroom and the dining room is lined with timbers leftover from that venture. The result combines sauna vibes, with the clean lines of Japanese architecture. The menu is short and sweet and, while it is à la carte, at booking, you are notified that there is a minimum spend of $100 per person. Which, given the quality of the food, service and experience, is entirely reasonable.
Small snacks such as a hemp seed cracker topped with a generous wedge of albacore tuna and a smear of Espelette peppers and a plate of colourful pickles including white asparagus and tomatillos with a delicate shiso vinaigrette cleanse the palate before transitioning into larger dishes. A grilled rice cake is wonderfully dense and chewy, topped with a chunky spring onion sauce, thinly shaved celtuce and a flurry of bright yellow bottarga. The salty pop of the bottarga is a counterpoint to the subtlety of the rice and celtuce.
Burgess made his name when he opened Garagistes in 2010 and was the first restaurant in Australia to serve natural wines. The ground-breaking and much-loved eatery gained two hats, before closing in 2015. Since then, Burgess has teased Hobartians with various pop-up ventures and his many fans are thrilled he’s found a permanent home. In addition to the 10-seat restaurant, there’s an elegant private dining room upstairs and on Tuesday nights the table disappears and a Tachinomi (a wine bar) with small bites rises in its place.
Ruby-hued, thinly sliced and impossibly tender venison carpaccio from Eaglehawk Neck is served with roasted poblano and bullhorn peppers in shades of red and green, with a slightly sweet vinegar dressing. Our final savoury dish is meaty swordfish, served with a smooth tomato velouté and finely shaved fennel. By this stage in the evening, ably abetted by seamless and efficient service from manager Millie Oxley, in addition to an extensive drinks list featuring European and Australian wines, sakes and spirits, the table is talking together and plans are being made for pub catch-ups.
An evening here is low-key, subtle and superb.
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