Cut into the rolling hills of Tasmania’s countryside, this intimate restaurant is a tribute to all that’s good in Tasmania. Guests must enter through an enclosed foyer to reach the warm, sun-kissed dining room (seating only 16 guests), which offers exceptional views of Hell Fire Bluff and Maria Island beyond. Van Bone’s menu takes guests on a journey of up to 14 courses, showcasing Tasmania’s finest from the surrounding land and sea, along with produce harvested daily from their onsite orchards and evergreen market gardens. The all-Tasmanian drinks menu completes this exemplary, small-scale dining experience.
Time Out Australia
The 17 best restaurants in Australia right now
Plan your trip around a meal at one of our country’s finest and fanciest restaurants
February, 2024
By Melissa Woodley
Australian dining is never a static playing field. Lead just as much by cultural influences as it is by the seasons - a cadre of Chefs redefining the dining experience, merging home-grown traditions with global culinary trends. Join us on a gastronomic adventure where we shine a spotlight on the artisans and their eateries that are shaping Australian cuisine….
Van Bone, nestled in the scenic backdrop of Marion Bay, is an embodiment of Tasmania's pristine culinary landscape. Chef Timothy Hardy, with a repertoire honed in the kitchens of acclaimed restaurants across Australia and Europe, presents a menu that's a dialogue with the local terroir.
The restaurant, a minimalist architectural marvel, mirrors its ethos of small-scale, intimate dining. Hardy's menu, influenced by his experiences in kitchens like Vasse Felix and Brae, is a tribute to Tasmania’s rich produce, crafted with techniques that are both ancient and innovative.
These Chefs and their establishments are not just dining venues; they are culinary canvases where stories of soil, sea and season are told through each plate. They stand at the forefront of a movement that's reshaping Australian cuisine, marrying the richness of local produce with the flair of global culinary traditions. Every meal becomes a journey. Each dish is a narrative. These mavericks of cuisine capture the essence of a land rich in flavour.
Age Good Food Guide
Exploring Australia’s Frontier: Meet the chefs shaping the
nation’s dining scene
January, 2024
By Joseph Steele
In the rolling hills of Marion Bay lies Van Bone restaurant on Marion Bay Road sitting quietly within the landscape utilising the ever-changing seasons. Offering an intimate dining experience creating a story of time in this place, this small-scale country restaurant boasts a minimal intervention ethos and carefully crafted architecture, along with a menu cooked with fire in a wood oven or over a charcoal grill.
Age Good Food Guide
2024 Australian Restaurant Awards
Top in Tasmania, 17 Hats
January, 2024
Faraway, romantic landscapes have often defined this part of the world, but restaurants like Van Bone remind you just how capable the food scene is here. Newlyweds Timothy Hardy and Laura Stucken offer guests an exceptional vignette into rural dining in Tasmania—a chance to detach from everything they might know. “We grow all our produce and pick everything we need on the morning of service”, muses Stucken. Deer tongue lettuce with cured egg yolk is rich and imaginative, while uber-seasonal Mary Washington asparagus bathed in local first-press olive oil highlights the venue’s sustainability ethos and minimising food miles. Did we mention the soul-stirringly magnificent views?
GQ Australia
9 Rural restaurants worth hitting the road for in 2024
January, 2024
By Alex Mitcheson
With views like those framed by the windows running the length of Van Bone's timber-lined dining room, you could serve people Vegemite on toast and they'd still leave happy. Farmland, spectacular coastline, Maria Island hovering in the distance – it's glorious.
Owner and chef Timothy Hardy amplifies the view via a dégustation intensely focused on what's growing and produced nearby, much of it cooked with and flavoured by fire. A volley of snacks might include lobster with deer tongue lettuce finished with shavings of cured egg yolk; grilled blacklip abalone threaded on saltbush skewers; cucumbers speckled with mountain pepper; oysters sprinkled with smoked mackerel hot sauce. It's smart, skillful cooking that never forgets deliciousness from trevalla served with a fermented green tomato to blueberry and fig-leaf granita.
The all-Tasmanian wine list, warm-hearted service by Hardy's partner Laura Stucken and an easy 50-minute drive from Hobart ensure Van Bone's must-do status.
Gourmet Traveller 2023 Annual Restaurant Guide
Top 95 Restaurants in Australia,
Top 5 in Tasmania
August, 2023
To welcome Spring Van Bone are hosting the power couple Nat from Bellebonne along with Hugh from Wellington & Wolfe from Tasmania's Tamar Valley to pour matched wines from their incredible portfolio - think premium Tassie oysters with world renowned sparkling and riesling and a long lunch of seasonal produce cooked over fire by Tim Hardy.
If you love long lunches, stunning vistas, Tassie beverages and not having to drive, this wine makers series at Van Bone is a day out for you!
Bookings are essential, dietaries and allergies can not be accommodated for this event and semi-communal dining may be experienced on the day. Please note if you prefer a chair as opposed to stool seating.
Set lunch with matched wines and return transport from Hobart is $300 per person, to be paid when booking and is non refundable.
See further Terms and Conditions in the booking link below;
VAN BONE hosts Bellebonne and Wellington & Wolfe wines
at Van Bone Restaurant
Saturday 1pm, September 16th 2023
This Winter, Van Bone is hosting local vigneron Max from Anim Wines too curate a matched wine offering from his collection.
For our first event at Van Bone we are keeping our venue intimate, seating just one lunch sitting at 1pm till 5pm with return transport from Hobart. Please email admin@vanbone.com.au if you wish to picked up from Sorell or Forcett if you are closer to Van Bone.
Bookings are essential, dietaries and allergies can not be accommodated for this event and semi-communal dining may be experienced on the day. Please note if you prefer a chair as opposed to stool seating.
Set lunch with matched wines and return transport from Hobart is $300 per person, to be paid when booking and is non refundable.
See further Terms and Conditions in the booking link below;
VAN BONE hosts ANIM WINES
at Van Bone Restaurant
Saturday 1pm, August 19th 2023
This Winter, Walk Maria Island with the Maria Island Luxury walking company , then dine with us all inclusive in a 3 day weekend package!
This August, the multi-award winning Maria Island Walk pair their small-group walk with us, for a walk and wine experience to tantalise the senses!
Choose from one of two August dates:
Friday 4 to Sunday 6 August 2023
Friday 11 to Sunday 13 August 2023
Departing Hobart on the Friday morning, guests are transferred to Darlington on Maria Island staying at heritage-listed Bernacchi House as the weekend’s home base.
Over the three days, enjoy an invigorating blend of daily walks, mountain summits, and getting up close to the island’s variety of incredible wildlife. On the Sunday, stop for a long lunch experience at the award-winning Van Bone restaurant with a menu designed by Executive Chef Tim Hardy, alongside his partner and restaurant manager, Laura Stucken.
Enjoy a two-hour long lunch with a series of courses, including paired Tasmanian beverages to complement plated courses.
For enquiries or to book, please contact the Wild Bush Luxury reservations team on:
E: mariaisland@wildbushluxury.com
T: +61 (0)2 9030 6216
Winter Weekend Escape 2023
Walk Maria Island and Dine with Van Bone
Offering an intimate dining experience in the rolling hills of Marion Bay, Van Bone has seen a meteoric rise to 17 Chef Hats, from 14 in 2022.
Age Good Food Guide 2023
17 Hats
“This rustic outdoor long lunch and garden experience by The Summertown Aristologist and the Van Bone team from Tasmania (best destination restaurant Gourmet Traveller 2022) will unfold in a Basket Range valley on the Lucy M estate.
The afternoon will feature talks from the restaurant’s gardener and local winemakers, plus the chance for guests to get their hands dirty harvesting and planting veggies. Learn about the produce driven food and natural wine that makes this pocket of the Adelaide Gills so special.
A shared long-table lunch with several courses and matched wine from Lucy M, Commune of Buttons and Chateau Come Ci Come Ca - the three producers involved in The Summertown Aristologist. The day’s menu will be based on garden produce and local, organically farmed proteins cooked on fire pits.”
Tasting Australia 2023
Regional Event - Adelaide Hills -
The Summertown Aristologist in the patch
Friday May 5th - 2023
“Take Town Square Kitchen - but make it express.
We are coming to the party with chefs who cover a suite of culinary bases. Enjoy a main course and glass of wine, catch up with friends, then get back to your day….
Shifting seasons are Tim Hardy’s muse. Van Bone - the intimate restaurant he leads is tucked into a Tasmanian paddock, drawing inspiration from the surrounding landscape. Named best destination dining in the latest Gourmet Traveller awards, it was launched following Hardy’s stints at standout venues including Brae, The Lake House and Garagistes. Now comes Tasting Australia, and a chance for audiences to discover his mastery first-hand.”
Tasting Australia 2023
Town Square - EXPRESS LUNCH
Tuesday May 2nd - 2023
“An open flame conjures magic. It’s there in the glowing coals, the curl of smoke. Autumn evenings invite to drawer closer - and we know just the place.
Expect fire-fuelled mastery as chefs loved for their creative touch get to work in Town Square kitchen. Together Karen Martini, James Lowe and Tim Hardy will craft a menu inspired by the most primal of cooking methods…..”
Tasting Australia 2023
Town Square Dinner - SMOKED
Saturday April 29th - 2023
Tasting Australia 2023
28th April 2023 - 7th May
It would be easy to miss Van Bone. After all, it's a 45-minute drive from Hobart in a town that's really just a dot on the map. It's low-slung and nestled into the gentle slope of a paddock that's also home to a herd of grazing cows. But enter the dimly lit rammed-earth vestibule via a heavy timber door and you begin to get a hint of what's to come – tomatoes on the vine hang from the ceiling for a final ripen, there's a glimpse into the kitchen through a sliver of window and a shaft of light draws you into the dining room.
Best Destination Dining 2023: Van Bone
Gourmet Traveller
Winner
September 2022
A regional restaurant cut into the side of the rolling pastoral hills on the southeast coast of Tasmania, roughly 14 guests are welcomed per service by a rammed earth building, entering via a choreographed foyer. Seated n an intimate timber lined dining room, the landscape and the kitchen are on show.
Best Restaurant Design
Eat Drink Design Awards 2022
Shortlist
August 2022
“Given Laura Stucken’s ease and charm on the floor of Van Bone, the isolated east coast Tasmanian restaurant she co-owns and manages, you’d presume a hospitality background. But you’d only be partly right - Stucken is an interior designer who has worked on numerous hospitality venues (including the renowned Pumphouse Point). Now she’s designed a restaurant of her own and the warmth and elegance of the timber-forward design is the perfect backdrop for the relaxed style she brings to serving Van Bone’s multi-course menu”.
In short: Well designed service.
Restaurant Personality of the Yea
Gourmet Traveller 2023 Shortlist
August 2022
There’s no “just driving past and saw your light on” with Van Bone. This is true destination dining where the restaurant is the sole reason for the hour’s drive from Hobart. Laura Stucken and Tim Hardy handle the pressure of great expectations impeccably at their small jewel of a restaurant with its remarkable east coast views and similarly impressive multi-course menu entirely influenced by the produce in their own gardens and from the small producers who live nearby.
In short: Worth the trip.
Best Destination Dining
Gourmet Traveller 2023 Shortlist
August 2022
THE RAMBLER CO
East Coast Tasmania - Edition 2
Words: Ashleigh Clarke & James Vodicka
Photos: James Vodicka
2022
An intimate Marion Bay dining experience with a unique small-scale approach.
Landline - YouTube
Turning Quiet country towns into foodie destinations
Words and Photos: Jeremy Story Carter
July 2022
Some of the country’s best restaurants are in regional Australia, turning quiet country towns into foodie destinations and offering new opportunities for local producers.
ABC
A NEW FLAVOUR
Words and Photos: Jeremy Story Carter
July 2022
Fine-dining restaurants are increasingly cropping up in regional Australia. The knock-on effects are reshaping towns and communities.
Financial Review
Degustation today is an exploration of the enduring charm of the high-end tasting menu, and the discovery that survival takes many forms.
Words: Jill Duplex
Photo: Adam Gibson
June 2022
Van Bone | Marion Bay
Described as a “restaurant and farm”, Van Bone perches on the sloping hillside of Marion Bay, 50 minutes from Hobart. Tim Hardy and Laura Stucken offer a ruthlessly local and seasonal multi-course menu for 20 diners, with equally local views from the table. 357 Marion Bay Road, Bream Creek, Tasmania
Deep in the weeds
Episode 436: Tim Hardy, VAN BONE
A food podcast with Anthony Huckstep
Words: Anthony Huckstep, Co-Founder and Host Photography: Adam Gibson
April 2022
“Van Bone - Tasmania on a plate
Unsure what he wanted to do for a career chef and restauranteur Tim Hardy (Van Bone, Tasmania) fell into the industry, but soon became enamoured by it’s energy and opportunity. He set about working in regional restaurants across the country that had made not only a mark Australia’s culinary landscape, but captured that sense of place and gave a food identity to their region. Inspired by those that taught him, he headed back to Tasmania where he has created a stunning, bespoke dining experience that puts Tasmania on the plate”.
Qantas
21 Restaurants, Cafes and Bars Australian chefs love
Words: Adam Liston, Shobosho, Adelaide Photography: Adam Gibson
November 2021
“Van Bone, Bream Creek
I recently went to a new restaurant in Tasmanian called Van Bone and it totally blew my mind. My girlfriend picked it so I had no idea what to expect; it’s on a farm about 50 minutes out of Hobart in a place called Bream Creek, run by a young chef called Tim Hardy. It’s very paddock-to-plate with a lot of cooking over fire. My standout was a dish of wood-roasted pumpkin with sea urchin and broth, sounds a bit odd but it was amazing in terms of texture and flavour. There were about 14 courses and near the end I said to my girlfriend, “I really hope they don’t stuff up the last one”. They didn’t”.
Eatable
Volume 05
Words: Lisa Featherby
November 2021
“Hyper-local
A small scale restaurant in Tasmania built from the ground up.
It started as a vacant patch of overgrown grass in one of Tasmania’s most stunning surrounds; the pastoral hills of Marion Bay. Van Bone, a 16 seat restaurant, was literally built from the ground up by chef Tim Hardy and partner Laura Stucken. It’s a place that has real connection to the landscape, where food and wine is served only from small, local organic producer…
The restaurant epitomises small scale, and everything coming through the doors has a real connection to that story, as well as the landscape in which it was grown”.
Eatable
Volume 05
Words: Lisa Featherby
Photography: Luke Burgess
November 2021
“Escargot (pastry snails with Tongola goats curd)
See Eatable magazine Volume 05 for chef Tim Hardy’s recipe.
Unbaked escargot freeze well. If freezing, allow 4 hours to prove before baking. You can also refrigerate in a container for a few hours, or overnight.
For flowers use calendula, nasturtium, borage, marigold, brassica, or broad bean flowers, depending on the season.
Gourmet Traveller
The Top 5 restaurants in Tas
Photography: Adam Gibson
October 2021
“Tasmania’s best restaurants right now
An Italian-Japanese menu, an eatery in a renovated flour mill, and a Marion Bay venue with striking views. These are the hottest restaurants off the mainland, according to our 2022 Restaurant Guide”.
Gourmet Traveller
The Top 80 restaurants in Australia for 2022
Words by Ali’s Davis
Photography: Adam Gibson
October 2021
“Set into a sloping field, Van Bone quietly invites you into its seemingly humble rammed-earth walls, then takes your breath away with extravagant views of Tasmania’s east coast towards Maria Island, framed by a huge picture window. Chef Timothy Hardy works with fire and smoke in the open kitchen, the daily-changing menu focused on closed-loop sustainability with any excess produce fermented, preserved, pickled or turned into sauces and powders. The multi-course set menu might include alpine-style cheese from the nearby Tongola dairy finely grated over a perfectly smoked tomato, followed by a paper-thin sliver of locally grown potato sprinkled with powdered sea flavours. Southern calamari, sliced into paper-thin noodles, is served with a delicate pork broth. Smoked buttermilk ice cream is made from the by-product of the house made butter that’s served with a dense sourdough partway through the meal. The entire experience is uniquely Tasmanian, celebrating the immediacy of the land and sea”.
Gourmet Traveller
BEST NEW RESTAURANT 2022 Finalist.
Words by Joanna Hunkin.
Photography: Adam Gibson
October 2021
“Building a restaurant with a view as spectacular as the one from Van Bone is a clear statement of confidence that the food can compete with the scenery. Chef Tim Hardy’s confidence is not misplaced. What’s happening on the plate in his beautifully minimalistic dining room - ingredients pulled from nearby field and ocean, many flavoured with char and smoke from the wood fire - is small scale and artisan but enhanced by the grand view, not diminished by it”.
In short: Flavour-enhanced view
Gourmet Traveller.
By Alix Davies.
Photography: Adam Gibson
October 2021
“THE LOVELY BONES
A surprising and deeply nurturing experience awaits at Tassie’s new fine diner”.
Vacations & Travel
By Natasha Dragon
Issue #112
September 2021
“An unlikely rural setting outside Hobart proves the perfect perch for the state’s most exciting new restaurant”.
Qantas
By Kirsten Galliot
Photography: Adam Gibson
April 01 2021
“Van Bone Restaurant, a labour of love on the east coast of Tasmania around 45 minutes from Hobart, is set to be the state’s next big thing”.
Broadsheet
By Matt Shea
Photography: Adam Gibson
April 01 2021
“Explore Cape Hauy, Tasman Arch and Devils kitchen by foot with a stop for lunch and wine on the way……..Tasmania’s newest dining spot, Van Bone, is also close by. Seating just 20 diners, the Marion Bay restaurant serves hyper-local 14-course set menus, sourced from Om-site gardens and orchards, and cooked with fire”.
InStyle
Photography: Adam Gibson
March 22 2021
“Cut into the Tasmanian countryside near the panoramic coastal landscape of Marion Bay, is the carefully crafted architecture of Van Bone. This small-scale country restaurant boasts an ethos of minimal intervention, with a divine menu incorporating produce from the surrounding land and sea with the market garden and orchards. Featuring Zone vinyl on beautifully crafted Simon James chairs, this raw, honest and beautiful space delivers a unique dining experience”.
Green Magazine
Text: Tom Bodycomb
Photography: Tamsin O’Neil
March 4 2021
“Take one scenic location, add a dynamic hospitality trio and a local, seasonal menu: that’s Van Bone, the Tasmanian restaurant that deserves a spot on your must-visit list”.
Delicious. EAT OUT
By Max Brearly.
Feb 16 2021