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From casual cafes to classic trattorias, the award-winning actress shares her favourite places to eat out around Australia – and the dishes she loves to cook at home.
Award-winning Australian actress Marta Dusseldorp grew up in Melbourne, but now calls Tasmania home, having moved there seven years ago for a sea change. The producer and star of ABC TV series Bay of Fires – filmed mostly on the west coast of Tassie – hasn’t slowed down since she left the mainland with her family.
Dusseldorp, a Victorian College of the Arts graduate who worked as a waitress in St Kilda and South Yarra in her 20s, went on to become a household name by the early 2000s – appearing in hit TV series including Jack Irish, The Crownies and A Place to Call Home.
These days, Dusseldorp travels to Sydney and Melbourne regularly for work, and always tries to visit her favourite restaurants in each city, as well as those in her adopted hometown, Hobart.
Eating out
Top in Tasmania
My favourite restaurant in Hobart is Ogee. They use only fresh produce that they source locally. I also love The Agrarian Kitchen in New Norfolk. They have their own garden and source most of what they cook from here. The dishes change regularly with the season all the day as its seasonal produce. The wine-pairing is fabulous.
Favourites in Hobart
The Raincheck Lounge Cafe is a gorgeous, laid-back cafe that I would take the kids to before school. It was always pancakes and a flat white. The coffee is always good here.
The Pigeon Hole cafe in West Hobart is where I order eggs on toast with locally
made bacon which is next level. We also love to dine for yum cha at Me Wah in Sandy Bay. It’s where I tried chicken feet with my husband Ben for the first time. He started ordering it and I thought I can’t possibly do that! The sauce is different at each place you order it from, but Ben was right, I do love it now.
Restaurant Maria on Brooke Street Pier is a good place for lunch. Go with a set menu – it’s Greek style and all sourced locally and has the same chef from the award-winning Aloft. It’s more casual in setting and value for money and looks out at the water.
Favourite Hobart bars
Mary Mary is a good looking bar within The Tasman Hotel that makes the best negronis and martinis in town. We feature the bar in season two of Bay of Fires.
I also like to drop into Sonny for a negroni and Lucinda for delicious snacks
and to enjoy their wine bar. They make fresh plates of cheese and match wine with charcuterie meats. The Den in Salamanca is also good for drinks.
Favourite place to eat in Australia
I love Cicciolina in St Kilda in Melbourne. I have been going there since I was a young waitress and student at VCA. I’d go here for bowl of cheap pasta when I worked around the corner, and then head up to now closed George Bar on Fitzroy street for drinks afterwards.
Every time I go to Melbourne, I pop in to Cicciolina to see Barbara and order their paper bag vongole and have a martini in the back bar. We celebrated the commissioning of season one of Bay of Fires there, and dined after we finished filming season two. It’s my absolute go-to. The same waitresses are still there, they know you by name and take care of you. The crab souffle is another must.
Melbourne eats
Two Birds One Stone cafe in South Yarra. It’s always their poached eggs on toast with avocado and lemon. They also serve the best coffee. Journal Cafe in Flinders Lane serves excellent coffee too. I always take the specials from the board – it’s a no-brainer and changes every time I am there.
When in the city, it’s a bowl of pasta and a lemon granita at Pellegrini’s and a visit to Lamaro’s Hotel in South Melbourne for margaritas and negroni
cocktails.
Sydney eats
Our family love the yum cha at Palace Chinese restaurant in Sydney’s CBD. You go upstairs, it’s always packed and you’re guaranteed fresh food. I always order chicken feet, siu mai and pork buns. I hang here for hours and drink way too much jasmine tea. For drinks, it’s Bar Sopra in Potts Point for the margaritas.
In her younger years, Marta worked at Bill Granger’s cafe bill’s as a waitress. She especially loved the famous ricotta hotcakes.
“I go there every time I visit Sydney and feel especially nostalgic to do so,” she says. “I find I have become even more loyal to Bill and his brand. His loss was so devastating. He was always very kind and it was easy to work there because you were guaranteed an amazing lunch.”
Eating in
Signature dish at home
I cook home-made lasagne for my daughter Grace – it’s layered with pork, veal and lamb bolognese, fried rice for Maggie and osso buco for my husband, Ben. If I am in a particular mood, I will make home-made pasta. What I like to eat is irrelevant, it’s all about making the family happy!
My guilty pleasure
Brownies. They are super easy to make and I try and do flourless ones that are gooey and mushy and add walnuts to them.
The kitchen wisdom I live by
Clean as you go. That is how I have remained married. The feedback was I use more pots than is humanly possible, so now I try and keep it clean.
Bay of Fires season 2 airs on ABC TV on Sundays at 8pm and is also available to stream on ABC iview.
