Launceston Street Food

Launceston Street Food

Launceston Street Food is largely influenced by British English cuisine and cooking styles, because Australia formerly was a colony of the United Kingdom. With its vast areas of farmland and proximity to several oceans, most food in Launceston is fresh, sustainably sourced, and natural. Dishes are clean-tasting and kept simple, usually showcasing the natural flavours of the ingredients, and thus have little sauces or dressings.

Seafood And Chips

Food in Launceston is typically found in individual restaurants and cafes. Restaurants and cafes tend to be clustered within an area, typically streets with high traffic. Common ingredients used here include beef, chicken, lamb, fish, prawn / shrimp, oyster, squid, crayfish, lobster, milk, cheese, honey, artichoke, bean sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, cucumber, leeks, asparagus, lettuce, tomato, onion, mushrooms, peas, rhubarb, zucchini, squash, eggplant / aubergine, spinach, corn, apples, bananas, oranges, pears, strawberries, cherries, plums, nectarines, apricots, grapes, pineapple, raspberries, bread, noodles, white rice, potatoes, yoghurt, butter, and more.

It's fairly common for most Launceston families to cook at home, rather than eat-out, as not only is it cheaper, but there isn't a lot of variety of cuisines here. There is however, an up-and-coming cafe / coffee culture, and weekends typically see such establishments fully packed during the day. Seafood restaurants are a highlight as well, and you're usually able to get a good seafood meal at most places.

.....

The farms surrounding Launceston are famed for producing some of the sweetest Apples throughout Tasmania and Australia. The Apple season stretches from January to May, making the fruit readily available during this period. If not eaten on its own, it's used mainly for making jams, desserts, or sauces.

Apple

Beef is a common meat here, and typical cuts include Beef Flank or Beef Striploin. Both are easy to barbecue / grill, and are usually served as the main dish of a meal, seared till a nice medium rare. The Beef Hamburger is another option, where minced beef and herbs are formed into a patty, then grilled and usually served between burger buns.

Beef Flank

Beef Striploin

Beef Hamburger

The Beer Boag's Draught is an American style pale lager, brewed by J. Boag & Son (Lion Co.) in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia. It has a clear, bright golden colour, with aromas of honey, barley malt, lemon, and wheat. The body is smooth, thin, and slick, with tastes of corn, white bread, hops, and cereal. Nice sweetness with a touch of sour bitterness, and a crisp, refreshing finish.

Beer Boag's Draught

Beer Boag's Draught

The Beer Boag's XXX Ale is an English style pale ale, brewed by J. Boag & Son (Lion Co.) in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia. It has a hazy, vibrant amber colour, with aromas of cereal, plum, toffee, and toasted bread. The body is clean, thin, and light, with a medium carbonation, and tastes of wheat, caramel, straw, and lemon. Straightforward sweet sour bitter with a touch of metallic, inoffensive and easy to drink.

Beer Boag's XXX Ale

The Beer Kaiju Krush Tropical Ale is an American style pale ale, a craft beer brewed by Kaiju! Beer in Dandenong, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It has a hazy, bright golden amber colour, with aromas of banana, gooseberry, malt, and orange. The body is light, frothy, and lively, with good carbonation, and tastes of mango, passionfruit, lychee, and pineapple. Bold fruity sweet notes with a crisp yet sticky finish. Very enticing.

Beer Kaiju Krush Tropical Ale

Beer Kaiju Krush Tropical Ale

Similar to the Full English Breakfast, the Aussie Big Brekky is popular in Launceston, mostly eaten on weekends. The Aussie Big Brekky consists of a medley of grilled or pan-fried ingredients, including some or all of the following; crispy pork back bacon rashers with smoky meaty salty savoury fatty flavour, tender roasted potatoes or hashbrowns with starchy salty savoury flavour, bouncy sautéed mushrooms (button, portobello, or cremini) with vegetal earthy salty savoury flavour, fluffy fried eggs with eggy savoury sweet flavour, juicy tomatoes with vegetal sweet smoky flavour, snappy juicy grilled sausages (pork, chicken, or beef) with smoky meaty savoury salty herbal flavour, soft baked beans in tomato sauce with vegetal earthy sweet flavour, or crisp sautéed spinach with vegetal sweet salty flavour. The unique Australian addition is thick vegemite spread on crisp toasted white bread or sourdough bread, carrying herbal salty savoury bready sweet flavour.

Aussie Big Brekky

Aussie Big Brekky

A Chai Latte enhances the flavour of coffee with spices such as cinnamon, resulting in a fragrant sweetness with a hint of spice in the beverage.

Chai Latte

The Cherry Tomato / Cherry Tomatoes here are juicy, crunchy, and bright, with good vegetal sweet flavours. Typically eaten on its own, or as a garnish for a salad.

Cherry Tomato

The Chicken Mushroom Olive Sandwich has toasted and buttered white bread, and sandwiched between, slices of tender savoury chicken, tart black olives, and earthy sauteed button mushrooms. Straightforward, though a rather unusual combination of ingredients that work.

Chicken Mushroom Olive Sandwich

Outside of immigrants from the United Kingdom (England, Ireland, Scotland), the Germans are the largest community here. No surprise that traditional German cuisine, like the Chicken Schnitzel, has found its way into common, everyday meals. Served with a fresh garden salad and piping hot, thick cut English chips, the star is the golden breaded chicken fillet, crisp on the outside, succulent moist and tender on the inside, with good savoury sweet flavour. Accompanied by tomato ketchup for dipping on the side.

Chicken Schnitzel

Ever heard the phrase, 'It tastes like chicken'? That's not true in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia. The Chicken fillets here are large, moist, succulent, and tender, but the real difference is in the sweet savoury grainy flavour. Bold in profile, you can almost taste the wide open fields and farmlands.

Chicken

An Australian Meat Pie is a hand-sized meat pie, containing diced or minced meat, root vegetables, and gravy, in a solid pastry pie crust. Often consumed as a takeaway food snack, it's similar to the British style pie.

The unique Meat Pie Curried Scallop is a Tasmanian regional speciality, due to the ample availability of fresh scallops. This signature dish features tender juicy morsels of deshelled scallops, diced potatoes, white onions, and carrots, in a mild turmeric spiced curry gravy. Served within a crumbly pie pastry crust that is nicely butter glazed. The Meat Pie Curried Scallop has a sweet savoury spice salty flavour. More elaborate versions also include peas, corn kernels, or broccoli. Usually eaten as a light meal or a snack, it's commonly sold in most cafes here. Can be somewhat of an acquired taste.

The Meat Pie Minced Beef is simple and straightforward. It has tender chewy minced beef in a rich meat gravy, within a crisp flaky pie crust. Carries robust meaty salty savoury buttery sweet flavour.

Meat Pie Curried Scallop

Meat Pie Curried Scallop

Meat Pie Curried Scallop

Meat Pie Minced Beef

The farm fresh Egg / Eggs here are readily available, and commonly eaten during breakfast / brunch. Normally served as a side dish, or combined with other ingredients.

Egg

Egg

Egg

Egg

Fresh figs are readily available here, and typically used in baked goods. The Fig & Fennel Bread is a hard crusty bread loaf, stuffed with figs and fennel, which lend it an earthy sweet fresh herbal flavour, complementing the natural grainy bready taste of the bread. Best eaten toasted, as the sugars will caramelise slightly to get it a lovely aroma.

Fig & Fennel Bread

Fig & Fennel Bread

While the British Fish And Chips and the Australian Fish And Chips both use the same English style thick cut chips seasoned with salt and a dash of vinegar, the difference lies in the type of fish used. Australian Fish And Chips are typically made with firm white flesh fish that are common in Australia, such as John Dory, Whiptail Hake, Flathead, Reef Cod, Rock Cod, Flake, Basa Catfish, Blue Grenadier, or Barramundi. The fish is light battered and deep fried, then garnished with a slice of lemon and served with a side of tomato sauce or tartar sauce. It has a crisp exterior, a moist tender flaky interior, and a delicate sweet salty savoury flavour. In Launceston, the most common type of fish used is Blue Eye Travalla, Blue Grenadier, Flake, or Flathead.

Fish And Chips

Fish And Chips

Fish And Chips

The Flourless Orange Cake is a common dessert cake served in most delicatessens or cafes. It's a moist, soft, orange-infused cake with a layer of cream cheese, garnished with orange peel, having a fruity sweet citrus flavour. They tend to make it much sweeter here, and it's best shared.

Flourless Orange Cake

The Gillespie's Ginger Beer is a craft beverage made from a family recipe handed down over 4 generations. It's made with natural filtered rainwater, organic fresh ginger, Tahitian lime, lemon, native Tasmanian pepper berry leaf, yeast, and sugar. This gives it a sweet spice flavour, and the mouthfeel is thin and fizzy. Only 4,500 bottles are made weekly, so it's difficult to find this outside of the state, or even within mass market stores here.

Gillespie's Ginger Beer

Pork is a common meat here, however, it's rarely served in its normal form, often being used to make savoury salty processed meats. By far the most common is Ham, which is often served in sandwiches. The Pork Sausage is fairly common as well, being used in most barbecues or in breakfast dishes. The Spam Luncheon Meat doesn't feature in commercial dishes, it's mostly used for home cooking. The Pork Calabrese Sausage is an artisanal sausage where pork is blended with onions, carrots, celery, garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes, and parsley, giving it a savoury salty herbal spice flavour.

Ham

Pork Sausage

Spam Luncheon Meat

Pork Calabrese Sausage

The Lamington is an iconic Australian dessert common in Launceston. It is a light vanilla or chocolate sponge cake set in a square shape, coated with a thin layer of chocolate icing / chocolate sauce, then covered in desiccated coconut. The Lamington is often served with layers of cream or fruit jam (strawberry or raspberry). It has a soft spongy texture, with bright fruity sweet flavour. Named after Charles Wallace Alexander Napier Cochrane-Baillie 2nd Baron Lamington, or Lord Lamington, though ironically, he actually disliked the dessert, calling it "those bloody poofy woolly biscuits".

Lamington

You can pretty much get a good Latte anywhere in the city, and it's a common drink ordered throughout the day. Nearly all places use locally roasted coffee beans here.

Latte

The Red Royale Potato has a waxy, firm flesh that makes it a good potato for boiling, steaming, or baking. Best paired with salads, eaten as a staple, or mashed. Nice crunchy texture, with a delicate nutty starchy flavour.

Red Royale Potato

The salmon fish is a common farmed fish here, making this fairly affordable on a day-to-day basis. The Salmon Fish Fillet is usually deboned and filleted, then pan-fried till the salmon fish skin turns crispy crunchy, while the flesh still has a nice medium pink colour, with a tender moist flaky texture. Sprinkled with a little salt to complement the natural taste, resulting in a savoury sweet salty flavour of the salmon fish fillet. Typically accompanied with a side salad, coleslaw, roast potatoes, or fries.

Salmon Fish Fillet

The Salmon Salad is a fairly common dish here, with pan-fried or baked salmon fish laid over fresh vegetables. Usually, this salad includes lettuce, tomatoes / cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, black olives / green olives, salt, oregano, lemon juice, and olive oil. Normally served as a main course.

Salmon Salad

The Seafood And Chips feature a basket of battered and deep-fried seafood, served with thick cut English chips sprinkled with salt and a dash of vinegar. Typically, the seafood includes 1 type of firm white flesh fish such as John Dory, Whiptail Hake, Flathead, Reef Cod, Rock Cod, Flake, Basa Catfish, or Barramundi; along with squid, prawns / shrimp, oysters, or scallops. Great for those for like variety in the meal.

Seafood And Chips

Seafood And Chips

The Solo Original Lemon is an Australian lemon-flavoured soft drink, inspired by the traditional 'pub squash', which are fruit flavoured carbonated drinks mixed in a pub.

Solo Original Lemon

The Stir-Fry Mixed Vegetables are a popular Asian side dish, and usually features a medley of various vegetables stir-fried quickly in a base of ginger, garlic, light soy sauce, and vegetable oil. It can include some or all of the following; potatoes, string beans, carrots, button mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, zucchini, cabbage, broccoli, white onions, red onions, bean sprouts, bell peppers / capsicum, water chestnuts, or snow peas.

Stir-Fry Mixed Vegetables

A simple Toast Wholemeal Bread, lightly toasted, and normally used as a base for making sandwiches. Typically eaten during breakfast / brunch here. The toasting brings out the natural aroma of the grains, giving it an enticing scent.

Toast Wholemeal Bread

A renowned brand of premium Tasmanian ice cream for over 20 years, the Valhalla Ice Cream, Lemon Sorbet flavour is made with fresh, filtered Tasmanian water, and locally sourced lemons. Rich with a bold sweet sour flavour, very refreshing on the palate.

Valhalla Ice Cream, Lemon Sorbet

Named for its distinctive shape which resembles the toy, the Yo-Yo Biscuit is a traditional but uncommon Australian confectionery. Made with all-purpose flour, white sugar, vanilla extract, and butter, these crumbly dense baked biscuits sandwich a creamy gooey filling of lemon custard or vanilla custard. Often infused with edible food colouring that lends vibrancy and colour. Bite in and the Yo-Yo Biscuit bursts with floral sweet tangy zesty sour buttery flavour.

Yo-Yo Biscuit

The Beef Scotch Fillet, also known as a Beef Ribeye Steak, is a boneless Beef Steak from the rib section of the cattle. It's prized for its tender juicy succulent texture, especially when done to medium rare doneness. Usually simply seasoned with salt and black pepper, the Beef Scotch Fillet / Beef Ribeye Steak / Beef Steak has robust smoky meaty savoury salty flavour, with a good ratio of beef fat to meat.

Other common cuts of Beef Steak include the Hanger Steak, Ribeye, Porterhouse, Rump, and Eye Fillet. A meal of Beef Steak is typically served with a salad (mesclun or garden), steak-cut British English potato chips, and brown meat gravy.

Beef Scotch Fillet

The Carpet Bag Beef Steak is a classic luxury dish, named after the handbag that was popular with travellers in the 1800s. A thick yet tender juicy beef eye fillet steak cut with robust meaty savoury salty flavour, is stuffed with slippery juicy fresh oysters that hold briny sweet salty flavour, and topped with even more oysters in a light cream sauce that carries milky sweet savoury salty flavour. Accompanied with a fresh garden salad (lettuce, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers / capsicum, cucumber, carrots) with crisp juicy crunchy textures and bright vegetal earthy sweet flavour, and fluffy crisp potato chips that are thick-cut and chunky with lovely starchy salty savoury flavour. The carpet bag beef steak is simply exquisite.

Carpet Bag Steak

Carpet Bag Steak

Carpet Bag Steak

The Chocolate Mud Cake is typically made with chocolate, butter, chicken eggs, white sugar, self-raising flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder. Named for its resemblance to mud, this dessert cake has a dark, dense, and gooey texture, with rich chocolatey sweet bitter flavour.

Chocolate Mud Cake

The French Toast, also known as Pain Perdu, is a dessert dish of sliced white bread soaked in whisked chicken eggs and often milk or cream and spices (white sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla), then pan-fried. The French Toast has a soft chewy texture, with bready eggy sweet savoury spice flavour. It's often served with a variety of toppings, ranging from fruit to ice cream to sauces or jams or spreads.

French Toast

French Toast

French Toast

The Lemon Cake is typically made with milk, butter, lemon juice, lemon zest, baking powder, all-purpose flour, whisked chicken eggs, white sugar, and sometimes plain yoghurt. Often decorated with candied lemon zest, this dessert cake has a soft crumbly moist texture with bright zesty tangy fruity sour sweet flavour.

Lemon Cake

Lemon Cake

The Zucchini And Corn Fritters are a sort of pancake or fritter, made from grated zucchini and corn kernels formed into a patty with whisked chicken eggs, whole wheat flour, salt, milk, and shredded cheddar cheese. Either deep-fried or pan-fried, this has a tender chunky texture with bright vegetal sweet earthy savoury salty flavour. It can be eaten on its own or served with a range of toppings, including mashed chickpeas, tzatziki, potato rosti, or poached eggs.