“TO ME, THIS TASTES like home,” says Elisa Magni, Tuscan-born restaurant manager at Hobart’s hot new Italian diner Peppina, as she places a scoop of tiramisu thicker than a fantasy novel on the table. The dessert, tipsy with Frangelico, sweet Marsala and Hellfire Bluff Coffee Liqueur, is “not how my mother would make it,” says Peppina’s culinary director Massimo Mele, who’s been gradually upping the booze in that recipe since 2003. Although in honour of his family, the Tasmanian-born, Naples-raised chef did name Peppina after his Italian nonna, Giuseppina.

Opening in the last days of 2021 after a three-year wait, Peppina is the flagship restaurant for The Tasman, Australia’s first Marriott Luxury Collection Hotel. Enter via Parliament Square, a public space that’s risen from the rubble of 10 Murray Street, a Brutalist 1960s government building whose contentious demolition made way for the development. To be fair, The Tasman’s U-shaped structure does keep much of the remaining Georgian and Art Deco façade, which wraps around a contemporary glass building.

Of 152 guest rooms, roughly half overlook Hobart’s waterfront, with floor-to-ceiling windows and marble-appointed bathrooms. Those that face leafy St David’s Park offer higher ceilings and natural soundproofing; some boast walk-in robes and fireplaces. All rooms come stocked with an exclusive ‘Docks’ single malt from Lark Distillery and a Two Tonne Tasmania x The Tasman pinot noir.

The Tasman’s hallways are lined with original works by mostly Tasmanian artists. Diane Allison’s landscape of torn local tourism brochures marks the entrance to the Deco Lounge. This is where to kick back with a katsu sando and a spritz, likely surrounded by local MPs who have strolled across the square from Parliament House.

If it’s a stiff drink you’re after, see Ronán Kavanagh at Mary Mary, The Tasman’s bunker-like cocktail bar. It takes its name from the original St Mary’s Hospital, built 1841, and its sandstone walls from government offices that occupied the space from 1862 to 1980. Centrestage sits a curved marble bar with leather armrests. The ceilings are low, floorboards polished, and fireplaces ready to roar.

Kavanagh, originally from Dublin, has lived on the Apple Isle for seven years now, having spent time at Charles Oates Distillery and Willie Smiths, among others. His menu is a “re-imagining” of the classics across time and place. The Apiarist’s Manhattan is made with “ingredients that make sense for 1900s Tasmania,” he says.

That means ‘port’ (David Franz’s Old Redemption XO Tawny) in place of sweet vermouth, and a custom rum blend subbed in for whisky. The cocktail is batched, then aged in a beeswax-lined bottle (giving the drink a viscous edge) before it meets a frosty glass and a fermented local cherry.

Mary Mary also functions as a pre/post dinner stop for Peppina – hosts spirit guests through a hidden doorway that connects the two venues. The restaurant sits 200 diners, with generously spaced tables and great airflow.

There’s no shortage of freshly opened restaurants in Hobart. Peppina, on Salamanca Place, is a contemporary Italian restaurant found in The Tasman, Hobart’s newest and shiniest luxury hotel. At Peppina, chef Massimo Mele’s menu perfectly marries the finest Tassie produce with his Italian style of cooking, think handmade pasta tossed with locally caught crayfish. Divine! If you’re after something a bit more casual but just as delicious, grab a cocktail and a pizza at Ti Ama down at Battery Point.

The menu, which blends Mele’s Italian and Tasmanian heritage, is largely fire-based. Mains include char-grilled rib-eye and local crays alongside handmade pastas, and the antipasti section makes for filling bar snacks. If you order the polpette, (meatballs in rich sugo) tack on the pizza fritta, with dough made from Pigeon Whole sourdough starter, to mop up the sauce.

This may be a hotel venue, but Mele, a self-described “local boy who grew up on the waterfront”, created Peppina for Tasmanians, too. “I want everyone to feel as welcome here as they would be in any Italian home,” he says. “I wouldn’t have named Peppina after someone so special if it wasn’t going to be a special restaurant.”

The Tasman, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Hobart is now open, after debuting late last year as Australia’s first Luxury Collection hotel by Marriott International.

The Tasman is located at: 12 Murray Street, Hobart. For bookings, head to www.thetasmanhobart.com