Fico

Fico is a restaurant on Macquarie Street in Hobart, Tasmania, run by the owner-chefs Federica ‘Freddy’ Andrisani and Oskar Rossi. Its set menus join Italian cooking with Tasmanian produce.

Andrisani, whose roots are in Naples, and Rossi met in the kitchen of El Coq, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Vicenza. In Hobart they began with a pop-up meant to run for a month, which grew into Fico in 2016. It started in the manner of a neighbourhood bistro and has since become a more elaborate dining room; the couple, who call their style fun-dining, were married in the restaurant. For its tenth year they brought back dishes from the past and worked them into the set menus, and Gourmet Traveller kept Fico among the best restaurants in Tasmania in 2026.

Walls in mustard, maroon and forest green carry art, much of it by the Tasmanian artist Tom Samek, Rossi's father, whose work includes the tables made for the room. Timber, fresh flowers and plenty of plants complete it. Amari and grappa are plentiful on the drinks list alongside vermouth, and the wine list runs to 410 bottles. The couple also run Pitzi, a casual wine bar that serves food in the Fico manner.

The main menu is a nine-course set in two versions, Classic and Gourmand, the second adding caviar and truffle. Dishes have included a quail en croûte, a chawanmushi with eggplant and tuna, grilled wild-shot venison and a crème caramel made with buffalo milk. A tortello filled with liquefied tomato and set in a cream of buffalo mozzarella with one leaf of basil recalls a margherita pizza, and saffron pappardelle has come with Tasmanian sea urchin and fennel. Wild hare from the Midlands and Tasmanian buffalo ricotta come from farmers the restaurant names, and the Japanese custard beside the Italian pasta shows how freely the kitchen reads its European base.