Tricycle Cafe, Hobart

One of Hobart's best cafes is also the most hidden. There are no signs for Tricycle Cafe, and few would think to venture inside the Peacock Theatre foyer in the Salamanca Art Centre to find it. Look for the two tricycles hanging on an inside wall and you'll know you've made it. And look forward to a vibrancy of seasonal dishes featuring local produce and housemade pickles, misos and ferments.


Tricycle Cafe

There's a happy buzzy feel to this cosy cafe, bathed in natural light from the skylights overhead. Amidst the bustle of punters roaming the nearby Salamanca Market, we have to wait several minutes for a table, but cleverly spend it browsing the Bruny Island Cheese shop next door.


Double shot iced coffee with organic ice cream and milk $7

When you finally score a table, you can expect the usual gamut of coffees as well as herbal teas, freshly squeezed juices and a house brewed chai.


Tricycle bloody mary $15

But to really get your metabolism going, you need a Tricycle bloody mary. The amount of hot sauce in this set your whole mouth a-tingle and a good glug of vodka definitely kick-started the batteries.


Brown rice bowl with organic tomatoes, pickles, ferments and greens $19.50

The clipboard menu includes breakfast trifle with poached fruit and yoghurt, baked eggs with spicy black beans and sour cream and sourdough toasties with broccoli, miso and sunflower tahini.

We go straight for the blackboard specials, starting with a brown rice bowl topped with a rainbow of organic tomatoes, pickles and greens. The tomatoes are incredibly juicy and sweet, contrasted against the zingy pickle of turnips and radishes. It's a soul-reviving bowl of goodness.


Avocado with housemade genmai miso and blackbean miso with sourdough $17

Forget about coffee served in an avocado. Tricycle's version is much more tempting, filled with scoops of housemade genmai miso and blackbean miso. There's a complexity of savoury saltiness to each of them. The genmai, or brown rice miso, is my favourite, with its nutty butteriness.

It's a revelatory treat to slather crunch sourdough toast with creamy avocado, the gently salty miso and a scattering of toasted buckwheat.


Organic blueberries on rye $17
with Miellerie honey, Tongola goats curd and market herbs

We finish with one of the loveliest dishes I've ever laid eyes on, It's not because of its elaborate plating or fantastic science but a simple yet elegant presentation of organic blueberries on toasted rye bread.

We savour the sweet and plump blueberries on a blanket of Tongola goats curd drizzled with organic cold extracted Miellerie honey. Mint leaves and edible flowers make the dish pretty as a picture.


Adam James

Not every cafe makes their own miso. Co-owner and head chef Adam James is the passion behind all things fermented at the cafe. James commenced his travelling scholarship this month after winning a Churchill Fellowship to "to study both age old and key new techniques in vegetable and legume fermentation".

He's currently in Italy and will move onto China, Korea and Japan learning about local fermentation techniques. The cafe is continuing to churn out all things fermented. In the meantime, I can't wait to see what James' plans are when he returns.


Breakfast at Tricycle Cafe






Tricycle Cafe & Bar
77 Salamanca Place, Kellys Steps, Hobart, Tasmania
Tel: +61 (03) 6223 7228

Opening hours
Monday to Saturday 8.30am-2.30pm


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