It was just over ten years ago when restaurateur Lucy Baker first laid eyes on a warehouse in the northern Hobart suburb of Moonah. It was a cold, empty shell with bare concrete panel walls and a steel roof, but Lucy saw potential in the gritty industrial site and took a risk, against all advice, to open a restaurant there. Back then, the Hobart dining scene was centred around the CBD, concentrated around Salamanca Place. No one ventured to eat in the city’s north. A decade on, St Albi is a leading light on the southernmost capital’s food scene. And business is booming.
How did you get into hospitality?
It all began when I was young. My parents moved our family to Hobart where they purchased the historic Duke of Wellington Hotel. Although life eventually took me back to Melbourne with my mum, hospitality remained a constant thread through my dad’s career. And, in many ways, mine. During school holidays, I would visit my dad (former VFL player Gary Baker) and go to the nightclub within the Duke when it was closed. I would get behind the bar and put glasses through the glass washer and pretend I owned the place. Years later, in my late twenties, I returned again one summer. Dad had bought the popular Rockwall Bar and Grill. He was short-staffed at a function one night and asked me to help. I had no experience. It was nerve-wracking, chaotic, but I was hooked.
What made you open St Albi in Moonah?
I never set out to own my own restaurant but there was a sliding doors moment. Dad took me to a warehouse he owned in Moonah, between the CBD and MONA. It’s an area defined by good, hardworking people. A suburb with honest, industrial, gritty real-life character. Dad looked me in the eye and told me that I had a natural flair for hospitality and that I should have a crack at doing something on my own. Moonah then was not the natural place for a restaurant. When we first floated the idea, people thought we were crazy. “No one eats north of the flannelette curtain,” they said. But I’d seen the transformation of industrial precincts like Collingwood and Abbotsford in Melbourne. I knew that same sense of revival could happen here too.
What should we expect at St Albi?
A warehouse style space – big, open and buzzing with energy. Everything is on show. It’s welcoming with amber lighting, which offsets the industrial concrete walls. Black leather and timber seating, with timber tables and a huge long bar through the middle. It feels like the home you would love to design. Smooth, attentive service, that makes you feel wanted.
Tell us about the menu.
St Albi is contemporary dining at its finest. We serve modern Australian cuisine with a focus on the grill, offering exceptional food that’s approachable. Our menu has roots in the 1980s, when a Cajun rub on a steak served on a sizzling plate was all the rage – a nod to my mum’s influence at The Duke of Wellington. While we’ve moved away from that sizzling plate, our signature steak rubs remain. We celebrate the taste of Tasmania with seafood chowder, fresh fish of the day and other local produce, while also embracing Asian influences, like our Sichuan fried squid. We are a place where people come for everyday occasions and milestone celebrations.
You’re known for your hospitality.
St Albi is hospitality. When I train our staff, it’s all about feeling. How we make people feel, how we carry ourselves, our body language, how we communicate with guests and each other. I focus on values. I tell our team that when a customer walks in, we are all on 100 points. Every one of us is responsible for maintaining those points. If we don’t greet a guest immediately, that’s minus ten points. If they’re not seated or offered water promptly, that’s another ten. When points are lost, it’s our job to work hard to earn them back. Good service starts before anyone even walks through the door. The garden must be tidy, the footpaths swept. Our team is incredible. Many have been with us almost since St Albi opened 10 years ago. I can teach someone to clear a table or pour wine, but I can’t teach empathy or heart.
Favourite cuisine
I love modern Australian restaurants that tell a story — that have a real sense of identity, and where every detail has been thought through, from the bathroom to the cocktail list.
Favourite ingredient
I love fresh herbs. They have so much taste and flavour, come straight from the earth and can change a dish fundamentally.
Favourite beer
A crisp lager on a hot day — or any day, for that matter — is refreshing and brings people together.
Favourited wine
A beautiful cool-climate Tasmanian pinot noir — it goes with so many styles of food, or you can simply enjoy a glass on its own.
Favourite place in Tasmania
My favourite place in the world is Possum Bay. Mum and Dad bought a shack on the beach in 1987. I spent my childhood there playing beach cricket, jetty jumping and eating ice cream on hot days. I take my kids there now and look at the same rockpools I did.
