Dana Eating House is a modern South-East Asian restaurant. Good hospitality is their driving passion – good food, booze & company!

They are a large format restaurant that encourages fun and lively dining, but they know how to tailor the pace and create a relaxed or intimate setting.

Our interview

Originally published on 30 July 2020.

Adding to our wonderful foodie scene in Hobart is Dana Eating House, who open their doors this Saturday.

Bringing a South-East Asian mix to the city, rest assured this place is going to be good. The Hello Hobart team went along prior to opening this week so we could report back. We have to admit, we were hanging out all week to try it and it didn’t disappoint. The food, team and atmosphere were superb.

The Dana team know hospitality and they know it well, co-owned by brothers Ollie and Dan, the menu focuses on Asian cuisines which are under-represented in Hobart.

“I am excited to share this food culture with Hobart”, said Manager Mikaela.

The team have a unique philanthropic business model too. For every meal, they are making a donation to a local charity, where they will share the love around by mixing the charities up regularly. There is an option to match the donation from the Dana team at the completion of your meal, or make a donation of your choice.

The team are currently supporting Mara House, a local 24-hour accommodation for young women aged 13-20 who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

“We wanted to give back to our community. After much deliberation, we have decided this is a nice way to provide a way of donating. There is absolutely no pressure to donate, but if customers wish to make even a small donation, it all helps”

What to expect from the food? Share style plates and the lovely staff are super helpful to work out how many plates you might require without going hungry or going the other way and wasting food.

A Hello Hobart favourite was the Vietnamese doughnuts. These savoury delights are divine and as we chatted to the team at Dana, they seem to be a fave amongst the crew too.

We followed this with the Drunken Lemongrass Chicken which had a phenomenal glaze and house kimchi. Top it off with a fresh rice noodle salad and some vegan dumplings and you really have the perfect evening feed.

The menu is made for all sorts of options including vegan, gluten free, vegetarian and dairy free. There is also a chef’s feed me option if you would rather let the team pick and choose a bit of everything for you.

This team, like many others in the hospitality industry in Hobart, were impacted by the pandemic. They had signed their lease for the premises just days before the impact really hit Tassie.

“We have such a wonderful hospitality community here in Hobart. So many people have put their hand up to help us out, particularly during these tough few months of the pandemic, we couldn’t have done it without them. And now we are just so excited to be opening”, said Mikaela.

Located in the former Italian Pantry site, you can find Dana Eating House at 131 Murray Street. Bookings can be made on their website.