Lost in Asia — Restaurant in Hobart

✨A standout dining experience — bold flavours, fresh ingredients, and great atmosphere

Dining at Lost in Asia was such a memorable experience. The space is cozy and stylish, with exposed brick, warm lighting, and lush greenery — perfect for a chill night out.

The menu brings Southeast Asian flavours to life with a modern, smoky twist, and every dish we tried hit the mark. But the absolute standout for me was:

🔥 Grilled latchet (baby snapper): Hands down my favourite. This dish was beautifully executed — the fish was incredibly fresh and tender, still juicy inside, but the skin was perfectly crisp and smoky. That contrast between the crunchy outside and soft flesh was just chef’s kiss. You could really taste the charcoal grill, and the caramelised fish sauce and herbs on top brought it all together. It’s the kind of dish I’d come back for again and again.

Other highlights included:

🔥 Betel leaf with wagyu: This took me right back to the Vietnamese dish bò lá lốt — rich, savoury, and packed with fragrant herbs. The Vietnamese sate is spot on. The beef was juicy and well-seasoned. A lovely, nostalgic bite that felt true to its roots.

🔥 Chiang Mai sausage: Authentic and bursting with Northern Thai spices. The pickled cucumber and green labneh were the perfect match to cut through the richness.

🔥 Swordfish skewer: Charred beautifully with a nice firm bite. Simple but full of flavour — nice to start.

🔥 Crispy pork belly: A great balance of textures — crunchy and golden on the outside, soft and melty on the inside. The sauce was rich and tasty, but I’d recommend getting a side of rice or salad to make it a more balanced dish.

Every dish felt like it was made to match my personal taste: bold, smoky, savoury, and fresh with loads of fragrant herbs. Nothing was overly fussy — just great ingredients, smart cooking, and well-balanced flavours. Thanks Chef!

Service was friendly and relaxed, and we never felt rushed. This place is a gem for anyone who loves Southeast Asian food with flair. I’ll...

I started with the guava spritz and friends went with the gin and mangosteen mix which were refreshing and delightful. I had the Cape grim viet style satay and it was cooked at the right level and good flavour.

Then our group had the Ayam Goreng; done in the non-traditional Indo or Malay style but cool fusion version - good crunch texture and tasty spices, edging toward Japanese kara age/Korean style fried chicken. Second dish for our group was the eggplant mapo tofu and we felt was lacking in depth of flavour and missing the slight sweet element.

We then had the pork belly with the sickly sweet sauce which I felt it was over the top and the pork was overly cooked and dry. Rich pork belly and sickly sweet sauce, I think you guys can tweak this dish to be more balanced both in flavor and texture.

Then our group had the Kway Teow which was pleasant, nice char on the noodles and the Chinese sausage, the additional viet mint adds a peppery bites, shortly followed by the green papaya salad which packs decent flavor and the right amount of spiciness.

Lasty, I shared the rice pudding with my partner and thought that because the rice is chilled, it's has gone crunchy rather than smooth which unpleasant texturally. Flavour wise, it was OK, bit one dimensional and the finger lime giving off strong kaffir lime smell and interesting taste.

Service were friendly and attentive and food arrived timely. I'm intrigued to come back to check out other items with our group and perhaps also if there's further improvements with menu, especially with seasonal...

Seems weird to give an overall rating of 4 stars, but 5 on the sections they ask about. The star was lost purely because the menu was hard to decipher without staff help, and the beer selection seemed pretty Tasmanian, not international at all. Having said that, the food was spectacular to the point of not being able to pick a favourite. The big plate of the slow cooked coconut milk ribs were Devine, the betel leaf beef was so good I made everybody order one, and even though only two of us ordered the tartare, everybody had a crack and loved it - even my ultra meat fussy wife who has to have meat cooked just right (ha-ha) and non fatty was into it. At $80 per head, it’s not the cheapest meal in Hobart, but you know what they say about getting what you pay for. Pity there was no warning on the credit card charge. C’mon guys, you can’t tell me you can’t work that 1% into your pricing to not piss me off after I rounded off my bill with a tip to make it an even $400 only to have $404 appear in my bank statement. Sorry staff, but you just lost the tip I would have left for future visits because...