At Bar Clarry in Launceston, the details are designed to make you stay a little longer. Vinyl turns in the background, Tasmanian produce arrives at the table, wine is poured, and conversation is given room to unfold.
For founder Hannah Bradley, that feeling has roots far beyond the restaurant. Travel introduced her to different ways of gathering around food, from the unhurried rhythm of Italy to the attention to ingredients and detail she found in Japan. What stayed with her was not simply what people ate, but what happened around the table.
There is a more personal thread running through the room, too. Bar Clarry was named after Bradley’s father, an avid record collector, and the vinyl playing throughout the venue keeps a small part of him present while new memories are made around it.
That mixture of memory, generosity and a little mischief defines Bradley’s approach. The menu can move from Tasmanian produce to chicken nuggets with caviar and crème fraîche; the turntable from French disco to 70s soul. The intention is less about formality than creating somewhere people can settle in and lose track of time.
Good Hours spoke with Hannah about her father’s influence, the places that shaped her approach to hospitality, why nostalgia belongs on the menu, and her hope that Bar Clarry will ultimately be remembered not for a particular dish, but for a particular feeling.
A Place to Groove and Gather
You describe Bar Clarry through the philosophy of “groove and gather.” What does that idea mean to you personally, and how has it shaped the venue?
Hannah Bradley: For me, “groove and gather” is really about creating a place where people can let their shoulders drop. It’s the combination of good food, good wine, great music and the people around the table.
I wanted Bar Clarry to feel social and a little bit nostalgic, but not precious. Somewhere you could come in for a quick drink and end up staying for dinner, or sit down for dinner and somehow find yourself still there three hours later.
It has shaped almost every decision we’ve made, from the food and wine to the vinyl, the lighting and even the way the room feels. It’s about creating atmosphere without overthinking it. You gather, you eat, you drink, you listen, you talk and hopefully you have a bloody good time.
You’ve said that food is a universal language. Was there a particular experience during your travels that first made you realise how powerfully food can connect people?
Hannah: I don’t think there was one single moment. It was more something I kept experiencing as I travelled.
You can walk into a restaurant anywhere in the world without speaking the language and still understand what is happening when someone puts a beautiful plate of food in front of you. You share food, pour each other wine, sit around a table and suddenly there’s a connection.
Some of the most memorable meals I’ve had weren’t necessarily the most expensive or elaborate. They were the ones where there was generosity, noise, people lingering and a feeling that you were welcome. That has stayed with me far more than any particular dish.
That’s something I’ve found at Bar Clarry too. I genuinely love making friends with our guests. I’ve met some incredible people already, and I love those conversations that start with someone sitting down for dinner and end with you feeling like you’ve known them for years.
I’m also incredibly passionate about meeting winemakers and hearing their stories and journeys. There are so many fascinating people behind the bottles we pour, and I love being able to share those stories with our guests.
For me, that’s hospitality too. It’s connecting people with people, not just people with food and wine.
What Travel Leaves Behind
Having lived in Papua New Guinea, spent time in Japan and travelled extensively, which places or dining experiences have had the strongest influence on the way you approach hospitality today?
Hannah: I was actually in Papua New Guinea as a very small child, so while it’s part of my story, I wouldn’t say I have the same conscious memories of hospitality there as I do from places I’ve travelled as an adult.
Japan has definitely influenced me in terms of respect for ingredients, attention to detail and the idea that simplicity can be incredibly beautiful. But I’d say Italy has probably had one of the strongest influences on me, having spent a lot of time there over the years.
I love the Italian approach to food and hospitality. There’s a real sense that eating isn’t something you simply fit into your day. It is part of the day. You sit down, you talk, you eat, you drink, you order another bottle and nobody seems particularly concerned about how long it’s taking.
Europe generally has influenced me enormously in that respect. A meal doesn’t have to be complicated or overly formal to be memorable. It can be incredibly simple but still feel special because of the atmosphere, the people, the wine and the time you give it.
I think travelling has taught me that hospitality isn’t really about having the fanciest room or the most complicated menu. It’s about generosity, curiosity and making people feel welcome.
That’s something I’ve tried to bring into Bar Clarry.
Bar Clarry has a distinctly intimate, European-inspired atmosphere. What did you want guests to feel the moment they walked through the door?
Hannah: I wanted people to feel like they’d discovered somewhere.
Not somewhere overly polished or intimidating, but somewhere with personality. Somewhere that felt like it had been there forever, even though it was new.
I love those European bars and restaurants where you can walk in at 6pm and have absolutely no idea what time you’re going to leave. There’s music playing, people are eating, someone is ordering another bottle and the table next to you has somehow become part of the evening.
That’s the feeling I wanted. Familiar, slightly glamorous, a little bit naughty and very welcoming.
Tasmania, Nostalgia and a Sense of Humour
Tasmania has such a strong identity around produce and seasonality. How do local ingredients influence the way you develop the menu?
Hannah: Tasmania makes that part pretty easy because the produce is so bloody good.
We try not to overcomplicate things. When you have beautiful Tasmanian produce, the job is often just to treat it properly and let it be the hero.
But there’s also a really strong nostalgic element to the food at Bar Clarry. We love taking things that people already know and love and giving them a slightly grown-up Bar Clarry treatment, without making them so fancy that you forget what they were in the first place.
We have fancy chicken nuggets on the menu, a boujee little party pie, and scallop gyoza served with a curry sauce, which is our slightly cheeky nod to the great Tasmanian curry scallop pie.
I love that balance. You can have beautiful Tasmanian produce and thoughtful cooking, but you can also eat a chicken nugget with a glass of Champagne. There are no rules at Bar Clarry.
The menu moves with what’s available, and we’re constantly looking at what is coming into season, what our producers are doing and what feels exciting. There’s also room for influences from elsewhere, particularly Mediterranean and Asian flavours, but the foundation is very much Tasmanian.
I suppose the easiest way to describe it is nostalgic food, grown up a little, but never snobby.
I love that contrast. Local produce, worldly influences, a bit of nostalgia and a healthy sense of humour.
The Records in the Room
Music, particularly vinyl, is an important part of the Bar Clarry experience. Why vinyl, and what does music add to a night at the venue?
Hannah: Vinyl is incredibly personal to me because it was a massive part of my dad’s life. He was an avid record collector, so there’s a really beautiful connection between the music at Bar Clarry and the man we named the venue after.
It feels like a little piece of him is in the room.
I also love the humanity of vinyl. There’s something about physically choosing a record, putting it on, hearing that little crackle and knowing that someone has to get up and turn it over. It’s imperfect and tactile, and I think that suits Bar Clarry.
Music can completely change the personality of a room. You can have exactly the same food, wine and people, but change the music and suddenly it becomes a completely different night.
At Bar Clarry, it’s not background music. It’s part of the experience. We want the room to have a groove of its own.
And I think there’s something quite lovely about knowing that the music playing in the room has a connection to my dad, while also creating something completely new.
Do you personally choose the records played at Bar Clarry? If so, what might we hear spinning on the turntable during a typical evening?
Hannah: Yes, I’m pretty involved in what gets played, although I love giving other people the opportunity to put their own stamp on the room too.
It depends on the night and where we’re at in the evening. You might hear French disco, Italian funk, 70s soul, a bit of jazz, something wonderfully cheesy from the 80s or a record that you completely forgot existed but suddenly makes perfect sense at 9pm with a glass of wine in your hand.
We’ve also had DJs come in and play, and I love giving them the freedom to choose their own adventure. I don’t want to dictate exactly what someone should play. I want them to bring their own expression and energy into the room.
Some of those DJs will be back to grace us again over summer, which I’m really looking forward to.
I don’t want the music to feel like a carefully curated museum exhibition. There should be a little bit of chaos, personality and fun in it.
Giving People a Reason to Stay
Your Supper Club evenings bring food, wine, music and conversation together. What do you hope happens when people are given permission to slow down?
Hannah: We’re actually launching our Supper Club this month, so it’s something we’re really excited to explore.
The idea is to create an excuse for people to slow down and spend time together.
We’re so used to eating quickly, checking our phones and moving on to the next thing. There’s something lovely about creating an evening where the whole point is simply to sit at the table, eat, drink, listen to music and talk.
That idea is at the heart of Bar Clarry generally. We’re not trying to get people in and out. We want them to stay.
Hospitality can easily become focused on trends, awards and what is new. How do you protect the sense of authenticity and intimacy you originally wanted Bar Clarry to have?
Hannah: By remembering why we opened it in the first place.
There will always be trends, and of course it’s exciting to be part of the industry and see what’s happening, but I’m not interested in changing Bar Clarry every five minutes because something is fashionable.
For me, authenticity comes from having a strong point of view and sticking to it.
The food, the wine, the music, the room and the service all need to feel like they belong together. If we’re doing something because we genuinely love it, rather than because Instagram says we should, we’re probably on the right track.
You’ve said that the best venues are remembered for how they make people feel. When someone leaves Bar Clarry at the end of the night, what do you hope stays with them?
Hannah: I hope they leave feeling like they had a really bloody good night.
Not necessarily because they ate the most technically impressive dish of their life, but because they laughed, drank something delicious, heard a great song, stayed longer than they intended and had a moment with the people they were with.
I also want them to feel like they belong there.
If someone walks out thinking, “Wow, I love that place,” then we’ve done our job.
Steak Frites on a Thursday
Is there a dish, bottle of wine or record that currently captures the spirit of Bar Clarry particularly well?
Hannah: Steak Frites, our boujee chicken nuggets with caviar and crème fraiche or Clarry Sauce (kind of like a comeback sauce or even a Big Mac sauce), Bellabonne Bis bubbles or Sonnen LDR.
Steak Frites on a Thursday.
It has become our biggest night and, in a really lovely way, it’s becoming one of the things people associate with Bar Clarry.
There’s something incredibly Bar Clarry about it. Great steak, proper frites, a beautiful sauce, a bottle of wine, music playing and people settling in for the night. It’s simple, generous and a little bit indulgent.
But I think the menu as a whole probably captures us best. We can put a beautiful Tasmanian ingredient on a plate and treat it with real care, and then on the next page there’s a fancy chicken nugget or a boujee party pie.
We take nostalgic foods and give them a grown-up spin, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously.
You can eat scallop gyoza with curry sauce as our nod to a Tasmanian curry scallop pie, drink a beautiful bottle of wine and have a record spinning in the background. That combination of nostalgia, good produce, music and a little bit of mischief feels very Bar Clarry to me.
A Feeling Rather Than a Dish
Looking ahead, what would you like to explore next with Bar Clarry, creatively or experientially?
Hannah: I think there’s still so much room to play.
We’re continuing to explore the idea of Bar Clarry as more than just a restaurant or wine bar. We want to create evenings and experiences that give people a reason to come back and discover something different.
Supper Club will officially begin this month, which is something I’m really excited about, and we’ll keep developing our wine, food and music experiences around that idea of gathering.
I’m also really interested in continuing to build relationships with winemakers, producers, musicians and our guests. Some of the most exciting things that have happened at Bar Clarry have come from those relationships and conversations rather than from a big formal plan.
Longer term, I’d love Bar Clarry to become known for a particular feeling rather than just a particular dish.
A place people come to Launceston and say, “We have to go to Bar Clarry.”
And honestly, if we can build that kind of loyalty while still having fun, playing records, feeding people ridiculously well and drinking good wine, I’ll be pretty happy.
That feeling runs through the smallest details: a record chosen by hand, a familiar dish given an unexpected turn, another bottle opened because nobody is quite ready to leave. Bar Clarry is built around food and wine, but Bradley’s idea of hospitality is ultimately about what happens between people when there is somewhere — and enough time — to gather.
Discover Bar Clarry.
Hannah Bradley and Bar Clarry: Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Hannah Bradley?
Hannah Bradley is the founder and owner of Bar Clarry in Launceston, Tasmania. Her approach to hospitality draws on travel, food, music and the idea of creating spaces where people have time to connect.
What is Bar Clarry?
Bar Clarry is a Launceston wine bar and restaurant centred on Tasmanian produce, wine, vinyl and relaxed hospitality. Bradley describes its philosophy as “groove and gather.”
Why does Bar Clarry play vinyl?
The connection is personal for Bradley. Her father, after whom Bar Clarry was named, was an avid record collector. She also values the tactile nature of vinyl and considers music part of the experience of the room rather than background sound.
What influences the food at Bar Clarry?
The menu is grounded in Tasmanian produce while making room for Mediterranean and Asian influences. Nostalgia and humour are important too, with familiar foods given a distinctly Bar Clarry interpretation.
Website: https://www.barclarry.com.au