THANA AND KAZUMASA YAZAWA
Tucked away in the tranquil township of Geeveston, just 45 minutes south of Hobart, lies one of Tasmania’s best-kept secrets – a luxurious, deeply personal dining experience created by a chef who once plated for dignitaries in Dubai, high-rollers in Shanghai, and five-star guests in Singapore I f you didn’t look closely on the side of the road for the sign highlighting Cambridge House as you drive through Geeveston, there is every chance you would almost miss it. A beautifully restored Victorian homestead built in 1870 by the town’s founder John Geeves, this heritage-listed building was previously transformed into a boutique bed and breakfast. Then during the height of Covid, Chef Kazumasa Yazawa – who has worked in Michelin-starred restaurants across Japan, Singapore, and Australia – and his wife Thana were looking for an escape from Jakarta. The couple bought the property unsighted, and moved their life and young daughter to Tasmania. But despite Kazumasa’s background in some of the best restaurants around the world, don’t expect fanfare or a red carpet. At Cambridge House, the pair have traded the bright lights for candlelight, and it’s all the better for it.
Gold Coast and started working in Sydney for around five years,” says Chef Kazumasa. “Then I moved to Singapore and stayed in South Asia for around 15 years, the last place was in a Kempinski hotel (a luxury hotel company known for its five-star hotels and resorts across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East), I was a corporate chef there. During Covid, I had my longest break from the industry, and my daughter was three years old. It was then I realised how much I was missing time with my family. “That was the kind of wake-up call, trying to look at the different path. Prior to [making the decision to move to Tasmania] there was a consideration of going to France, because having a French cookery background, I wanted to make it happen. I had that as an opportunity, but then again, I was nearly 38, young kid, I couldn’t see myself living in a city again. Then we looked at this property here. We didn’t know anybody, it was actually a complete fresh start.” Thana echoes this shift. From Jakarta, where the pandemic was unforgiving and claustrophobic, they looked to Australia for a place where their daughter could grow up not in shopping centres or sky towers, but among real grass and open skies. While Tasmania was not completely foreign to the couple – they had
“I started [his cooking journey] in Australia on the
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Tasmanian Hospitality Review June/July Edition
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