I only ate at two places in Hobart worth calling proper first-person recommendations. Everything else in this post is researched, checked against multiple current sources, and clearly marked as such. I would rather tell you that upfront than pretend I dined my way through the entire city on one four-night trip.

Hobart’s food scene has grown into something worth planning a trip around, cool-climate produce, Bruny Island oysters, a thriving whisky industry, and enough chef talent moving down from the mainland that Time Out has started comparing it to Sydney and Melbourne. This guide covers the categories that actually help you decide where to eat, not just another long undifferentiated list copied from somewhere else.

The quick answer

• For a proper dinner with history behind it, Drunken Admiral.
• For something buzzy and Japanese, Bar Wa Izakaya.
• For a splurge, Fico or Aloft.
• For dessert, Van Diemens Land Creamery.
• For whisky, Lark’s cellar door on Davey Street.

Where I actually ate

The Drunken Admiral Seafarers’ Restaurant on Hobart’s old wharf, a long-running seafood restaurant with hand-painted signage.

Drunken Admiral ($$$), on the old wharf, is a long-running seafood restaurant with a whitewashed facade covered in hand-painted signage, old-school seafarers’ tavern atmosphere inside, hanging lanterns, heavy timber tables, the sort of place that leans into the theme rather than apologising for it. It has clearly been feeding Hobart visitors for decades, and it shows in how well the whole operation runs, quick service even on a busy night, a menu built around the same Tasmanian seafood you will see mentioned throughout this guide. Expect $60 to $80 per person for a proper sit-down meal.

Interior of Bar Wa Izakaya, a Japanese izakaya restaurant on Elizabeth Street, Hobart, with sake bottles hanging from the ceiling.

Bar Wa Izakaya ($$), on Elizabeth Street in the CBD, was the standout of the trip. Sake bottles hang from the ceiling in a dense, deliberate cluster, the share-plate menu is properly Japanese rather than a vague fusion gesture, and it has built a real reputation, it’s one of the most-reviewed restaurants in Hobart on Tripadvisor for a reason. One thing worth knowing if you go: their well-known ramen is lunch only, from around midday to mid-afternoon. Dinner is share plates and izakaya food instead, still worth the visit, just a different menu to what you might expect if you have read about the ramen online.

Iconic waterfront seafood

The Dock’s hand-painted menu, fish and chips by the water

Drunken Admiral covers the historic, sit-down tavern angle well, but it is not the only institution on the water.

Mures, at Victoria Dock, has been a Hobart fixture since 1973, and it actually runs as two separate venues. Mures Upper Deck ($$$) is the fine-dining side, a la carte seafood with proper waterfront views, seafood caught from the family’s own boats. Mures Lower Deck ($$), downstairs, is the casual version, fish and chips, a fishmonger counter, and an ice cream window, open from breakfast through to dinner. I did not eat at either on this trip, but between the two, Mures covers the full range from a quick feed to a proper sit-down seafood dinner, all at the same dock.

Cafes

Pigeon Whole Bakers ($), in the CBD, supplies pastries to many of Hobart’s other cafes, which tells you something about the baseline quality. Sourdough and seasonal pastries, the kind of place locals queue for before it sells out.

Berta ($$), on Liverpool Street, runs a seasonal menu built around local produce behind a distinctive teal-tiled counter. Good option if you want a proper breakfast rather than just a pastry.

Best dessert

Van Diemens Land Creamery ($), right at Constitution Dock, does Tasmanian gelato with proper local flavours, leatherwood honey, pepperberry, that sort of thing. It sits among the fish and chip stalls on the wharf, so it doubles as a good way to close out a waterfront walk, and it is the kind of stop that turns up on nearly every Hobart dessert list I checked for a reason.

Honey Badger Dessert Cafe ($$), in Battery Point, is a dessert-only cafe, cakes and gelato with nothing else competing for the menu’s attention. Worth building into a Battery Point afternoon if you have a sweet tooth.

Best 2 or 3 course dinner

Templo ($$$$) is a tiny, set-menu Italian restaurant that has spent years being called one of the best in Hobart, sometimes one of the best in the country, depending who you ask. The premise is simple: everyone in the room gets the same courses, hand-made pasta, seasonal produce, a set menu that changes weekly so there is always a reason to come back. The current set menu runs $100 per person, straight from the restaurant’s own site. Seating is limited and shared, so it suits a couple or a small group happy to sit close to strangers for the evening. Book ahead, it seats a small room and fills up fast.

Frank ($$$$), on Franklin Wharf, is an Argentinian-style parrilla, a wood-and-coal grill rather than a general “South American” gesture, Robbins Island Wagyu and Tasmanian oysters cooked over fire, waterfront setting, mood lighting that only really kicks in once it gets dark outside. It’s one of the more talked-about dinner spots in the city, and the set “Feed Me” menus, $90 for three courses or $115 for five, take the guesswork out for exactly the kind of proper two or three course sit-down this category is about.

Romantic

Old Wharf Restaurant ($$$) combines Hobart’s colonial waterfront setting with a menu built around Tasmania’s best produce, historic sandstone surroundings, river views, the kind of atmosphere that earns it a spot on nearly every “romantic Hobart” list I checked across multiple independent sources. It sits inside one of the heritage buildings along the wharf, so you get the same sandstone-and-water setting that makes this whole stretch of Hobart worth photographing, just with a proper meal attached. Expect $80 to $100 per person for dinner.

Peppina ($$$), at 2b Salamanca Place, is Italian cooking under a glass-roofed heritage building, part of the former St Marys Hospital site, now home to The Tasman hotel. Big, glamorous, and consistently described as a special-occasion room, this is the pick if you want elegance over intimacy.

If you want height and drama over intimacy, The Point ($$$$), the revolving restaurant atop Wrest Point, gives you a full rotation of Derwent views over dinner, French-inspired cuisine and a fair bit of tableside theatre, already covered in more detail in Things to Do in Hobart.

Cheap eats

Hobart’s genuine budget options are mostly the ones already woven through your other Hobart days rather than a separate category of restaurant. Jackman & McRoss ($) in Battery Point, covered in full in the Salamanca to Battery Point walk, does a curried scallop pie locals queue for at lunchtime, a fraction of the cost of a sit-down meal and no less memorable.

The fish and chip punts at Constitution Dock ($), covered in Things to Do in Hobart, are the other reliable cheap feed, fresh, fast, and eaten standing up by the water. For a cheap sweet treat, Van Diemens Land Creamery above does the job without breaking a tourist budget.

Hatted restaurants

Australia’s Good Food Guide “chef hat” awards are the real, currently active rating system for Hobart’s top kitchens, and I checked the current list before writing this rather than trusting an older or invented ranking. Hats run from one to three, awarded annually, and they are the closest thing Australia has to a formal fine-dining rating outside the major cities.

Fico ($$$$), on Macquarie Street, holds two hats. Chef-owners Oskar Rossi and Federica Andrisani run a European-leaning menu that keeps finding new angles on old classics, oysters served with carbonara instead of guanciale, a simple gelato pudding elevated with local buffalo milk and hazelnut praline. The current degustation runs $185 per person. If you can’t get a table, their sister restaurant Pitzi ($$$), a few streets away on Victoria Street, is the casual pasta-bar version of the same kitchen, same owners, same standard, a fraction of the ceremony and the price. Hand-made pasta, walk-ins welcome, no bad option on a short, rotating menu.

Dier Makr ($$$$), in the CBD, also holds two hats, a boundary-pushing set menu that changes daily, built around whatever the kitchen has that day rather than a fixed concept. It sits alongside sister wine bar Lucinda, and the whole operation has a reputation for being unpredictable in the best sense.

Aloft ($$$$), on top of Brooke Street Pier, holds one hat and pairs its tasting menu with properly excellent harbour views, worth booking for a special occasion rather than a casual night out. The chef’s tasting menu runs around $140 per person.

A correction worth making explicitly

You may see Dier Makr described elsewhere as “Michelin-starred.” That is not accurate. The Michelin Guide does not currently rate Tasmania at all. Dier Makr’s real accolade is its two AGFG chef hats, which is a different and equally legitimate system, just not the one sometimes claimed for it.

Best buffet

Hobart is not really a buffet city, small population, small dining scene, so I want to be honest rather than stretch to fill this category.

The genuine option is the Boardwalk Bistro at Wrest Point ($$), which runs a buffet breakfast and a dedicated dessert buffet as part of its regular service, around $26.50 for the lunch buffet. It is a casual, family-friendly setting rather than a fine-dining one, but it is the real, currently operating buffet option in the city.

A short whisky trail

Tasmania’s whisky reputation is not hype, and Hobart’s cellar doors are properly walkable if you are staying anywhere near the CBD or waterfront.

Lark Distillery’s Cellar Door ($$-$$$), at 14 Davey Street on the waterfront, is where Tasmania’s modern whisky industry effectively started. Bill and Lyn Lark began distilling at home in 1992, after successfully lobbying the Australian government to lift a minimum still-size restriction that had barred small producers from making whisky for over 150 years. The Davey Street site was recently renovated into a proper museum-style experience, guided tastings, whisky flights, and a look at the brand’s history, open daily from around 11am. Tastings are not free, standard flights vary by selection, and the guided “Welcome to LARK” experience runs $79. A short walk away at 30 Argyle Street, inside the historic Mercury Print Room, The Still runs as Lark’s separate cocktail and whisky lounge, retail and tasting by day, a moodier bar by night, worth knowing it’s a different address rather than the same building.

Callington Mill’s Hobart cellar door ($$), inside the MACq 01 Hotel at 18 Hunter Street, brings the distillery’s Oatlands-based whiskies into the CBD. A standard tasting, four 15ml pours of their single malt, runs $30. If you want to go further, the Serendipity Experience lets you blend and bottle your own cask-strength single malt with a guide walking you through it, a properly hands-on option rather than just watching someone else pour. Open Wednesday to Sunday, afternoon into evening.

In the same MACq 01 building, Evolve Spirits Bar ($$$) is worth a detour even if whisky isn’t your thing. It’s a luxury lounge bar built around a genuine private fossil collection, a Triceratops nose horn, megalodon teeth, an eight-foot Russian cave bear, alongside more than 400 rare spirits from Tasmania and around the world. It sounds like a gimmick until you’re standing in the room, which is exactly why it’s worth the mention.

For something smaller and more personal, Derwent Distillery has a tasting room on Hampden Road in Battery Point, a short stroll from Salamanca. I could not independently confirm current tasting prices for the Battery Point room, so ask when you arrive rather than assuming free tastings. Worth knowing before you go: the distillery itself is in Dromedary, about 25 minutes out of Hobart, so what’s in Battery Point is a proper tasting space for the range rather than the production site. Single malt whisky, gin, and liqueurs, family-owned and considerably quieter than Lark or Callington Mill.

If you want to go further still, Sullivans Cove Distillery ($$$), twice named the world’s best single malt whisky, is a short drive out in Cambridge rather than something you can walk to, worth knowing before you plan your afternoon around it.

The guided tour and tasting runs $70 per person, 90 minutes, daily at 2pm.

Want the food and wine scene guided for you?

The Hobart Half Day Wine and Food Tour covers a chunk of this ground with a guide doing the talking and the bookings.

Wine bars

Hobart’s small wine bar scene has become one of its more distinctive features, tiny rooms, walk-ins only, records playing over the bar.

Sonny ($$), at 120A Elizabeth Street in the CBD, is the one everyone mentions. Twenty seats along a single communal table, a record player connected to locally made speakers spinning everything from Aretha Franklin to Khruangbin, a chalkboard wine list, and a small rotating menu built around house-made pasta and bar snacks. It’s walk-ins only, no reservations, and it fills up fast enough that arriving early is a genuine strategy rather than just advice. Run by chef Matt Breen, who also owns Templo and Ogee below, which tells you something about the food quality even in a room this small.

Ogee ($$$) is the intimate and stylish sibling to Sonny, from the same chef, in North Hobart on Murray Street. Twenty-eight seats around a wooden island and open kitchen, French and Italian-inspired share plates, a tightly curated wine list rather than a long one. It sits a little further out than everything else in this guide, worth the trip if wine bars are your thing rather than an add-on to a CBD evening.

Practical tips

Price tiers throughout this guide follow standard Australian dining shorthand: $ under $20 per person, $$ $20 to $50, $$$ $50 to $100, $$$$ $100 and up. These are checked against current menus and recent diner reports where I could find them, but restaurants change prices, so treat them as a guide rather than gospel.

Book ahead for anything hatted or well-reviewed. Templo, Fico, Dier Makr, and Aloft all get booked out, especially in summer and around festival periods. Do not assume you can walk in on a Friday or Saturday night and get a table.

Most of this is walkable. The CBD, waterfront, Salamanca, and Battery Point cover the majority of what is in this guide on foot. Wrest Point, for the buffet and the revolving restaurant, sits in Sandy Bay, a short drive or bus ride south of the CBD rather than a walk.

Ramen at Bar Wa Izakaya is lunch only. Worth repeating since it catches people out, the dinner menu is entirely different.

Whisky tastings at Lark’s Cellar Door do not need a booking for a standard flight, though table reservations are worth making for weekends or evenings if you want to sit rather than stand at the bar.

FAQ

What is the best restaurant in Hobart?

Depends what you want. Fico and Dier Makr both hold two AGFG chef hats and represent the top of the fine-dining scene. For something more personal, Templo’s set menu has a loyal following. For a properly memorable night out with view and theatre, Aloft.

Is Dier Makr Michelin-starred?

No. The Michelin Guide does not currently cover Tasmania. Dier Makr holds two AGFG chef hats, a different and equally legitimate Australian rating system.

Where can I get cheap food in Hobart?

Jackman & McRoss in Battery Point and the fish and chip punts at Constitution Dock are the two most reliable budget options within the areas covered in this cluster.

Is there a buffet restaurant in Hobart?

The Boardwalk Bistro at Wrest Point runs a buffet breakfast and a dessert buffet. It is the genuine, current buffet option in the city, though Hobart is not really known for this style of dining.

Where can I try Tasmanian whisky in the city itself?

Lark Distillery’s Cellar Door at 14 Davey Street is walkable from the CBD and waterfront, open daily, no booking required for a standard tasting.

Where can I get the best oysters in Hobart?

Bruny Island produces most of the oysters you will see on menus around the city, and both Mures Upper Deck and the Constitution Dock fish punts serve them fresh. For the Bruny Island source itself, that trip has its own dedicated post.

Which Hobart restaurants have a proper view?

Aloft sits above the harbour on Brooke Street Pier, Mures Upper Deck overlooks Victoria Dock, and The Point rotates a full 360 degrees above the Derwent, covered in more detail in Things to Do in Hobart. Old Wharf and Peppina both sit inside heritage waterfront buildings without the height, but with the same water proximity.

Is Bar Wa Izakaya’s ramen available at dinner?

No, it is a lunch-only menu. Dinner service is share plates and izakaya-style food instead.

Final thoughts

This is not an exhaustive list, and I am not going to pretend otherwise. What it is: two places I actually ate and would recommend without hesitation, and a checked, corrected shortlist across the categories that matter when you are actually deciding where to book a table.

For the rest of your Hobart trip, Things to Do in Hobart ties the whole city together, and the Salamanca to Battery Point walk and TMAG guide both pair naturally with a meal either side of them. Once it is live, our 3 Days in Hobart itinerary (link when live) will show exactly where each of these fits into a single trip.

Every guide on A Walk in the World is written to help you have the best possible trip. I only recommend hotels, tours, and experiences I’d genuinely choose myself, and I don’t accept payments or sponsorships from operators in exchange for positive coverage. Some of the booking links on this site are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you book through them, at no extra cost to you. Thanks for trusting my guides and supporting the blog!

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