Best Restaurants in Hobart

Five kitchens carry Hobart's serious dining, and three of them sit within a short walk of the same stretch of Sullivans Cove waterfront. This is a small city that punches far above its size, propelled since 2011 by MONA across the Derwent and by a cold-climate larder that mainland chefs fly south to raid: Bruny Island oysters, Cape Grim beef, abalone and crayfish off the east coast, and the cool-climate Pinot and sparkling that make Tasmania the country's most coveted wine address. The good tables are tiny, they fill weeks ahead, and most of them close early in the week.

How Hobart Eats

Hobart eats early and eats local. Dinner service tends to start around 6pm and most kitchens have stopped seating by 8:30, well ahead of the late tables of Melbourne or Sydney, so a 7pm booking is prime time rather than early. The dining week is short: the best chef-driven rooms run Wednesday to Saturday, and Sunday through Tuesday many of them go dark, so confirm the day before you plan a Monday meal. Tipping is not part of the Australian deal. Staff are paid a full award wage, service is built into the menu price, and rounding up the bill or leaving ten percent for an exceptional night reads as a kindness rather than an obligation.

Book ahead, and book much further ahead for winter. Aløft above Brooke Street Pier and Templo in the CBD both want weeks of notice in season, and Scolé has just ten seats, which means a single sitting can be claimed by one party. The pressure peaks in June, when MONA's Dark Mofo festival and its Winter Feast take over the city and every good table within reach of the waterfront is gone. Summer brings its own crush around the new-year festival season. Two local terms are worth knowing before you sit down: an asado is the open wood-fire grill that drives the cooking at both Frank and Landscape, and BYO, common across the city, means you can bring your own Tasmanian bottle for a modest corkage where the list does not already cover it.

Best Neighborhoods for Dinner

Sullivans Cove and Franklin Wharf. The working waterfront is the engine of Hobart dining. Aløft floats on the upper deck of Brooke Street Pier, the same pontoon the MONA ferry leaves from, while Frank fires its Argentine grill at 1 Franklin Wharf with the Derwent estuary filling the windows.

Hunter Street and the IXL warehouses. The sandstone row of converted jam factories on Hunter Street holds Landscape, an asado grill built into the 1858 IXL building, a few minutes' walk from the cove and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.

The CBD. Hobart's compact city grid is where the chef-driven rooms hide. Templo runs twenty communal seats and a daily chalkboard menu off Patrick Street, and Scolé pours an idiosyncratic wine list to ten seats on Liverpool Street.

Salamanca Place, Battery Point and North Hobart. The sandstone warehouses of Salamanca host the Saturday market and a strip of bars; behind them the cottages of Battery Point climb the hill, and the Elizabeth Street run through North Hobart is the city's casual eating strip for a night that does not need a reservation.

The Hobart Top 5

1. Aløft · Brooke Street Pier · Modern Pan-Asian · $$$$.
   Christian Ryan's one-hatted nine-course menu runs about A$150 over the water; book it for a proposal you want remembered.
2. Templo · CBD · Modern Italian · $$$.
   Matthew Breen's twenty communal seats turn pasta grown within fifty kilometres into the city's best first-date dinner; reserve well ahead.
3. Scolé · Liverpool Street · Japanese Wine Bar · $$$.
   Luke Burgess cooks for ten seats with a Japanese accent and a list of natural wine; the city's sharpest solo-dining counter.
4. Frank · Franklin Wharf · Argentine Asado · $$$.
   Wood-fired shared plates and a Derwent view make this the room for closing a deal or feeding a table; walk-ins welcome midweek.
5. Landscape · Hunter Street · Tasmanian Asado · $$$.
   Nathaniel Embrey grills Tasmanian beef in an 1858 jam factory; the steakhouse to impress clients without leaving the waterfront.

Best for the Occasion

For a proposal or anniversary, Aløft is the obvious move: the tasting menu, the pier setting and the harbour light do most of the work for you. For a first date built on conversation, the communal chalkboard room at Templo and the ten-seat counter at Scolé both keep the night easy and the wine flowing.

To close a deal or feed a team, Frank handles shared plates and noise without fuss, while impressing a client calls for the Tasmanian beef and the heritage room at Landscape. For a birthday or a larger team dinner, the grills at Frank and Landscape seat a crowd far more comfortably than the tiny rooms; for solo dining, take the counter at Scolé and let the wine list set the pace.

Hobart Dining FAQ

How far in advance should I book the best restaurants in Hobart?

Book the top Hobart tables two to four weeks ahead, and longer for winter. Aløft and Templo fill fast in season, and Scolé has only ten seats, so it can sell out a sitting to one booking. During MONA's Dark Mofo in June the whole waterfront is reserved weeks in advance, so treat that month as a months-ahead proposition.

Do you tip at restaurants in Hobart?

No, tipping is not expected in Hobart or anywhere in Australia. Hospitality staff are paid a full award wage and service is included in the menu price, so there is no obligation to add anything. Rounding up the bill, or leaving roughly ten percent in cash after a genuinely memorable meal, is welcomed as a generous gesture rather than a social rule.

What food is Tasmania known for?

Tasmania is known for cold-water seafood and cool-climate produce. Bruny Island and east-coast oysters, abalone, crayfish and scallops lead the seafood, while Cape Grim beef, wallaby, leatherwood honey and winter truffles fill the larder. The island is also Australia's premium cool-climate wine region for Pinot Noir and sparkling, and the home of Sullivans Cove whisky, which took the World's Best Single Malt title in 2014.

What is the best restaurant in Hobart?

By our scoring, Aløft is the best restaurant in Hobart, a one-hatted nine-course room above Brooke Street Pier from chef Christian Ryan. Templo runs it closest for chef-driven cooking at a gentler price, and Scolé is the most distinctive ten-seat counter in town. The right pick depends on the occasion more than the ranking.

Where should I eat near MONA?

The simplest plan is to eat at the waterfront where the MONA ferry departs. The catamaran leaves from Brooke Street Pier, directly below Aløft, with Frank a few steps along Franklin Wharf, so you can build lunch or dinner around the crossing. MONA itself runs dining on site at Berriedale, but the city-side cove is the easier base for an evening table.

Are Hobart restaurants open on Sundays and Mondays?

Many of Hobart's best restaurants close on Sunday, Monday and often Tuesday. The chef-driven rooms tend to run Wednesday to Saturday, so early in the week your choices narrow and a phone call the day before is wise. Frank and the waterfront bars keep longer hours than the small tasting rooms, and the North Hobart strip is the reliable fallback for a casual midweek dinner.

What is the dress code for fine dining in Hobart?

Smart casual covers every restaurant in Hobart, including the top of the scale. No room in the city requires a jacket or tie, and a neat shirt is entirely at home even at Aløft. Tasmania dines like the relaxed island it is, so dress for a good waterfront dinner rather than a city gala and you will fit in anywhere.

When is Dark Mofo and how does it affect dining?

Dark Mofo, MONA's winter festival, runs across two weeks in June and is the busiest dining fortnight of the Hobart year. Its Winter Feast packs the waterfront and books out the serious tables weeks ahead, so reserve early if you want to eat well during the festival. Outside June the city is far calmer and tables open up within days at most rooms.

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