The foodie's guide to Hobart

There’s a lot to love about Hobart. The small-town vibe, the culture, the people, but above all else, you’ve got to love the food.

There are few places that celebrate local produce so proudly and with so little pomp, as Hobart. Here, Tasmania’s natural beauty is delivered right to your plate. And given the bounty of produce that is grown on the city’s doorstep, Hobart is truly a locavore’s delight.

Narrowing down your bucket list of food experiences in Tassie, beyond the capital’s top restaurants and burgeoning cafe scene is no easy feat. But to help ease the burden of responsibility we’ve teed up a list of Hobart’s heavy hitters worthy of your stomach space (and time).

From bustling produce markets brimming with seasonal goods to cool climate wineries, seafood safaris, cookery schools and oyster farms, here’s just a handful of the best foodie experiences Hobart has to offer, all best enjoyed while both curious and hungry.

Barilla Bay Oyster Farm

One of Tasmania’s many gourmet claims to fame, the island state’s famously clean waters are perfect for harvesting oysters. You’ll find oyster farms freckled all over the island, most proffering the Pacific and Angasi, but few are quite as close to the action as Barilla Bay.

Just a seven-minute drive from Hobart International Airport, Barilla Bay Oyster Farm is a long-standing family-run operation that offers tours that take in the oyster lease and provide deeper insight into how the bivalve is farmed and graded, as well as a half a dozen samples of the finished product, for quality control purposes, naturally.

The Barilla Bay Oyster Farm also doubles as a restaurant. (Image: Tourism Tasmania/Bill Bachman)

The Agrarian Kitchen Eatery

A much-vaunted cooking school and restaurant in New Norfolk, The Agrarian Kitchen Eatery, is a 30-minute drive northwest of Hobart, is peak Tassie. Restaurateur Rodney Dunn – who also happens to be the former food editor of Gourmet Traveller magazine – not only runs some of The Agrarian Kitchen’s cooking classes, but he also keeps bees, raises pigs and helps tend to the extensive organic veggie gardens, berry patch and orchard.

Almost everything you can find on the plate at this Tasmanian restaurant has been pickled, fermented, butchered, grown, or churned onsite. And for anything that falls outside of The Agrarian’s remit, Dunn relies upon a trusted network of local fishermen, farmers and artisanal producers who follow the same strict organic principles, and love for fresh Tassie produce.

The Agrarian Kitchen Eatery champions local produce on its menu. (Image: Adam Gibson)

Moorilla Winery

As one of Australia’s premier cool-climate wine regions, it would be remiss to speak of Hobart’s many gourmet experiences and not mention its neighbouring wineries in the same breath.

Moorilla Estate, of MONA Museum fame, is one such venture worth writing home about, only 12 kilometres to the north of Hobart’s CBD. Established in the late 1950s, Moorilla boasts some rather dashing river views, as well as plenty of opportunities for tastings and tours, or duck into one of the museum’s handfuls of eateries.

A variety of excellent wines are available for tasting at Moorilla Winery. (Image: MONA/ Rémi Chauvin)

Pennicott Wilderness Journeys’ Tasmanian Seafood Seduction

Not only would I consider this trip aboard a Pennicott Wilderness Journeys boat a must-do for seafood lovers – it’s also a must-do for just about anyone and is without a doubt one of the best travelling experiences I’ve ever had, so including it in our foodie’s guide to Hobart was a no-brainer.

Tourism legend Robert Pennicott and his knowledgeable, attentive and passionate (I could seriously go on all day) team of local guides have been sharing the wonders of Tasmania with travellers since 1999.

The Tasmanian Seafood Seduction tour voyages down the Derwent River. Along the journey, your guides will gift you with knowledge of the wildlife, scenery and deserted beaches. However, it’s when you dock that things get really memorable.

Not only will you be treated to some of the most incredible seafood in the world, but it will be prepared before your very eyes. Part of the experience will see your guide literally jump in the ocean, snorkelling to catch your meal. Talk about farm to table.

You will then proceed to ingest the best wild abalone, rock lobster, oysters, salmon and sea urchin that money can buy. I promise.

The Pennicott Wilderness Journeys tour showcases Tasmania’s five-star seafood culture at its very best and purest, and it was here that I really discovered what all the fuss was about.

Part of the experience at the Seafood Seduction Tour is snorkelling in the ocean to catch your meal. (Image: Peter Aitchison)

Salamanca Markets

Nestled between the sandstone facades of old warehouses sits the famous Salamanca Markets.

Held on Saturdays between 8.30am and 3pm, thousands of tourists and locals flock each week to taste some of the best food from the 300-plus stallholders have to offer.

If you’re keen to undertake the tour de Tasmanian cuisine, there are several places you should stop.

For starters, get yourself to the stall dubbed Provenance Growers. Horticulturalist Paulette Whitney supplies vegetables, herbs and edible flowers (yum?) to the leading restaurants on the island. Here you’ll find several unusual edibles that are often forgotten on our shopping lists. Think pink fir potatoes, climbing butter beans, tomatillo and potato onions.

Secondly, it’s hard to get a sense of Tasmanian street food without getting your hands on a scallop pie. A number of bakeries about town claim to have perfected this Tassie classic, so just to be fair, be sure to sample a few while you’re in the area.

Also at the markets is several other famously delicious culinary experiences. Pick up some Bruny Island Oysters and Tasmanian cherries, and wash it all down with some aged gin.

Thousands of tourists and locals flock to the Salamanca Markets to taste some of the best food from the 300-plus stallholders. (Image: City of Hobart and Alastair Bett)

Looking at other things to do and see in Hobart? We’ve got you covered with our ultimate travel guide to the city.