North Hobart’s Best Dinners For Every Occasion
From date-night wine bars to fast fixes, group feasts and family-friendly haunts, North Hobart delivers a dinner for just about every mood and moment. Consider this your go-to guide for eating your way up and down Elizabeth Street - and a few side streets beyond.
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WE’RE ON A DATE
If it’s true that everything owner and chef Matt Breen puts his hand to turns to gold (it is), then Ogee is surely his modern-day Midas masterstroke. Equal parts suburban wine bar and special occasion fine diner, this is precisely where you take the person you wish to woo - whether it be a first date, a long-term anniversary, or something else along the journey of sweet, sweet lurve. Drink a spritz or two, eat gildas, and share a bowl of pasta Lady and the Tramp-style. Date night sorted.
374 Murray Street, North Hobart
GROUP-IES
Literally translating to “stay-drink-place”, the Japanese izakaya has become a culture of its own in Hobart, and nowhere does it better than Bar Wa Izakaya. Though its propensity to please the smallest of parties (ramen lunch for one, anyone?) mustn’t be ignored, this Elizabeth Street mainstay is a favourite amongst groups for its seemingly never-ending menu that ticks every food group - and pleases every palate - as it goes. If the crispy brussels sprouts with nori butter are on, order multiple bowls. Even the most devout of carnivores in your group is going to leave with an uncomfortable realisation that the grass really can be greener on the vegetarian side.
216-218 Elizabeth Street, North Hobart
GIRLS’ NIGHT
Red hot wine list? Check. Delicious snacks that tell the whole story of Tassie’s most exceptional produce? Check. An excuse to linger over one more round? Trophy Room has that covered, too. And, while everyone’s welcome here, there’s something especially appealing about settling into this cosy corner with one or several of your best girlfriends. Housemade sourdough, charcuterie, pickles, pasta and cheese are best approached with mindfulness, so - if there’s any truth to the stereotype that the fairer species is better at slowing down and savouring the experience - this is the place to put it to the test.
342 Argyle Street, North Hobart
SHARING IS CARING
The best meals are the ones spent negotiating over the last bite. Smith Street's menu rewards a communal approach, with dishes designed to be passed around the table and sampled by everyone, complemented by a seasonal curation of cocktails and wines that’s taken as seriously as the food. Just about everything is served by the “piece” - think things on skewers and small bowls of face-smacking sides - so order up and fight over the last bite … or just get another and keep the peace.
325 Argyle Street, North Hobart
PUB GRUB
Sometimes only a proper pub meal will do. NoHo’s The Crescent Hotel delivers all the mainstays you'd hope for, with a generous smattering of just-elevated plates to add a touch of class to your night. Picture this: your companion sips on a glass of chardonnay while savouring a dish of local fish, zucchini risotto, tomato tapenade and herb sauce … while you sink a beer and wrap your mouth around a chicken schnitty. Here, it just works. And greater Hobart is grateful for it.
100 Burnett Street, North Hobart
GRAB A BURG
Hobart institution The Winston Bar has been answering the call of the burger craving for more than 13 years now, and the terrible teens don’t look to be impacting its capacity to keep up the good work. While we’d never discourage the consumption of bulk chicken wings (covering all bases from basic buffalo to Carolina reaper-laced atomic) to commence the feast, please - for the love of all that is greasy - save room for the “burgers & sammiches” side of the menu. Juicy patties and fried chicken meet classic fillings and fistfuls of fries, delivering a commitment to comfort food that’s hard to match.
381 Elizabeth Street, North Hobart
PIZZA PARTY
Forever heaving with local breakfast and brunch devotees while the sun shines, Room for a Pony’s evening alter ego is equally stan-able. Small and larger dishes - from soup and karaage chicken to nachos and pasta - abound, but Pony’s wood-fired pizzas are worthy hogs of the spotlight. Upon hand-stretched sourdough bases, choose from toppings as happily ubiquitous as Margarita and Capricciosa, or go off-road with something a little more unique. Not to pick favourites, but the Bob Brown (broccoli, kale, green olives, provolone, chilli and garlic) is as iconically Tasmanian as the great man himself.
338 Elizabeth Street, North Hobart
KIDS ON BOARD
Don’t let Pancho Villa’s great passion for tequila fool you - this is an all-ages venue brimming with crowd-pleasing options that do as much for taking the edge off (parents) as they do satisfy the early evening hangries (their children). For the small people, apply laser focus to two specific parts of the menu: the Street Eats and Tacos pages are akin to culinary babysitters, packing flavour and fun into bites like guacamole and chips, and fried chicken wrapped in more-ish tortillas. Once the tykes are taken care of, you can turn your attention to the cocktails. Parenting win unlocked.
Corner Elizabeth and Pitt Streets, North Hobart
OFF THE BEATEN MENU
For diners looking to venture beyond the usual suspects, Little Borneo offers something a little different. Rich, fragrant and full of flavour, this is some of Tassie’s most authentic Malaysian cuisine. Crowd favourites include handmade roti, steaming serves of laksa, and the staple nasi lemak: a plate loaded with coconut rice, omelette, chilli paste, peanuts, crispy anchovies, and your choice of protein. Savour each element on its unadulterated lonesome, or do as the locals do, and mix it all together for mindblowing spoonfuls that manage to hit the sweet, salty, spicy and umami receptors all at once.
322 Elizabeth Street, North Hobart
QUICK AND EFFECTIVE
Need dinner fast without resorting to a drive-through? Saigon Express has become somewhat of a southern Tasmanian phenomenon, churning out Vietnamese classics at a rate that belies their unerring freshness and flavour. Now part of an eight-store portfolio, the North Hobart outpost has plenty of seating for casual eat-in affairs, and is conveniently located on the Elizabeth Street strip for the mid-week takeaway duck-in. The hardest part? Choosing between an epic bánh mì, a fragrant bowl of pho, or one of every rice paper roll. Guess you’ll just have to come back next week.
335 Elizabeth Street, North Hobart
