While you can walk between most of Hobart’s restaurants, the Agrarian Kitchen Eatery is worth a 35-minute drive (or 70-minute bus trip) to New Norfolk. Rodney Dunn and Séverine Demanet have transformed the town’s old mental asylum into a charming lunch destination showcasing produce from their own farm and the local area. Nearly everything is made in-house, including bread, cheese, and charcuterie (the chefs even use offcuts for XO sauce). Be sure to hit highlights like the fried sourdough potato cakes and seasonal vegetable dishes. Dunn also runs cooking classes at the farm alongside guest teachers from the community. [$$$ - $$$$]

Founded by eccentric professional gambler David Walsh, MONA is a fun, challenging, and unpretentious museum that has always exhibited a strong connection with food. On-site, you’ll find a winery, brewery, cafes, bars, and two restaurants, the Source and Faro. The latter is surrounded by art installations and views of the Derwent River. If you like to travel in style, board the MONA ferry, which is decked out with a “posh pit” serving drinks and canapes. During the museum’s annual Dark Mofo festival in June, MONA hosts a massive winter feast bringing together chefs from all over the country. [$ - $$$$]

Hobart might not be as multicultural as Melbourne or Sydney, but the city has become more diverse as the Australian government has instituted policies to encourage immigrants to settle in the area. The Migrant Resource Centre Tasmania, a local nonprofit helping migrants find jobs and health services, opens its doors to the public each Friday for lunch prepared by refugees from countries like Eritrea, Syria, and Afghanistan. The menu changes every week, but it could feature options like Ethiopian injera flatbread with goat curry, or qatayef, a sweet Arabic dumpling filled with walnuts. [$]

If you’re looking to stock up on local food when you arrive in Hobart, Hill Street Grocer is a mandatory pit stop. The family-owned gourmet grocer has three stores in town (and a few more across the state). Head to the West Hobart store, pick up something from the cheese fridge, select some bread sourced from the best bakeries in town, and obtain a few prepared salads from the deli, then take your haul to St Davids Park for a picnic lunch. [$ - $$]

You’ll feel a bit smug if you manage to get one of the 20 seats at Templo (especially when Dark Mofo brings crowds to town), an Italian restaurant on one of Hobart’s quieter streets. You’ll feel even better if that seat is at the communal table, where you get a good view of chef Matt Breen and his acolytes in the kitchen. Handmade pastas, like gnocchetti with big chunks of slow-cooked lamb, are the main draw. For 70 Australian dollars ($48), the chef’s menu gives you a taste of everything on offer. A short stroll away, the team has recently opened Sonny, an exceptional wine bar with a tight menu (including pasta). Don’t choose. Go to both. [$$$]

Franklin has had a big impact on Hobart’s food scene, thanks in large part to former chef Analiese Gregory, who zealously pushed the restaurant’s farm-to-table program. The restaurant, which is all polished concrete and kangaroo hides, serves a regularly changing menu driven by local products like sea urchin, native herbs, whole lamb, abalone, and seasonal vegetables, nearly all cooked over fire. The menu changes regularly, but you’ll always find a version of the King Edward potato galette, cooked perfectly soft inside and crisp outside, thanks to the restaurant’s Scotch oven. [$$$ - $$$$]

You’ll notice this bakery’s offerings listed on menus at several cafes and restaurants around town, which is always a good sign, but there’s nothing quite like going straight to the source. Set in the old Mercury newspaper building, Pigeon Whole is small but welcoming. A selection of classic pastries and sandwiches are displayed on the counter, sourdough loaves rest on wooden shelves nearby, and large windows behind the counter let you peek at the hardworking bakers. Grab a coffee and a wild fennel palmier, sit in the corner, and watch passersby on Argyle Street. [$]

Ask any local about their favorite hangout in Hobart, and nine times out of 10 you’ll hear about Tom McHugo’s. “It’s the hub of the community,” explains Adam James of fermented foods purveyor Rough Rice. “On a Monday, you’ll find most of the hospitality industry having their day off there.” Built in 1842, the place looks like an old-school Australian pub with a patterned carpet and simple wooden bar. Tom McHugo’s does serve classic pub fare like chicken parmigiana and steak with fries, but ever since Tom Westcott and Whitney Ball took over a few years ago, the team has added more creative dishes, like kohlrabi with kefir cream and braised blood sausage. The tap list is 100 percent Tasmanian, while the wine list features both local and international drops. [$ - $$]

Distilleries began taking advantage of Tasmania’s ideal conditions for growing barley in the early 1800s, but Gov. John Franklin imposed a prohibition in 1838 that lasted for over 150 years. In 1992, Bill Lark helped lobby to overturn the law, then launched Lark Distillery soon after, earning him the moniker “the godfather of Australian whisky.” At Cellar Door and Whisky Bar, you can taste Lark’s single malts, as well as other local whiskies like the award-winning Sullivans Cove. Get comfortable on a leather couch inside the moody bar or sit in the courtyard looking at Constitution Dock as you enjoy a tasting flight, a cheeseboard, and a Pigeon Whole Bakers baguette. [$ - $$]

There’s an air of mystery around items on the blackboard menu at Dier Makr. A description like “pork, miso” doesn’t let much on, but you’ll have full faith in owners Kobi Ruzicka and Sarah Fitzsimmons once you taste the pork neck poached in yogurt, served with charred sugarloaf cabbage and miso sauce. The couple are part of the wave of chefs and hospitality workers who moved from the mainland in the last few years. While they only offer a tasting menu at Dier Makr, they do let guests choose their own wine from the walk-in cellar. If you can’t commit to a whole tasting menu, Ruzicka and Fitzsimmons also run wine bar Lucinda in the same building, where they offer a few dishes alongside minimal-intervention wines. [$$$]

After falling in love in Northern Italy and spending a year searching for the perfect city to settle down, Naples-born Federica Andrisani and Tasmanian Oskar Rossi opened Fico (meaning fig in Italian) in the heart of Hobart. The chef-owners lean toward European and Italian flavors with dishes like lamb brain tortellini and thick Parmesan and onion panna cotta. But they are not scared to veer away from that wheelhouse to serve crowd pleasers like soy-cured kingfish bites with wasabi cream. On Sunday, the couple create a lunch tasting menu with their morning haul from Farm Gate Market. [$$$ - $$$$]

Small, family-fun Weston Farm specializes in olive oil, vegetables, and peonies. In 2013, the owners acquired this cozy West Hobart cafe (once run by the Pigeon Whole Bakers team) to showcase their organic produce, making many items in-house with ingredients straight from the farm. Order creative options like peony jelly with smoked paprika or duck eggs with fennel, or get the simple mushroom toastie or a generous grazing platter. Settle in at the back of the cafe, where the wall is lined with jars of tomatoes, beans, and cucumbers pickling away. [$ - $$]

The Saturday Salamanca Market, held among the historic sandstone buildings of Salamanca Place, is the state’s most popular attraction. Running since 1972, it now counts over 300 stalls selling fresh produce, handicrafts, and street food. Many visitors make a beeline for the famous curried scallop pie at Smith’s Speciality Pies, but there’s plenty more to enjoy, like beef rendang from Indonesian Kitchen, cider from Simple Cider, and blackberry jam from Joanna’s Jams. [$]

You wouldn’t expect an upscale Cantonese restaurant in a suburban Sandy Bay shopping center, but look for the pair of guardian lions to find the immaculate Me Wah. Since the Tso family opened the first Me Wah in Launceston in 1998, the restaurant has become a Tasmanian institution, especially with a second location opening in Hobart in 2007. Try the pillowy Huon Valley mushroom dumplings, roasted pork belly bites, or locally sourced crayfish and abalone. On weekends, visit for yum cha to eat trevalla dumplings and chicken feet. [$$$ - $$$$]

A pleasant 1.5-mile nature walk on the Cascade Track will lead you to the oldest continuously operating brewery in the country, which is also the second-largest Tasmanian beer producer. Take a tour of the Gothic-looking brewery or simply admire it from the lush gardens of the brewhouse, lager in hand. [$ - $$]