Your ultimate guide to where to eat, drink and do in Hobart right now

When you disembark at the small but perfectly placed Hobart airport, it’s a very short drive or Taxi ride to Barilla Bay Oyster Farm. Set on the stunning and serene Barilla Bay with views to the Coal Valley, this venue does triple duty as an oyster farm, restaurant and Tasmanian produce and gift store. Diehard oyster fans can take a tour of the oyster farm and on-site ginger beer brewery. The tour kicks off with a freshly shucked oyster and ends with half a dozen more straight from the bay. The bivalves were so big we couldn’t finish both plates. You can grab a glass of Tassie sparkling to wash them down, too. Tours are $39 per person and are on offer on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturday. 

If you need to refuel on coffee and some carbohydrates, the next stop in the heart of Hobart CBD has to be Pigeon Whole Bakers. The pun is very much intended at this hole-in-the-wall bakery serving wholesome treats baked on site, accompanied by Hobart speciality roasters Villino Coffee. There’s every type of savoury and sweet baked item to devour, from bagels to baguettes, but we opted for delicious stuffed pretzels and perfectly soft-yet-crunchy morning buns. The best part is watching the bakers in the mezzanine bakery while you wait for your takeaway coffee. A warning: you will probably be back to carb load every day of your stay. 

Spill the crumbs from your baked treats on the short stroll from Pigeon Whole to the Hobart waterfront, where you can check out Brook Street Pier. It’s where the MONA fast ferry departs but is also home to a range of local produce and product sellers as well as seasonal Tasmanian produce premium dining at Aloft.  

We like to believe that all cities are walkable, and Hobart, despite its many hills, is too. That said, if the hills get too much, on-street e-scooters can be found on almost every corner and will help you scoot up to trendy Elizabeth Street in North Hobart for dinner at Willings Brothers Wine Merchants. A local wine bar with an Italian-inspired food menu, Willings Brothers has a very classic neighbourhood feel but is as buzzy as any inner-city haunt. Owners Carl Windsor and James Kingston and their team oversee a list of more than 300 curated bottles – many of which feature on the hard-to-miss wine wall directly across from the bar. There are also plenty of regularly changing by-the-glass options and some great local artisanal beer and spirit options, too. The menu pairs perfectly with the wines on offer, with entrees such as stracciatella served with in-season asparagus and lemon accompanied by anchovy on toast with gribiche and a rather delicious chicken liver parfait. Our host suggests a Tasmanian Methode Ancestrale to start – One Hundred Days, a delicious drop from tiny northern Tasmanian vineyard Haddow + Dineen, the brainchild of cheesemaker Nick Haddow and winemaker Jeremy Dineen. There are three pizzas and three pastas to choose from; we opted for the traditional Napoletana and  spanner crab fettucine with a side of cos, anchovy and parmesan. It was the perfect blend of salty and crisp. Heartier mains include a broad bean, peas and goats curd risotto, steak frites, and fried quail dish served with silverbeet, mustard and parmesan emulsion. 

If you have more time, then you can’t miss Die Makr and sister venue Lucinda Wine Bar. Sustainable restaurant Fico has an ever-changing menu depending on what is in season and available from local producers. If you want to travel further afield, Marion Bay restaurant and farm experience Van Bone is not to be missed.

It’s hard to go far in Australia without hearing about Lark, Australia's first whisky brand. When Bill Lark set off to create his own Tasmanian malt whisky in 1989, he had no idea that he would spawn a world-class whisky-making industry across his home state. Whisky and gin bar the Still, in the heart of Hobart, is a celebration of the success of each maker's craft.

The most refreshing aspect of the Still is its neutrality. Although it's owned and run by the Lark team, the bar's brief is to celebrate all Tasmanian whisky – so you will find pretty much every one of Tassie’s best whiskies on offer. The team will identify your whisky preferences before suggesting what to try.  

With a huge wrap-around bar and a central tasting table, the Still is both a cocktail lounge and bar as well as a tasting room – the latter being best explored through a guided tasting experience. 

Arriving early for our guided experience meant that we had the time to explore a range of the delicious whisky-based cocktails, including the Saltbush Negroni, featuring local gin; the Tassie Two Step, a long and refreshing highball featuring apple, blackheart sassafras, wattleseed and bubbles; and our personal fave, the House Old Fashioned, made with Tassie whisky, maple syrup, mango and orange. A small but delicious snack menu includes a terrine and pickles as well as local cheeses.  

>Not one detail is left out in the tasting experience itself, with a personalised leather tasting mat with paper and pen for notetaking and a flavour wheel for future reference. The most surprising and ‘Instagrammable’ moment is when the overhead steel beam lowers three individual barrels of whisky over to serve the tasting samples. This bit of bar theatre serves as a whisky version of the Harry Potter Sorting Hat – identifying whether you are bourbon cask, sherry cask or port cask.  

Limited-edition bottles are available to purchase, or you can simply order a dram or two from the bar and watch the afternoon go by.  

If you’re already a die-hard Lark fan and you are up for a drive you can continue your exploration where the magic happens at Pontville – the actual Lark Distillery, just 30 minutes north of Hobart, where you can tour Australia’s only on-site working cooperage and of course taste some more. Closer to the centre of town you will find the Lark Cellar Door for more tasting flights and Lark immersion.

If you’re finished with tasting whiskies, it’s time to shift to one of the other burgeoning Tassie spirit industries: gin. And you don’t have to shift very far – Forty Spotted Gin (bar) is perched up one flight of stairs from the Still, and its light and bright fitout is reminiscent of a science lab inside a Tokyo ramen bar. And delicious science is what’s on offer with a very personalised gin-blending experience to be had.

The award-winning Forty Spotted Gin is part of the Lark family and is inspired by the wild nature of the island and embodies the same tireless attention to detail of Lark’s whisky.

The bar itself offers an exclusive range of experimental Forty Spotted Gin products but also premium and handcrafted cocktails. If you do a blending workshop, you'll walk away with your own hand-blended gin.

A master gin blender takes us through the science of creating the perfect gin while we sip on a Forty Spotted and soda or two. We learn about Tasmanian gin and the correct blend of botanicals required to create something really drinkable. The whole experience is reminiscent of year 10 science – if only that had been as much fun. Armed with test tubes, beakers and formulas we get to mix and match some classic botanicals along with a base spirit to create a completely individual bottle. There’s also a beaker for ‘failed dreams’, when the combination of ginger and lemon to coriander and juniper just isn’t right. 

Once you’ve created the ultimate formula, you get to hand label your 200ml bottle ad take it with you to drink at your leisure.