How To Eat Your Way Through A Long, Chilly Winter Weekend In Hobart

The annual goth Christmas/spring break known as Dark Mofo is here and happening, and as many mainlanders make the pilgrimage to the (probably haunted) city of Hobart on the (most definitely haunted) island of Tasmania to lean into the spookiness of the festival that culminates on the longest night, the Winter Solstice.

Considering it’s bullshit cold while you’re gallivanting around in the clean, crisp air of Hobart, you’ll likely find yourself eating a lot. After visiting Dark Mofo for the last two years, I’ve sampled a pretty bloody good amount of grub, so here are my favourite hot spots to hit over the festival.

WINTER FEAST

The annual winter feast is easily the best spot to have a geez at the best food and drinks that Tassie has to offer – restaurants, wineries and distilleries all pack out a big shed on the water, creating a perfect night food market for you to wander around and taste a bit of everything.

My favourites have been the Heavy Metal Kitchen, a spiked hot chocolate from the Talisker Dark Bar, a mixed plate of curries from Taste Of Ethiopia, a charcoal and mushroom arancini from Sirocco South, and a sourdough doughnut from the Yeastie Beastie team.

IS THIS ART?

When you get your butt out to the apple of Hobart’s eye, Mona (Museum of Old & New Art), make sure you put aside some time to park yourself in at the fancy-ass in-house restaurant, Faro.

Reservations are a must if you want to have a full sit-down meal, but if you’re unprepared like I was just plonk yourself by the bar and order a fuck-off cheese platter and a couple of dark beers from the museum’s own Moo Brew.

RECOVERY BRUNCH CLUB

Pigeon Hole Café
93 Goulburn St, West Hobart

Up in West Hobart, you’ll find the little Pigeon Hole Café, which does a very hearty and warming range of dishes, mostly made from produce at their very own Weston Farm. When it hits the third morning-after-the-night-before, my absolute go-to recovery dish is their various baked eggs.

There tends to be a bit of a wait at this popular spot, so the smart cookies have opened up The Waiting Room next door, filled with cosy couches and pews for you to cop a coffee while you wait.

Straight Up
202 Liverpool St, Hobart

Specialising in vegetarian and gluten-free fare for Hobart, Straight Up does a mean coffee and will fill your tum with extremely delicious foods. The cheesy jaffle is incredible, possibly only because it gets piled high with their homemade piccalilli relish.

They also make a bunch of preserves, and whoever jars their own jam and stuff is extremely good by me.

Machine Laundry
12 Salamanca Place, Battery Point

Tucked away in the back corner of Salamanca Place is a toasty little cafe, Machine Laundry. Literally in amongst the hustle and bustle of a functioning laundromat, it’s a fave of mine for a quick bite before running over to catch the ferry to Mona.

Highly recommend the Eggs Royale, which is essentially an eggs benedict and florentine smushed together.

Anyway here’s me having serious menu anxiety, and then eventually panic-ordering as always.

It me. (Image: Naomi Lee Beveridge)

THE MARKETS OF HOBART

If you play your cards right, spend your Saturday morning at the massive Salamanca Markets – there’s heaps of good food and drinks there with heaps of local produce, distilleries, wineries and oyster farmers from Hobart and surrounds.

And if you need a sleep in after Night Mass on Friday, there’s always the Farm Gate Market on Bathurst St on Sundays.

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