The Best Places to Eat Seafood in Hobart

Hobart’s best seafood restaurants by district

As Tasmania’s biggest city and the centre of Tasmanian hospitality and dining, Hobart is full of options.

Unsurprisingly, nowhere in Hobart has as many great seafood eateries packed in as the part of town where all the boats come in – and so the Hobart Waterfront and Sullivans Cove area has by far the biggest selection of seafood restaurants in the city. However, depending where in Hobart you are staying or plan to visit, there are plenty of other great eateries and restaurants to enjoy.

Hobart Waterfront and Sullivans Cove

Drunken Admiral 17 Hunter Street

Nowhere in central Hobart leans into its maritime heritage as strongly and playfully as the Drunken Admiral. Loaded with seafaring paraphernalia, a replica wooden pirate ship, and often packed with a rollicking mess-hall vibe – where anybody could seemingly break out into a sea shanty at any moment – the Drunken Admiral’s commitment to the sea goes way beyond its quirky decor and fun atmosphere. Sit down and settle in with a hearty bowl of seafood chowder and a good selection of old-world ales, load up on a generous seafood platter, or take the refined angle: sipping a local Tamar Valley wine and slurping some fresh Tasmanian oysters at the bar. 

Pearl + Co Franklin Wharf

If you are looking for oysters in central Hobart, this place is hard to pass up. Pearl + Co do oysters more ways than most: Kilpatrick, natural, with a touch of champagne vinegar, onto a range of mouth-puckering oyster shooters, and even a deliciously rich but revitalising oyster chowder. It’s not only about oysters, though. Perched on a prime waterfront spot, practically leaning over the top of local fishing boats in the marina, Pearl + Co do some great things with its super fresh seafood catch: a bright wild-fish ceviche and Japanese-inspired sashimi plate utilise this freshness to the extreme, while dishes like the white wine-based seafood pasta and the seared market-price wild fish with lime beurre blanc satisfy heartier appetites.

Mures Upper Deck / Mures Lower Deck Victoria Dock, Davey Street

An award-winning restaurant with a strong local and international reputation, Mures Upper Deck offers a refined Tasmanian seafood dining experience from the top floor of a historic dockside fish shop. Among several house specialties here are a succulent blue eye trevalla dish based on an old Mures family recipe, and a deliciously rich, slow-cooked Tasmanian southern rock lobster Mornay. If you feel like a less refined, but still tasty, Mures meal, then Mures Lower Deck whips up and dishes out a constant stream of fresh, crispy fried fish and chips, using whatever local catch happens to be on that day.

Special focus: Fish and chips at Hobart Waterfront

Mako Seafood Constitution Dock

One of Hobart’s best fish and chip experiences, this floating dock/boat restaurant is a great casual alternative to the Waterfront’s more refined seafood eateries. The portions are generous and the service cheerful, while super fresh fish and chips are given what some would say is their “proper” due here: being served with the option of malt vinegar, chicken salt, and tartare sauce, either on the table or for takeaway. Mako Seafood is also a fresh fish supplier, so if you feel inspired to take home some fresh fish catch or Tasmanian scallops, they are usually more than happy to provide a few recipes and tips for home cooking, too.

Fish Frenzy Elizabeth Street Pier

Another casual option on the Waterfront, Fish Frenzy serves up no-fuss fish and chips and crispy fried seafood in convenient paper cones reminiscent of traditional Italian seaside towns. The venue is an old warehouse right on the pier, so it’s safe to say that this is also a superb spot to take a seat and enjoy an afternoon or evening with a local Tasmanian apple cider or craft beer. The restaurant menu, however, reveals much more depth than Fish Frenzy’s casual fish and chip character would suggest: grilled market fish, fresh salads, fish wraps, grilled octopus, peel-your-own prawns, and fresh natural oysters are just a few of the offerings.

Flippers 158 Davey Street

Surely the busiest fish and chip joint in Hobart, Flippers don’t really offer in-house dining, but there are plenty of outside seats and it’s right on the wharf so outside, on-the-go eating is often the best option. The main attraction, of course, is the sizzling range of freshly caught and freshly cooked fish, chips, calamari, scallops, and everything else that passes over Hobart’s Waterfront docks. Sauces are a point of difference here, though, with things like a house-made chilli mayo and house-pickled tartare sauce providing an extra touch of personality. It’s closer to restaurant prices than fish and chip shop prices, but well worth it for the experience.

North Hobart

Kraken 293 Elizabeth Street 

This is an absolute must for anyone staying in or heading to North Hobart looking for good fish and chips. Kraken has become something of an institution along North Hobart’s busy main drag of Elizabeth Street, carving a niche with its modern take on a traditional Aussie chippy. The fish changes according to market price and availability, so you certainly know (and taste) that nothing has been sitting around for very long. Most of the sauces are house made, and Kraken even goes to the coeliac-friendly lengths of keeping an entire separate deep fryer free for gluten-free cooking, as well as catering for other allergies and diet types.

Battery Point and Salamanca

Blue Eye Seafood Restaurant Castray Esplanade

A busy but spacious spot with a huge terrace, Blue Eye offers a good seafood dining option just a step back from Princes Wharf in Hobart’s historic Battery Point district. The proximity to wharf and pier help ensure an ever-changing range of daily seafood specials, according to the season and the particular catch. In addition to these creative specials, some more permanent menu staples worth trying include a tasty yellowfin tuna sashimi, curried seafood chowder with local sourdough, Thai-style fish cakes, a scallop-and-squid linguine, and a heartwarming white-fish seafood pie with mushy peas, Huon salmon and mussel cream.

Phat Fish 61 Salamanca Place

Located a few steps from popular Salamanca Market, Phat Fish is a great option for a quick and cheerful lunch after a busy morning market-going or exploring Hobart’s historic quarter. Prices are very reasonable and the vibe is very contemporary, with hip, photogenic takes on pub standards like crispy calamari, fried scallops and fish and chips, excellent prawn tacos, salmon sashimi and the like. It doubles as a funky bar, with an impressive range of cocktails and local craft beers on tap.

Further afield …

These ones are a bit further out of town, but worth a trek if you’re craving more great seafood in Hobart, or if you’re on your way from Hobart to explore the rest of Tasmania by car on a self-drive itinerary:

Barilla Bay Oyster Farm Cambridge

Situated on Tasman Highway (near Hobart International Airport on the way to Port Arthur, the East Coast, and beyond), this is undoubtedly the place to go in Hobart if you want to get oysters straight from the source, and to see where they come from. There’s a retail shop open daily, and an excellent outdoor seating space if you want to stop for on-site dining.

Maning Reef Cafe Sandy Bay

A great spot to stop from Hobart heading south towards Bruny Island, Dover and the Hartz Mountains, Maning Reef Cafe offers a few distinct seafood specialities in addition to great fish and chips. These include the wood-oven baked whole flounder, or lemon-baked whole white fish, brushed with olive oil, wrapped in tin foil and steamed to perfection in their wood-fire oven. Yummy.

With all these great options, seafood lovers won’t be going hungry in Hobart. If you’re looking at exploring more of Tasmania, though, and wondering what there is to see and do around the island, then check out

First Light Travel’s Tasmania blog page.

They have a number of articles on different topics specific to Tasmania – from where to honeymoon and what to do in winter to where to find the best craft beer or see the Southern Lights – as well as plenty of options for self-drive Tasmania tour itineraries. 

 Contact our Tasmanian travel experts directly, free of charge, if you need any help or advice!