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A Fashion Insider’s Guide to Hobart: Emma Petterwood on Where to Eat, Drink and Explore
From martinis and market bags to croissants, gallery walls and sea air, ROMY founder Emma Petterwood’s Hobart has taste without strain.
Hobart is having a very good winter. Dark Mofo arrives this month; the coats are out, the bars are dimly lit, and the city has that rare quality so many places try to manufacture: taste without strain. It suits Emma Petterwood.
The founder and designer behind Hobart label ROMY has built her brand at the intersection of fashion, art and culture, creating collections that begin with original artwork before becoming print-rich pieces made in small runs. The result is bold without being loud, feminine without feeling decorative, and deeply Tasmanian without turning itself into a postcard.
Petterwood’s Hobart follows the same instinct: stylish, specific and allergic to try-hard gloss. The right table, the sharpest coffee, the gallery detour, the beach town with one shop and no performance. We asked her to share the local spots she returns to again and again.
Where She Eats and Drinks
Petterwood’s favourites are less about being seen and more about places that get the details right, a sensibility that runs straight through ROMY.
When it comes to coffee, Villino in the CBD is her go-to daily spot. In Sandy Bay, it’s In Good Company, a newer arrival on one of Hobart’s most beautiful waterfront roads, operating as a cafe by day and wine bar on weekends.
For pastries, it has to be Queens. Petterwood is loyal to the ham-and-cheese croissant, best eaten warm. Croissants leave the oven at 7:30am, 8:45am and 10:30am, and regulars know the timing matters.
Dinner might mean Pitzi, the intimate pasta bar positioned directly across from ROMY HQ, or Institut Polaire, where the menu moves between French technique and Tasmanian produce with a strong focus on seafood. Petterwood also rates its martini as the best in Hobart.
For something more relaxed, she returns to Ogee. “Vinyls on, good energy, and even better food — it’s one of those places you keep going back to,” she says.
And for a sip, she heads to Lucinda. Tiny, mood-lit and sharply drawn, she says it feels like stumbling into a European backstreet bar.
Where She Browses
For shopping, Petterwood’s first stop is Homeroom Design. It is her go-to for gifts, including the ones technically meant for other people, and it also stocks ROMY. The edit is sharp: design objects, fashion, homewares and pieces with a real point of view.
For flowers, she names Botanical. For art, Bett Gallery. Together, they sketch the version of Hobart ROMY belongs to: a city where creativity is not staged for visitors but threaded through the day.
For beauty, she keeps it simple. The skin fairies at Sanctum, she says, can do no wrong.
If She’s Only Got a Saturday
A Saturday in Petterwood’s Hobart starts at Farm Gate Market, gathering produce for the week while the city is still shaking off the morning. From there, she might run along Sandy Bay Road or take the Pipeline Track at the foot of kunanyi/Mount Wellington. Or she will wander Battery Point, stopping at Lèoht for coffee and breakfast, or Jackman & McRoss, the Hobart institution with pastry in its bones.
Battery Point remains one of Hobart’s best arguments for slowing down without making a whole identity out of it. The cottages, gardens, lanes and old stone have a lived-in beauty that does not need a caption to justify itself. Around here, the city’s creative life makes sense: heritage, design, food and fashion all close enough to inform one another.
For more movement, she rates Bruny Island: ferry crossing, oysters, long lunches, wild coastline. And if the budget allows, Satellite Island is the splurge — rare, remote and very hard to forget.
If She’s Got a Weekend
Petterwood’s personal favourite escape is Opossum Bay, about 45 minutes from Hobart. She has a shack there, so admits to a little bias, but the appeal is easy to understand: one beach town, one shop, pantry goods, petrol, fishing gear, fish and chips, and not much else competing for your attention.
“There’s nothing else to do,” she says, “which is exactly the point.”
Editor’s Picks – ROMY
Loved Emma Petterwood’s insider’s guide to Hobart? Don’t miss our round-up of the best restaurants in Hobart, plus the best things to do in Hobart for everything this remarkable city has to offer.
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