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The Best Restaurants in Launceston for Your Next Delicious Bite
Situated in one of our country’s oldest food bowls, these are some of the best restaurants in Launceston to taste your way through the region's finest.
Launceston is the only city in Tasmania with UNESCO City of Gastronomy status, and anyone who has eaten their way through a few days here will understand why the designation fits. The best restaurants in Launceston earn attention through detail: dry-aged Cape Grim beef at Black Cow Bistro on George Street, a second-glass wine list at Havilah on Charles Street, and Cantonese cooking at Me Wah in Invermay sharp enough to make the trip north feel like necessity.
This guide covers the full spread, from neighbourhood favourites to the dining rooms you’ll want to book well in advance.
Kawan Dining
Kawan Dining is delivering Southeast Asian cooking to Charles Street with a story worth knowing before you order. Chef Efendi, who has worked through Longrain, China Diner and Mudbar, now runs this Launceston restaurant with his wife, drawing on Indonesian and Thai flavours, Tasmanian produce and the easy generosity implied by its name, which means “friend” in Indonesian. Bring a few of yours, order chicken khao soi, fried barramundi, sambal and roti, and let the table get messy in the best possible way.
138 Charles Street, Launceston
Havilah
Havilah is a Launceston wine bar for people who read a wine list with intent. On Charles Street, it works as bar, kitchen, cellar door and bottle shop in one, with Ricky Evans’ Havilah, Two Tonne Tasmania and Woodlawn labels at the centre of the room. The list moves through Tasmania, Australia and further afield, while the kitchen keeps things seasonal with charcuterie, cheese, seafood, pickles and plates built for grazing between glasses. Book for dinner or walk in for a drink; either way, you may leave with a bottle under your arm.
178 Charles Street, Launceston
Tres.
TRES. is the Launceston restaurant bringing Latin American flavour to the corner of Charles and York, with Tasmanian produce doing more than playing support act. The menu shifts daily, but you might find prawn tostadas, slow-cooked pork belly, empanadas, bright seafood, charred edges and sauces with a little bite. The drinks list travels well too, moving from Tamar Valley Pinot to Rioja, Malbec, margaritas and caipirinhas.
A Sitchu Awards winner for Best New Restaurant and Best Date Spot, it has quickly become one of the city’s liveliest bookings.
shop 2/126 Charles Street, Launceston
Timbre Kitchen
Timbre Kitchen is a Tamar Valley restaurant at Velo Wines in Legana, 15 minutes from Launceston, with vineyard views and a kitchen that writes the menu backwards from what the growers bring in. Owner-chef Matt Adams works with backyard produce, fire, pickling and fermentation, so the shared banquets feel wonderfully alive to the day: vegetables with bite, fish treated cleanly, meat with smoke at its edges.
Book for lunch Thursday to Sunday, or make a Friday or Saturday night of it with Velo in the glass.
Velo Wines, 755 West Tamar Highway, Legana
Me Wah
Me Wah is a Launceston dining institution, pairing refined Cantonese technique with Tasmania’s exceptional produce. Under chef Gordon Tso, the menu moves through elegant dishes such as steamed prawn and pink ling dumplings with wild mushrooms and truffle, and sautéed crayfish folded through handmade egg noodles with ginger and garlic. The $160 signature menu features Peking duck, wagyu with black truffle, and a carefully paced progression of dishes overall.
39-41 Invermay Road, Launceston
Diverge at Hotel Verge
Diverge is the Launceston restaurant inside Hotel Verge, close to Albert Hall and handy for travellers who want dinner without crossing town. Breakfast runs daily, while dinner moves through Lease 65 oysters, Huon salmon sashimi, Korean fried Marion Bay chicken, Longford porterhouse and Cape Grim rib-eye, with Tasmanian wine and beer in reach. Locals, take note: this one is not just for hotel guests.
50 Tamar Street, Launceston
Pachinko
Pachinko is the small Launceston restaurant in Quadrant Mall that makes 20 seats feel like an advantage, not a constraint. By night, it works in the spirit of an izakaya, with modern Asian share plates, local produce and enough sake, small-batch wine and craft beer to turn a quick bite into a very good decision. The menu shifts, but the point is to order widely: pickles, fried eggplant, okonomiyaki, seafood, something crisp, something rich, then dessert if the room allows.
Sitchu Tip: Lunch ramen has become one of its cult moves when it appears, so check socials before banking on a bowl. Dinner, though, is the steady play.
23 Quadrant Mall, Launceston
DongSheng
DongSheng is a South Launceston Chinese restaurant built for the table, not the timid order. On Lawrence Vale Road, chef Duncan Shi folds Tasmanian meat, fish and seafood through a menu that runs from weekend yum cha to banquet dinners for four or more. Order across the dumplings first, especially pork, prawn and tobiko, then keep going with octopus spring rolls, seared duck breast, slow-cooked pork belly or crispy lobster with scallops, prawns and garlic soy fried rice.
The bar leans into Chinese and Tasmanian beers, wine and Asian-accented cocktails, making this one of Launceston’s stronger plays for group dining.
123 Lawrence Vale Road, South Launceston
Grain of the Silos
Grain of the Silos is a Launceston restaurant built around Tasmanian produce, with the island written into the menu in more useful ways than a neat origin story. Cape Grim beef, Bruny Island cheese, oysters with pepperberry mignonette and abalone fritters all make a strong case for starting slowly, before the table moves toward handmade pasta, grilled lamb rump with green olive tapenade or the catch of the day. Encased inside the city’s converted silos, it suits a long lunch, a sharper hotel dinner or anyone wanting regional dining without the usual grandstanding.
89 Lindsay Street, Invermay
Felix Espresso & Wine
Felix is a Launceston pasta and wine bar from the Tinka Coffee Brewers crew, set on Cimitiere Street with one foot in the morning and the other somewhere deep in a glass of red. By day, it deals in coffee, Portuguese tarts, Italian panini and the easy traffic of City Park just across the road. By night, fresh pasta takes over. The kitchen rolls its own, shifts the sauces with the season and lets Tasmania sit naturally inside the Italian frame. There are small plates, cocktails, a short-cut-to-happiness Feed Me menu and enough looseness in the room to make it work for lunch, dinner or a Saturday breakfast that turns into something else entirely.
4/112 Cimitiere Street, Launceston
Monsoon
Monsoon is a Thai restaurant in Launceston for South-East Asian share plates, Tasmanian produce and a dinner that wakes up the edges of a cold northern night. The menu moves from roasted duck pancakes and crisp pork belly to pad Thai, seafood curries and vegan-friendly plates that feel considered rather than tacked on. It works for a quick lunch, though dinner is the better play: order across the smaller dishes, let chilli, lime and coconut do the heavy lifting, then step back into the Launceston night feeling far more chipper than when you arrived.
178 Charles Street, Launceston
Black Cow Bistro
Black Cow Bistro is Launceston’s steakhouse with real provenance: a former butcher’s shop turned dining room, devoted to Tasmanian beef and the pleasure of a very good cut cooked with restraint. The menu moves through Cape Grim and Robbins Island beef, grass-fed and dry-aged, with oysters, seafood and seasonal vegetables giving the table more range than the usual steak-and-red formula. Inside, the old bones of the building carry the room, while the kitchen keeps the focus squarely on the island’s best beef.
70 George Street, Launceston
Stelo at Pierre’s
Stelo at Pierre’s is one of Launceston’s best Italian restaurants for handmade pasta, Tasmanian produce and a night with a little gloss on it. Inside the old Pierre’s building, all dark corners, bentwood chairs and city history, the menu reads Italian but keeps its feet in the north: burrata, sourdough focaccia, gnocchi, silky strands of pasta, tiramisu and the type of local produce that makes the whole thing feel firmly Tasmanian rather than imported wholesale. There are two dining rooms, a bar and a private space, though the real move is simple: arrive hungry, order pasta, stay for dessert.
88 George Street, Launceston
Boatyard
Boatyard is a waterfront restaurant in Launceston set on the Tamar River beside one of Australia’s oldest slip yards, making it an easy choice for oysters, drinks and dinner with a view. The deck is the move at sunset, when the river takes over the room and the menu keeps things generous without fuss. Start with freshly shucked Tasmanian oysters from the Oyster Bar, then follow with beef croquettes, chargrilled octopus, market fish or scotch fillet. Fish and Chip Wednesdays remain a local favourite, and the address works just as well for a lazy lunch as it does for a glass of wine after a riverside walk.
13 Park Street, Launceston
Stillwater
Stillwater sits inside an 1830s flour mill on the Kanamaluka/Tamar River, which is a useful reminder that Launceston has always known how to turn raw material into something memorable. The kitchen works downstream of Tasmania’s best producers, with names like Cape Grim Beef, Tas Oyster Co., Lenah Game Meats and Yorktown Organics moving through the menu, while the wine list has earned its place in the Australian Wine List Awards Hall of Fame. Lunch here has a lovely sense of occasion without tipping into stiffness: river at the windows, old stone at your back, and plates that make the north of the island feel abundant, exacting and very much alive.
2 Bridge Road, Launceston
Mudbar
Mudbar is Launceston with its elbows on the water: glass, timber, river light and a menu that knows how far Tasmania can travel in a single plate. At Seaport, this long-running dining room draws from its own White Hills farm as well as the island’s better growers, so the localness has dirt under its nails rather than a slogan. Start briny and bright with Tasmanian oysters dressed in ponzu or nahm jim, then move through to togarashi crab tartlet, farm rabbit potsticker, soy-roasted duck or lamb two ways with gochujang, potato pavé and parsnip velouté. The wine list runs deep on Tasmanian Pinot Noir, while the cocktails make a convincing case for staying by the river after dark.
28 Seaport Boulevard, Launceston
Rupert & Hound
Rupert & Hound pays homage to the humble fish-and-chip shop that once occupied its riverfront site, reimagining the classic seaside experience with a refined, produce-driven twist. Showcasing the best of Tasmania’s waters and paddocks, the menu heroes sustainably sourced local fare: think pan-seared Tasmanian scallops and expertly cooked Atlantic salmon. With its sun-drenched position overlooking the North Esk River, it’s the ideal spot to while away the afternoon over a crisp craft beer or a well-mixed cocktail.
30 Seaport Boulevard, Launceston
Josef Chromy Wines
Ten minutes from Launceston, Josef Chromy is the Tamar Valley lunch reservation that still feels like the dream reward for leaving town. The cellar door sits inside the original 1880s homestead, with tastings of estate-grown wines looking out to the lake, vines and century-old gardens. Next door, the hatted restaurant has a sharper regional focus under executive chef Nick Raitt, working with small Northern Tasmanian farms and artisan producers across a two- or three-course lunch.
The menu moves with the season, but recent dishes have included wood-grilled market fish with east coast scallop, Cressy lamb, Scottsdale pork collar with miso Riesling glaze and warm green apple galette with kunzea caramel. Book lunch, then leave room for a four-wine tasting at the cellar door.
370 Relbia Road, Relbia
Did you love our roundup of the best restaurants in Launceston? We’ve got more where that came from. Check out Launceston’s best markets, or, if you’re heading south, check out Hobart’s top restaurants.
