Hamlet co-founder Emily Briffa worked at Melbourne’s Kinfolk (where she started as a volunteer) before moving to Hobart to pay it forward with her own social enterprise cafe. The industrial-leaning space is decked out with plywood boards and serves as hospo training ground for marginalised Tasmanians. It also turns out some seriously slick day-time dining (pan rolls with achar and swede curry; scrambled eggs with vadouvan and brioche croutons) and pantry staples like hot sauces and chutneys. Profits go back to the community, with the business supporting food relief programs through Hobart City Mission. 40 Molle St, Hobart; hamlet.org.au.

This newcomer is sibling to Salamanca’s famous Machine Laundry Cafe (circa 1997!) It brings retro vibes via Formica tables, vintage posters and mismatched chairs to Main Road, Moonah, which is rapidly overtaking North Hobart as the city’s top restaurant strip. Baked eggs in soupy beans come to the table in a steaming cast iron skillet and dinner-plate sized okonomiyaki (Japanese savoury pancake) is bursting with bacon, but you can go old-school a ham and cheese toastie or corn fritters, too. 73 Main Rd, Moonah; instagram.com/plainjanemoonah.

Cruise by this North Hobart mainstay on any day (or night) with even moderately nice weather and you’ll find the picnic table-filled outdoor dining area absolutely packed. Not to worry, as the name suggests the venue is enormous, with ample indoor seating and a side space that turns into a bar in the evenings. Brunch options run from huevos rancheros to a kimchi and bacon butty, plus plenty of opportunity to quash your hangover (or pick up a new one) via marmalade-spiked breakfast margaritas and double-shot bloody marys. 338 Elizabeth St, North Hobart; roomforapony.com.au.

With its rattan-accented furniture, peachy colour scheme and leafy boho wallpaper, this sunny southside cafe has beach resort vibes. The coffee options are many (old-school, plus lattes from red velvet to taro and matcha) and the menu adds “breakfast” to burgers, bowls and lasagne alongside dishes that ordinarily contain eggs. Think chilli scramble with smoked harissa yoghurt or fried eggs on flatbread with za’atar. The open-air courtyard is dog friendly, and the lactose-free, beef-sprinkled “puppachino” is a hot-ticket item among local hounds. 4/48 King St, Sandy Bay; sisterhoodhobart.com.

There are few cafes that can truly pull off a breakfast and dinner offering, but Berta is one of them. Owner-operators Alex Jovanovic and Alisha Wilson ran North Hobart wine bar Piccolo in the mid-2000s, one of the city’s first, and Berta is an evolution of that offering. Punters vie for a seat at the two long communal tables that make up the main dining room, tucking into the signature spring onion pancake with sticky pork belly and fried egg, house-made ricotta ravioli topped with buttery hazelnuts or an old-school schnitty sanga with avo, cos and fries. 119 Liverpool St, Hobart; bertahobart.com.au.