Best restaurants in regional NSW worth travelling for

Bistro Livi, Murwillumbah

Why you should go: Infused with MoVida pedigree, awarded two hats in 2026 and offering a menu of seasonal flavours, the softly lit Bistro Livi brings the fresh produce and relaxed attitude of the Northern Rivers region to the industrial M|Arts Precinct building in Murwillumbah. Think share plates like Ballina pippies with XO sauce, Moreton Bay bugs in curry butter or an elegant chocolate tart – but dish options will depend on the week. The simplicity and quality of the menu are matched by the service, where attentive staff will help you explore a varied drinks menu covering local and European wines.

While you’re there: In town, Barrels Pizza serves up thin bases and blistered edges, and 2020 Smokehouse BBQ delivers the flavours of American barbecue every Sunday at the Murwillumbah Leagues Club. Just outside town, find lauded single estate rum makers Husk Farm Distillery.  

Bistro Livi, Murwillumbah - Credit: Jessie Prince | Bistro Livi

Ates, Blackheath

Why you should go: Ates (pronounced ah-tess) serves a modern Mediterranean menu designed around a 150-year-old ironbark-fuelled oven and the best of the Blue Mountains’ produce. Add top-notch wines and whiskeys and you have a memory-making feast set in beautiful Blackheath. Menu favourites include house-made ricotta, woodfired focaccia and roasted meats juicy from the oven. Order the set menu and leave it to the virtuosity of head chef William Cowan Lunn to guide your meal.

While you’re there: In Blackheath, stay the night at Kyah Hotel in a stylish room and you’ll be next-door neighbours with Blaq, a bistro for steaks, cocktails and one of the best wine lists in the region. In Katoomba, start with coffee and pastries from the progressive Black Cockatoo Bakery, head to Mountain Culture Beer Co’s brewpub for a craft beer with a view and check out Pho Moi for Vietnamese noodle soups and a coconut coffee.

Ates, Blackheath - Credit: Ates

EXP., Pokolbin  

Why you should go: Few restaurants stay relevant for a decade; even fewer manage to hit new heights but since opening in 2015, Pokolbin’s EXP. Restaurant has consistently drawn praise from Australia’s leading food media. Celebrated for its use of regional produce and polished (occasionally theatrical) service style, it retained its hat in 2026. Unlike the expansive views and wide dining rooms of other top Hunter Valley restaurants, here it’s intimate, dimly lit and focused on what’s on the plate. Expect delights such as slow cooked kangaroo tail in a steamed wattleseed bun, smoked rainbow trout with desert lime and goat yoghurt with caramelised chocolate parfait.

While you’re there: Spicers Retreats provides exceptional hotel dining at all its Hunter Valley locations. While you’re in the area, hit the vines – many of them have great restaurants attached. If you’re coming from Sydney, drop into Trading Post Laguna, a relaxed, community-focused eatery and shop for toasties, coffee and tasty Hunter Valley souvenirs.

EXP. Restaurant, Pokolbin

Bar Heather, Byron Bay 

Why you should go: Imagine dishes such as larb with potato crisps, pork neck pastrami, and tarragon and tomato pippies served with a baguette – Bar Heather's playful cuisine feels distinctly Australian, but there is no restaurant in the country quite like it. Instead of formal dining and matching wines, the kitchen’s unique innovations are served with wine-bar-bistro energy alongside a deep menu of minimal intervention wines.

While you’re there: Byron Bay has more great restaurants than you can fit into a weekend, so use your time wisely. Start with an overnight stay at Rae’s on Wategos, an ultra-luxury beachside hotel with a two-hat restaurant onsite. Beach Byron Bay is a flashy restaurant with a casual kiosk while The Smoking Camel serves up neon-lit Middle Eastern. Casual options include Costa Taco, a taqueria based on Northern Rivers produce, and artisan bakery Masa. Drive 15 minutes down the road to Bangalow to find You Beauty, Matt Stone’s modern, food-focused take on the classic Australian pub.

Bar Heather, Byron Bay - Credit: Jess Kearney

Megalong @ Lot 101, Megalong Valley 

Why you should go: Megalong is one of the purest farm-to-table experiences in the country. Almost everything you eat – the herbs, vegetables, fruit, lamb and beef – is sourced from the Megalong Valley farm surrounding the restaurant (take a tour through the gardens between courses). All the produce is grown using stringent organic regenerative farming practices. Because of that, the menu changes all the time, but expect unpretentious, simple cooking delivered with epic views of the valley.

While you’re there: Lot 101, the farm that provides Megalong’s produce, also has Megalong Valley Tea Rooms, a small, casual venue for farm-side scones, apple pie and tea. After a morning at the cafe, try mushroom picking around Oberon as well as the Garden Restaurant at Mayfield Garden, a rustic cafe-restaurant in the middle of a 15-hectare garden. 

Megalong, Megalong Valley - Credit: Megalong

Arrana, Springwood

Why you should go: Awarded two hats for the fifth time over the five years they’ve been open, Arrana in Springwood is famous for incorporating Australian ingredients throughout its menu. Popular dishes include their native thyme brined duck breast served with onion jus and peaches cooked three ways. The menu constantly changes at this soft-lit restaurant where the ambience is indulgent, so returning guests can always enjoy new flavours.

While you’re there: Order a brew and pastry at favourite Dbl Ristretto and enjoy a bistro lunch with magnificent views over the valley at the historic 1881 Royal Hotel. In Leura, you’ll find more culinary delights including Embers Grill Restaurant at the Fairmont which not only dazzles with impeccable cuisine but also offers stunning vistas over the Jamison Valley. Order a nightcap at Elysian, a cocktail and wine bar – their ‘thirst trap’ cocktail is always popular.

Arrana, Springwood - Credit: Time Out

Paste, Mittagong 

Why you should go: There is a good argument that most of the best Thai food in NSW is found either in Haymarket’s Thaitown or in the Lao and Isaan restaurants of Fairfield in Western Sydney. But there is one big exception to that rule: Paste in Mittagong. It’s the Australian branch of Bangkok’s Michelin star-winning restaurant that explores Thai history and the artful cuisine traditionally served around Thai royal circles. The Southern Highlands version serves similar dishes to the original, plated up in a humble dining room where the focus is on the food. Expect both recognisable and rare Thai dishes that showcase the balancing act of sour, salty, sweet and spicy. 

While you’re there: Park yourself in the beautiful manor of Osborn House or Bendooley Estate, two luxury stays with exceptional dining options. Caffeinate at Bowral’s The Press Shop then spend the day hopping between Southern Highlands food highlights like Moonacres Farm (book a cooking class or a table at the farm-to-table cafe) and the area’s unusually high number of pie makers. If you have a spare evening, book into the family-run Onesta Cucina for an Italian feast or Leila's at The Grand for a Lebanese banquet or Flour Bar, a bakery that transforms into a wine bar at night.

Paste, Mittagong - Credit: Paste

Eschalot, Berrima

Why you should go: At Eschalot in Berrima, every dish is guided by what’s in season, what’s grown in the restaurant’s kitchen garden, and what can be sourced with care and purpose. Chef Matty Roberts works closely with local growers, foragers and small-scale producers across the Southern Highlands. From heirloom vegetables and pasture-raised meats to foraged herbs and native botanicals, every ingredient from the spatchcock with paprika butter to the kingfish ceviche with cucumber consommé, is thoughtfully chosen with flavour in mind. 

While you’re there: Taste the creations of head chef Mark Chance at PepperGreen Estate, where dishes are designed to be enjoyed over a glass of the estate’s wine. The grand and picturesque Bendooley Estate on the edge of town is home to an incredible Book Barn, which houses thousands of books as well as a restaurant. Opt for a grazing board or something seared to perfection on the grill.

Eschalot, Berrima

Pipit, Pottsville 

Why you should go: Pipit feels like a step towards the future of Australian fine dining. The tablecloths are gone, as is the formal service style and the focus on stereotypical luxury ingredients that can come with it. Instead, the restaurant is centred on three key ideas: unique local produce (including foraged native ingredients of the region), maximising every ingredient (using every part and focusing on woodfired cooking) and sustainability (there’s no beef or bluefin tuna on this menu). It’s the output of former Noma chef Ben Devlin and designer Yen Trinh in an intimate, stylish 30-person dining room.  

While you’re there: Start your Pottsville weekend at Black Drop, a relaxed, sunny cafe brewing local beans. Head north for a beachside lunch at the acclaimed Paper Daisy or for a pasta and a tiramisu at No 35 Kitchen and Bar, both around Cabarita Beach. Or head south for tacos and margaritas at La Casita, a coffee and a fish sandwich by an award-winning chef at The Salty Mangrove or order a seasonal noodle soup and a few snacks at Roco Ramen and Sake.  

Pipit, Pottsville - Credit: Sabine Bannard

Muse, Pokolbin 

Why you should go: Nothing is better proof of a restaurant’s consistency and polish than a 16-year unbroken history under the same chef, with 11 consecutive years of being awarded at least one hat from Good Food Guide. During the day at Muse you’ll be gazing into the fields of a 50-year-old vineyard and at night, taking in the crackle of a fireplace and the glow of a kitchen focused on delivering the intricacy of an ever-evolving degustation menu. Two things never change: the focus on Hunter Valley wine and produce, and the signature dessert, Muse Coconut, a dark chocolate husk with a cloud-like coconut mousse.  

While you’re there: The Hunter Valley is a hotspot for produce-forward dining with the kind of views travellers dream of. Bistro Molines is a regional institution, delivering a French countryside experience with a vineyard outlook since 2008, éRemo has similar bucolic scenery but an Italian menu. Amanda’s on the Edge and Esca Bimbadgen are the modern Australian options, as is Restaurant Botanica where you’ll taste produce grown from the garden outside.

Muse Restaurant, Pokolbin

The Zin House, Mudgee

Why you should go: When you imagine the perfect regional long lunch, The Zin House is probably what you have in mind – no time limits, windows framing sprawling country scenery, casual walks in the garden (wine in hand) and unpretentious country cooking that relies on what’s growing in the garden outside. All menus are set and come with optional matching wines not just from the biodynamic Lowe vines around the restaurant but also from other local makers with similar organic philosophies.  

While you’re there: The Zin House is on the beautiful grounds of the Lowe Family Wine Co, just outside Mudgee. In town, Alby and Esthers is your morning jaffle and coffee stop, and Althea by Zin is the rural bakery of your dreams. Indulge in fine dining at Pipeclay Pumphouse, part of Robert Stein Vineyard and Winery, and learn about Aboriginal culture, traditions and food on a five course degustation dining experience with Warakirri Dining. 

The Zin House, Eurunderee

Flotilla, Newcastle

Why you should go: Some restaurants aim to impress, some to entertain. Flotilla aims for the latter but achieves both. The service is charming, the dining room casual and the dishes are playful and ever changing. But behind the bar, the kitchen is working with premium North Coast produce and fine-dining technique (all of which has helped them win and retain a hat from the Good Food Guide). It’s a set menu with the option of matching wines so all you need to do is relax and let it come to you.  

While you’re there: Newcastle is an underrated food destination with class options at all price points. Along with Flotilla, Humbug is the innovative high-end pick. For mid-range dining Scottie’s is a seafood institution. For a casual meal and brew, drop into Uprising Bakery and Kitchen for sausage rolls, Arno Deli for a sambo and Good Brother Espresso for exactly what their name promises.  

Flotilla, Wickham

Grazing, Gundaroo

Why you should go: Under the tin roof of the historic Royal Hotel in Gundaroo, Grazing is led by husband and wife duo Kurt and Tanya Neumann. Enjoy refined country fare inspired by the seasons and made using the best local produce, all the while your glasses will be filled with the finest drops from the surrounding region. Take a seat by the fireplace or wander the enchanting flower and edible garden.

While you’re there: Drop by the Gundog Estate Cork Street Cellar in the historic stables next door. Taste superb local wines over woodfired pizzas at Four Winds Vineyard. The next day, grab a coffee at Two Before Ten Murrumbateman to enjoy alongside a pastry from Clementine Bakery.

Grazing, Gundaroo - Credit: Grazing