Restaurants (Part 2) of Elizabeth Merymen’s Weekend Australian Magazine article Byron and Beyond (May 4-5 2024)
View the full Weekend Australian (May 4-5, 2024) article here: Why the NSW Northern Rivers is Australia’s new food capital | The Australian
Within the article, Elizabeth reviewed a number of local restaurants – here are the final 6 (of 12)!
Taverna Restaurant has great cocktails. Photo: Ryan Fowler Photography
Taverna
Beachside Greek-inspired food in a bougainvillea and lavender festooned cottage is all you can possibly need for a laid-back lunch. Of course, good cocktails and wine help the mood along, too. You’ll need to bring a contingent of friends to help you through the menu with generous dishes like slow-roasted lamb shoulder, buttermilk crispy chicken and chargrilled octopus. The Byron Bay haloumi drizzled in honey should not be overlooked, nor should a seat at a whitewashed picnic table outside if the sun is shining.
22 Marine Parade, Kingscliff, NSW
Price guide: $10 – $50
Hours: Thu: 5:30pm – late | Fri-Sun: 12pm – 3pm, 5:30pm – late
Menu // Book now
taverna.net.au
Our thoughts: Had an amazing Sunday lunch here – and we will be back!
Roco Ramen Restaurant in Brunswick Heads, NSW
La Casita/Roco Ramen/Birds of Paradise
Astrid McCormack and Josh Lewis created a sensation when they opened fine diner Fleet in rustic Brunswick Heads in 2016. Few could believe a restaurant so small and so off the beaten track could be so great. These days McCormack and Lewis focus on fun-fuelled street food across three venues. La Casita is a refined take on Mexican cuisine – the sort of place where mates share a tableful of tostadas and tacos stuffed with the likes of carnitas (confit pork collar), barbacoa de cordero (slowly coal-roasted lamb) and pescado (battered fish). Then there’s ramen at nearby Roco Ramen, and the new Birds of Paradise, a charcoal chicken rotisserie with the north’s best chook.
La Casita
5/3 Fawcett St, Brunswick Heads, NSW
Price guide: $10 – $21
Hours: Fri – Mon 5pm – 10pm; Sun 12pm – 3pm
Menu // Book now
lacasita.com.au
Roco Ramen
2/16 The Terrace, Brunswick Heads NSW
Price guide: $15- $30
Hours: Wed – Sat 5pm – late
Menu // Book now
rocoramen.com.au
Birds of Paradise
Shop 2, 19 Booyun Street Brunswick Heads NSW
Price guide: $15- $30
Hours: Thu – Mon 12pm – 8pm
Menu // Book now
boprotisserie.com.au
Our thoughts: Brunswick Heads is well worth a visit. Check out our blog on ABC Back Roads visits Brunswick Heads for some highlights of things to do.
Rae’s Restaurant in Byron Bay gives that Mykonos feeling
Rae’s Dining Room
Mykonos vibes permeate this fine-diner at Byron’s most exclusive beachside location inside the famed Raes on Wategos boutique retreat. Look out over the glorious cove of Wategos Beach as you linger over chef Jason Saxby’s sexy, Mediterranean-leaning menu. Go for either the three-course, $115 à la carte menu studded with dishes like tomato tagliolini with seared coral prawns and bush tomato, or opt for the eight-course, $155 tasting menu with gems such as chilled spanner crab with chawanmushi and crab dashi. This is coastal dining at its finest.
6-8 Marine Parade, Byron Bay, NSW
Price Guide: $115pp
Hours: 7am – 10pm
Menu // Book now
raes.com.au/diningroom
Our thoughts: Rae’s has been on our must do list for many years – we really must get there soon!
Tortellini, Saffron, Buttermilk, Caviar. Photo: Parker Blain
Pixie Food and Wine/Light Years
These sister venues bring an urbane sensibility to the Bay. Pixie is a ’70s-leaning trattoria with Italian food by executive chef Matteo Tine – the likes of spaghetti with blue swimmer crab, chilli and garlic, and dry-aged bistecca with pink peppercorn and grappa sauce. Light Years, meanwhile, is one of a number of restaurants of the same name dotted across holiday locations Australia-wide (Noosa, Burleigh Heads, Newcastle and soon, Perth). Pan-Asian flavours include “hot and tingly” barbecue lamb ribs and firecracker chicken. These venues are about big flavours, pretty cocktails and a fair amount of attitude.
Pixie Food & Wine
139 Jonson St, Byron Bay NSW
Price guide: $7 – $52
Hours: Mon – Thurs 5pm – 10pm; Fri – Sun 12pm – 10pm
Menu // Book now
pixiebyronbay.com.au
Light Years
139 Jonson St, Byron Bay
Price guide: $8 – $54
Hours: 12pm – 11pm
Menu // Book now
Our thoughts: I think I would go for sharing plates here – there are just too many wonderful menu choices – I want to try them all!
Chef Alanna Sapwell-Stone’s creations at The Eltham in the Byron Bay hinterlands.
Eltham Hotel
This charming country pub is still just that, only now it has gourmet counter meals coming out of the kitchen thanks to chef Alanna Sapwell-Stone, who walks a fine line: at once managing to keep crusty locals happy and well fed, while also attracting destination diners keen to soak up the goodtime vibes and live music. On the menu? Chicken parma, naturally, but also pig’s head sausage with Yorkshire pudding, wild boar ragu and smoked eel dip. The Eltham is co-owned by Sapwell-Stone and husband Matt Stone (whose other venues are You Beauty and Ciao Mate! in Bangalow). It’s quite the culinary package.
441 Eltham Road, Eltham, NSW
Price guide: About $50-60
Hours: Lunch 12pm – 3pm | Dinner 5pm – 8pm
Menu // Book now
elthampub.com.au
Our thoughts: While the chicken parmy is a favourite of many Eltham Pub patrons, my favourite has been the beer battered market fish and chips with local leaves, tartare and lemon. Sunday afternoons are a treat with live music!
No. 35 Kitchen and Bar
Locally bred chef Daniel Medcalf cut his teeth in some of Sydney’s best kitchens (Icebergs and the Dolphin Hotel) before returning home to open this beachside eatery with business partner and front of house talent Rachel Duffy (also ex-Icebergs). Italian flavours take the lead on a concise, well shaped menu that meanders from small plates of fresh buratta with chilli oil to pasta dishes with king prawn, octopus and clams, and larger plates of sirloin with smoky barbecue onion and green peppercorn mustard jus. This is beautifully executed casual dining.
35 Tweed Coast Road, Cabarita Beach, NSW
Price range: About $50-$60
Hours: Wed – Fri from 5pm. Sat Lunch from 12pm, Sat Dinner from 5pm
Menu // Book now
number35.com.au
Our thoughts: Being just 5 minutes down the road from La Petit Unite, this is a great place for a wonderful meal. Would thoroughly recommend!
Elizabeth Meryment is a senior travel, food and lifestyle writer and journalist. Based in Sydney, she has been a writer, editor, and contributor to The Australian since 2003, and has worked across titles including The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph, Qantas Magazine, delicious and more. Since 2022, she has edited lifestyle content for The Weekend Australian Magazine.
View the full Weekend Australian (May 4-5, 2024) article here: Why the NSW Northern Rivers is Australia’s new food capital | The Australian
The other six restaurants that were reviewed in the same article can be found (on our blog) here.
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