North Coast Restaurants
We’ve compiled the best of the best in North Coast - browse our top choices for Restaurants during your stay.
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We’ve compiled the best of the best in North Coast - browse our top choices for Restaurants during your stay.
This is a fine place to socialize with the locals and tourists and enjoy some honest, unpretentious food. The on-site Sunset Bar & Grill is open for dinner on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday, and the menu includes a variety of roasts (such as roast chicken or lamb), steak with garlic butter, schnitzel, fish, and salads, plus pizza on Sunday nights. Friday night is the "big night out" on the island, when almost everyone turns up for the sunset barbecue—try the barbecue kingfish and grab an ice-cold beer. Desserts include what appears to be the island staple—sticky-date pudding—and ice cream. It's best to come early to take in the view over the golf links and the lagoon beyond.
Overlooking the harbor’s edge, here you'll find fresh produce and traditional Japanese fare. Serving up sashimi, sushi, and noodles, Nagisa is a popular weekend restaurant with a buzzy atmosphere. There's also a lively teppanyaki bar, where you'll be mesmerized by the talented chefs and incredible aromas of sizzling meats and fresh seafood.
The menu works around the restaurant's wood-fire oven and open-flame grill, with everything from hearty meats from local farms to seafood and smoked vegetables. The wine list is extensive, focusing on Australian wines from all corners of the country.
A Byron Bay legend, this open-air café is a perfect place to sit in the morning sun and watch the waves. Breakfast runs the gamut from wholesome (award-winning locally produced Brookfarm Macadamia muesli with yogurt and banana) to hearty (corned-beef hash, sautéed spinach, fried egg with béarnaise sauce). For lunch, there's everything from local seafood to the region's finest steak. The café is open for cocktails. It also has an attached takeout section for those who want to have light meals on the run.
Named after a Lord Howe Island fishing vessel, Greenback's Eatery naturally specializes in fresh fish. This casual spot, basically a veranda attached to boat owner Dave Gardiner's house, is open only on Monday and Thursday night (from 6:30), and the only choice on the menu is the catch of the day, but at least you know it's superfresh. You can bring your own wine or beer, although it is licensed. It's small and popular with locals, so book ahead. Dave also sells fresh sashimi packs to take away.
Opened on the site of the Merewether Beach's original surfhouse (a lifeguard station), this stunning three-story venue has fantastic ocean views from all three of its eateries. The ground floor café, pizza, and gelato bar are steps from the beach, while the top-level restaurant has expansive panoramas and is open for lunch and dinner. You might begin with the local Port Stephens oysters with shallot vinegar before moving on to a seafood main. The dessert list is extensive and the wine list features wines from the Hunter Valley. The café is open for all-day breakfast and lunch daily, offering burgers and salads.
This swank establishment is as close as Newcastle comes to having an iconic restaurant. Enclosed on three sides by glass and perched over the harbor on the busy esplanade, Scratchley's opened not long after the Honeysuckle precinct transformed Newcastle into a hip and happening place more than a decade ago. The restaurant has one of the best views in Newcastle and an extensive menu to please all-comers. Starters include seafood chowder, oysters, and prawn salad, while several dishes—king prawn linguine, and prawn satay with spicy peanut sauce—are available in either starter or main sizes. Non–seafood fans have steaks, lamb cutlets, and corn-fed chicken breast dishes to consider, and a range of vegetarian options and Hunter Valley cheeses to sustain them.
This waterfront restaurant with views of Coffs Creek (which is spotlighted at night—look for stingrays swimming by) is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and leaves no culinary stone unturned in its search for novel flavors. The menu in the open-air dining room includes lunch dishes like prawn and scallop red curry. If you want a table on the deck in summer, book ahead. Service is friendly and attentive.
With views of moored yachts and tropical gardens, there’s a real vacation vibe to this eatery. There are espresso coffees available at breakfast and espresso martinis at night, with live bands playing on the weekend as rowdy tables pop champagne bottles. The menu is heavy on seafood with the seared squid salad as a superior starter. For main, the fish of the day is always a winner. Or for meat lovers, the glazed pork belly with fennel and cabbage slaw is delicious. There are also classic Aussie desserts, like pavlova with fresh fruits, but really, this is the place to enjoy a few cocktails into the night instead.
This stylish, contemporary café packs in the crowds, thanks to its fabulously tasty meals, though you may need to exercise a little patience, as service can be a bit slow at times. Try the Corner Breakfast (A$24), which has everything from eggs the way you like them to ham hock--braised beans. Return for lunch or dinner and enjoy wagyu beef steak or ricotta gnocchi. As the name suggests, it sits on a corner and is part of the Macquarie Waters Hotel & Apartments complex.
Enjoy the passing parade of tugboats and tankers coming and going in Newcastle Harbour from this buzzy bar and restaurant on the Honeysuckle strip. Locals come here for casual catch-ups over cocktails, pizzas, and shared plates on the deck, but the serious foodies head inside for the larger Mod Oz plates, mostly designed to share. The restaurant is famous for its charcuterie board and other dishes featuring locally grown meats, but the fish is just as good, especially the calamari fritters.
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