Introduction to New South Wales dining

Sydney in New South Wales is a great place to eat – there are just so many wonderful restaurants and bars and places to enjoy serious coffee.

However, there are many places outside the Sydney metropolis where you can also enjoy great food and wine experiences.

We shared some of our experiences in southern NSW last year including the following two restaurants in Merimbula.

Bar Superette – Merimbula

Bar Superette is both a bar serving a well-chosen selection of natural wines and delicious food and a bottle shop and “epicerie” selling well-selected tins of food and the compulsory Spanish potato chips amongst other delicious produce. 16/20 Market St, Merimbula 2548

Sunny’s Kiosk – Merimbula

We visited this lovely water-side venue in southern New South Wales twice in two days – once for a delicious breakfast and the second time for an equally delicious lunch. The cooking here is very good and the wine selection interesting. A very congenial spot as you can see from the view from the terrace above!

68 Lakewood Drive, Merimbula, NSW, 2548.

Bar Heather – Byron Bay

A great place to hang out in Byron Bay to enjoy the clever cooking of Ollie Wong-Hee and the natural wine selection assembled by the Lo-Fi Wines team. We have dined here twice on successive nights on our last three trips to this area because the food, wine and service are exemplary.

G9/139 Jonson St, Byron Bay, NSW, 2481.

You can see the current menu on their Web site here.

We have written a longer story about this venue here.

The Salty Mangrove – Ocean Shores / New Brighton

The Salty Mangrove is an informal restaurant where most of the seating is outside with some of the seating under cover. There is also some inside seating. The menu here comprises lots of very fresh seafood and some very fresh vegetables. The food is overseen by the very talented David Moyle.

On our most recent visit we had some wonderful, very fresh seafood including prawn rolls served in lovely fresh rolls cooked to order on the premises. We also enjoyed a serving of the excellent potato chips.

50B River St, New Brighton, New South Wales, Australia 2483

Frankies Gelato Naturale – Byron Bay

This popular gelato shop in a side street in Byron Bay has an impressive array of flavours. We had Peruvian Chocolate and Amarena Cherries Mascarpone. The Mascarpone was particularly delicious due to the naturally high fat content. The Peruvian Chocolate also had a high cocoa content which also made it delicious.

Frankies Gelato Naturale, Shop 8, 8 Fletcher Street, Byron Bay, New South Wales 2481

Organic Juice Bar – Mullumbimby

The Organic Juice Bar in Mullumbimby is a great place to drop into for a coffee (Caldera Coffee) or for one of their excellent organic juice combinations. We enjoyed a very pleasant half hour sipping our organic juices here.

We chose the Immunity fruit juice which comprised orange, carrot, lemon and turmeric and it was absolutely refreshing and delicious. We look forward to our return.