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Dine on native ingredients in NSW

Bangalay Dining, Shoalhaven HeadsCredit: Destination NSW

Chef Brett Strong showcasing the local and native ingredients featured on the Bangalay Dining menu to patrons.

#lovensw #newsouthwales

Dine on native ingredients in NSW

Bangalay Dining, Shoalhaven Heads Credit: Destination NSW

Chef Brett Strong showcasing the local and native ingredients featured on the Bangalay Dining menu to patrons.

#lovensw #newsouthwales

Hashtags #lovensw #newsouthwales

Australia has been providing its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with delicious bush tucker for tens of thousands of years. More recently, native ingredients such as lemon myrtle, wattleseed, rosella and warrigal greens have been making their mark on modern menus. Let us inspire you with some of the best places to try bush foods across New South Wales. 

Pipit, Pottsville  

At the fine-dining restaurant Pipit in the tiny town of Pottsville, a  20-minute drive from Byron Bay on the NSW North Coast, renowned chef Ben Devlin loves to highlight native produce from the surrounding Northern Rivers region. Here, a sustainably caught local fish dish could be complemented by foraged ingredients such as kelp, riberries, lemon aspen, wattle flowers and more.

Karkalla, Byron Bay  

In the North Coast holiday town of Byron Bay, this new café and restaurant not only plates up native plants, it’s named after one, too. The succulent is also known as pigface and you can find its juicy green leaves on the menu at Karkalla, along with wild native hibiscus, strawberry gum, crunchy saltbush and other native treats. The eatery is the passion project of Bundjalung woman Mindy Woods, who was previously CEO of Sydney’s Lotus Dining Group of upmarket Chinese eateries, and her wife Rachelle.  

Harvest Newrybar, Newrybar 

Harvest Newrybar is a multi-award-winning restaurant in the Byron Bay hinterland village of Newrybar, a 20-minute drive from Byron Bay. Here chefs work with forager and wild food researcher Peter Hardwick to invent dishes showcasing the likes of pickled kelp, coastal tea tree vinegar, cinnamon myrtle, edible coastal succulents and other seasonal, native ingredients Peter has collected in the region.

Pipit Restaurant, Pottsville Credit: Sabine Bannard

An exquisitely presented dish at Pipit, in Pottsville on the NSW North Coast.

#lovensw #newsouthwales

Pipit Restaurant, Pottsville Credit: Sabine Bannard

An exquisitely presented dish at Pipit, in Pottsville on the NSW North Coast.

#lovensw #newsouthwales

Karkalla, Byron Bay Credit: Karkalla Byron Bay

Native ingredients feature heavily at Karkalla in Byron Bay.

#lovensw #newsouthwales

Karkalla, Byron Bay Credit: Karkalla Byron Bay

Native ingredients feature heavily at Karkalla in Byron Bay.

#lovensw #newsouthwales

Kawul, Pokolbin 

Created by Wonnarua people Kim and Scott Waters, Kawul restaurant, on the grounds of Calais Estate winery in Pokolbin, offers a chance to dine on native ingredients that were once used by their ancestors. Chef Jayden Casinelli creates dishes with native bush spices and local organic produce in the heart of the Hunter Valley wine region, where you can get a taste for pepperberry hummus and gnocchi with warrigal greens, while in the bar you can savour a lemon-myrtle spritz.  

Warakirri Café, Mudgee  

In the central west NSW town of Mudgee, Sharon Winsor, a Ngemba Weilwan woman from western NSW, has been selling sustainable, premium bush foods and botanicals since 2012 under her Indigiearth label. Now she also has the Warakirri Café, where you can wash down your quandong glazed emu fillet with a wattleseed-infused coffee. The café also serves as a retail outlet for Indigiearth products such as chutneys made with bush tomato or wild peach, freeze-dried Kakadu plum powder and native teas. 

Bangalay Dining, Shoalhaven Heads 

In the food bowl of the NSW South Coast, the team at destination restaurant Bangalay Dining, at Bangalay Luxury Villas in Shoalhaven Heads, works with indigenous food supplier Something Wild to bring native flavours to the table. Co-executive chef Simon Evans also forages for local native ingredients such as warrigal greens, beach mustard, saltbush, seablite, oxalis and samphire in the coastal area around the resort. If you like lobster thermidor, it’s time to try a Moreton Bay bug thermidor with native herb butter and saltbush. Or how about a raw ruby snapper with finger lime and heartleaf ice plant? Or both? Finish on a native ingredient sweet spot with a Davidson plum sorbet. 

Mirritya Mundya, Callala Bay  

Mirritya Mundya means ‘hungry blackfish’ in the Ngarrugu language group of southeastern Australia, and at Callala Bay on the South Coast, it’s also the name of a food truck. Order dinner packs and food platters with a native-ingredient focus, including Davidson plum pork belly, lilly pilly chicken and pepperleaf mac and cheese. It also hosts pop-up dinners, at Silos Estate winery outside of nearby Berry, where you can go on a five-course indigenous food journey.

Harvest Restaurant, Newrybar Credit: Destination NSW

Exterior view of the charming Harvest Restaurant in Newrybar.

#lovensw #newsouthwales

Harvest Restaurant, Newrybar Credit: Destination NSW

Exterior view of the charming Harvest Restaurant in Newrybar.

#lovensw #newsouthwales

Warakirri Cafe & Dining Credit: Indigie Earth

Visit Warakirri Cafe & Dining for a meal full of native ingredients.

#lovensw #newsouthwales

Warakirri Cafe & Dining Credit: Indigie Earth

Visit Warakirri Cafe & Dining for a meal full of native ingredients.

#lovensw #newsouthwales

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