Indigenous people have cultivated, collected and feasted on Australia’s bounty of native ingredients for thousands of years. With more than 6,000 unique ingredients, the land produces berries with the freshness of a cucumber, crustaceans with sweet and herbaceous meat, greens that taste naturally seasoned, and much more. Now, native ingredients increasingly star on restaurant menus around the state (with increasing ownership and involvement from Indigenous chefs), plus more Indigenous culture tours are on offer to show us how to find, cook with and respect each ingredient. Here are best places to try them in New South Wales.  

Sydney  

Incorporating many Indigenous languages and peoples, Sydney is home to an ever-increasing array of places to try native ingredients. If you’re only able to choose one experience for your bucket list, Midden by Mark Olive at the Sydney Opera House should be the pick. Not just due to the restaurant’s leading light, celebrity chef and Bundjalung man Mark Olive, but because of the harbour foreshore location (including water, city and Sydney Harbour Bridge views) and one of the most comprehensive and diverse menus of native ingredients in the country. Try barramundi with a bush tomato romesco and coastal succulents or a kangaroo fillet spiced with natives and served with a tangy quandong jus and native yam chips (you’ll also find Aboriginal-owned Mt Yengo Wines on the drinks list).  

Next on the list are two of Sydney’s best restaurants: fine diner Quay and Netflix’s Chef’s Table subject Firedoor, both regularly incorporating native ingredients on their seasonal menus. Others include Bush, an innovative mid-range, sustainability-focused diner in Redfern that uses almost only native ingredients and invasive species; lush, multicultural CBD bistro Penelope’s brings wattleseed, strawberry gum and Davidson plum jam to their dessert menu; and Bennelong brings the flavours of the land to their famous dining room under the Sydney Opera House sails. For a more casual taste of native ingredients, duck into Aboriginal-owned CBD venue Sydney Aboriginal Cafe for a cuppa alongside a pastry, or non-Aboriginal-owned BTB Kirribilli for a creative menu that uses native produce to spice up classic cafe orders. 

If you want to taste NSW’s produce fresh off the land, Aboriginal-owned social enterprise Bush to Bowl works with local tour operators Salty Safaris and Australia by Nature to provide on Country food and cultural experiences around Sydney’s Northern Beaches. Not far away in Brookvale, Seadrift Distillery use local botanicals (including foraged kelp) to make non-alcoholic craft drinks. Join a dusk or dawn foraging trip with Yaegl-man and Bush to Bowl co-owner Clarence Bruinsma followed by tastings of Seadrift spirits to learn how they do it.  

South Coast 

In the food bowl of the NSW South Coast, the team at Bangalay Dining (at Bangalay Luxury Villas in Shoalhaven Heads) works with an Indigenous food supplier to bring native flavours to the table. Sour fruits like muntries might add zing to a lamb backstrap and seasonal salad could be dressed with lemon myrtle. 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. Or instead of a luxurious sit-down meal, drop by Mark Olive’s other venue, The Farm Kiosk, for a takeaway meal by Killalea Beach, just north of Kiama. The ever-changing menu could have anything from wattleseed muffins to tandoori croc pies.  

Whether it’s a food truck parked in a cute village or a luxurious monthly pop-up dinner in the beautiful dining room at Silos Estate winery, follow Aboriginal-run Mirritya Mundya (translating to hungry blackfish in the Ngarrigu language) for pop-up feasts focused on native ingredients, or find them at their regular spot for lunch every Tuesday at 7 Concorde Way, Bomaderry. You can also explore the South Coast area with local guides Wandi Wandian man Matt Simms and Ngemba Karulkiyalu man Nigel Millgate from Djiriba Waagura, stopping for beach dips, bush tucker snacks and visiting sacred Aboriginal sites. 

North Coast 

Due to its climate, fertile lands and incredible collection of talent, the North Coast is a foodie destination, so it’s no surprise to see the impact and celebration of native ingredients in the area. Byron Bay hosts Karkalla, a pop-up and online shop celebrating native ingredients from the region run by Bundjalung woman Mindy Woods (former CEO of Sydney’s Lotus Dining Group). Just outside Byron find acclaimed restaurants Harvest Newrybar and You Beauty (Good Food Guide 2025 Regional Restaurant of the Year). The former is a deli-bakery-restaurant hybrid with its own produce garden, and the latter a pub reinventing the classic Australiana menu with kangaroo schnitzels, croc toast, and a chocolate and wattleseed cake.  

Leave the restaurant dining rooms to discover the flavours of the coast in situ with an Explore Byron Bay guided tour. The tours are run by Aboriginal guides Delta Kay and Nigel Stewart and share local history, culture, medicine and food, as well as provide guests with a taste of the regenerated Bangalow bushland on Bundjalung Country. Just up the coast in the tiny town of Pottsville, find one of NSW’s most celebrated regional restaurants, Pipit. Here, renowned chef Ben Devlin works only with sustainable, local and low-impact ingredients – a lesser-known fish could be complemented by foraged ingredients such as kelp, riberries, lemon aspen, wattle flowers and more. 

Other experiences around the state 

There are countless more native ingredient-focused culinary experiences to be enjoyed around NSW. In Mudgee, the bucolic grounds of Lowe Family Wine Co host The Zin House, an award-winning restaurant utilising the organic and biodynamic gardens around the estate and vineyard. Its seasonal menu might show off linguine enriched with emu-egg, mandarin and native peppermint sorbet, or a wattleseed lemon tart. Just inland of the Central Coast, Firescreek Botanical Winery works with regenerative farming principles. On weekends and select weekdays they take guests on tours around their lands with a local Aboriginal Elder, who guides each participant through a culinary and cultural journey before a wine tasting with the winery’s distinct botanical wines. Not far north in the Hunter Valley, EXP. Restaurant in Pokolbin has taken in a decade of awards for their innovative menus, which in more recent years have included more native ingredients. Try kangaroo from one of the country’s best suppliers, Paroo, which you might find grilled over charcoals with satay and native tamarind.