The Top 10 ways to enjoy Australia like a gastronome

Visit a gin distillery inspired by Tasmania’s wild rivers and truffle-hunt with dogs called Simba and Nala. But not until you’ve sampled Adelaide’s thriving bar scene and swung by Kitchen by Mike’s new airport outpost: wining and dining in Australia this year is as dynamic as ever.

1. Check out Adelaide’s thriving small bar scene

Adelaide used to be the place where cool bars went to die. But no longer, because some of Australia’s best bars are now in the South Australian capital – you just have to know where to find them.

Maybe May Bar Cocktails Adelaide — Cute and intimate bar Maybe Mae will serve you great cocktails and great vibes all round.

We love cute-as-a-button bar Maybe Mae (15 Peel Street, Adelaide) for gorgeous cocktails and a Mad Men-in-Copenhagen interior.

Pink Moon Saloon is a lesson in refinement, with its steeply angled roof and walls squeezed into a laneway’s width, like Tokyo’s Shinjuku Golden Gai redefined for southern climes.

Stop in for a Rhubarb Iced Tea cocktail and consider yourself the embodiment of chic.

Mother Vine Adelaide Wine — Check out Adelaide’s ever growing bar scene, and grab a nice wine at Mother Vine.

Maybe a wine is what you’re after, though? No problem – head to Mother Vine for a huge variety of wines by the glass that are as lovingly selected as they are delicious.

2. Try Long Chim chef David Thompson’s top five dishes

Where: Long Chim; Perth, Sydney and Melbourne

Sydney-born David Thompson was the first chef to be awarded a Michelin star for Thai cuisine at his London restaurant Nahm, and over the past year-and-a-half he has opened three restaurants in his home country: Long Chim in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne.

Restaurant food Sydney Perth Melbourne — Long Chim restaurant is open in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne (photo: Nikki To).

Here, he shares his favourite dishes to enjoy on the menu now, and to look forward to in the future.

Grilled Pork: Simple and smoky and fragrant, marinated in soy and garlic and grilled over charcoal and coconut.

Guay jap: Rolled Noodle Soup with five-Spice and Braised Pork. A rich and comforting dish.

Sen gati: coconut rice noodles with prawn, pork and yellow beans. The coconut noodles are nutty, sweet and riddled with prawns, pork and bean sprouts.

Plaa dtat dtiaw: sun-dried trevally with green mango. The semi-dried fish with fish sauce is deep fried and covered with green mango, chillies, mint and lime.

Rin’s thai tea ice-cream: The tea ice-cream is made with Thai tea and condensed milk – nothing more needs to be said about it, other than that it’s a compulsory dish with which to finish the meal.

Need tips, more detail or itinerary ideas tailored to you? Ask AT.

3. Go for dinner at a world-class restaurant, for a fraction of the price

Where: Momofuku Seiōbo, Sydney, NSW

The best dish on the $185 dego at Sydney’s Momofuku Seiōbo is also available at the bar… for $8. It’s called ‘busted’ roti.

Momofuku restaurant Sydney — Busted roti with onion dip and muntries from Momofuku.

It’s based on the Trinidadian dish ‘buss-up shut’ (‘busted-up shirt’): a heaving mess of butter-drenched, crisp and soft, blistered and melting, stretchy paratha.

Order this and a glass of skin contact wine and enjoy a world-class dinner for under $30.

4. Drink more gin

Where: Southern Wild Distillery, Devonport, TAS

What are you drinking if you’re not drinking gin? It’s the hottest spirit of the moment and there are some excellent choices out there, many of which are coming out of Australian distilleries.

Southern Wild Distillery Tasmania Gi — Drink more gin at Southern Wild Distillery in Devonport, Tasmania (photo: Jason Loucas).

Southern Wild Distillery in Tasmania has released a range of three gins inspired by local rivers Dasher and Fisher.

They’re called Mountain, Meadow and Ocean and each tell a story about the spectacular landscape surrounding the distillery.

You can buy it online, but we recommend visiting the distillery in person to get the full experience. (And a hot tip for cooler months – try mixing your gin with Sin-kō-nah, a delicious and complex botanical tonic syrup, but warm it up first. It’s the Antipodes’ very own hot toddy.)

5. Eat amazing plane food

Where: Kitchen By Mike, Sydney Airport, NSW

Kitchen by Mike has opened its doors at Sydney Airport, within the T1 international terminal.

Kitchen by Mike Sydney Airport Food — Kitchen by Mike has opened in T1 International Airport in Sydney.

You can Check out Mike McEnearney’s healthy-eating, canteen-style fare by ‘dining in’, or picking up one of his customisable ‘Fly By Mike’ tray-packs to eat on the plane.

6. Go to Melbourne’s hottest new bar

Where: Longsong, Melbourne, VIC

Longsong is opening above Longrain in Melbourne this winter.

Hospitality royalty John and Lisa van Haandel are behind the project, and they’ve brought along David Moyle of Hobart’s celebrated Franklin restaurant to run the food.

With a Thai-style grill and Australian-focused drinks list – most of which will be served out of kegs or barrels – this is set to be the place to be as the temperatures plummet.

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7. Go vego for the night

Where: Yellow, Sydney, NSW

Yellow in Sydney’s Potts Point has long been lauded for its vegetarian options. But last year, head chef and co-owner Brent Savage relaunched the restaurant’s dinner menu as 100 per cent vegetarian.

Yellow Sydney Potts Point — Press Curd, Charred Leek and Black Garlic dish from Yellow in Sydney.

Try dynamic dishes from its tasting menu – like curd, charred leek and black garlic – and you’ll see that vegetables can be just as delicious as any meat dish.

8. Visit a natural winery

Where: Harkham Winery, Hunter Valley, NSW

Find out what natural wine is all about at Harkham Winery in the Hunter Valley.

Spend the day sampling the wines at the cellar door (don’t miss the seriously interesting shiraz and zesty semillon) then (if it’s a weekend) pop into the pop-up restaurant next door for a laid-back dinner of Latino-style street food as the sun sets, before heading off to bed at the on-site accommodation.

9. Get all your favourite treats at one giant bake-sale

Where: Flour Market, Sydney, NSW, and Melbourne, VIC

You know all those artisan sweet treats that pepper your Instagram feed and fire up your appetite? Like Andy Bowdy’s crazy cake creations, Shortstop’s doughnuts and Butterbing’s gluten-free cookie sandwiches? Well at Flour Market they’re all in one place.The festivals take place throughout the year in Sydney and Melbourne. Check out their Facebook page to keep up to date.

10. Go truffle hunting

Where: The Truffle Farm, Canberra, ACT

It turns out that truffles grow extraordinarily well in Canberra. The Truffle Farm opened in 2016 and it’s so much more than a rustic homestead.

Go on a truffle hunt with truffle dogs Nala, Samson, Willow, Simba, Bear and Max and return to the farm for a deluxe truffle tasting.

Or go even more luxe after your hunt by heading to the warmth of the truffle shed for a six-course degustation prepared by ex-Emirates Wolgan Valley Resort & Spa executive chef Damian Brabender.

Tuck your napkin firmly in place and get ready to dive into Bendigo’s history.

It’s an internationally recognised fact that Bendigo food experiences prove this region knows how to wine and dine. After all, its shiraz-laden landscape was named Australia’s first UNESCO Creative City and Region of Gastronomy. But what visitors lured in by this shiny label might not know is how deeply its culinary scene sits within the gold-rush town’s colourful past.

Whether you’re eating in a grand colonial bank or nibbling through a gold miner’s garden, grab a big plate. In Bendigo, every meal is served with a huge helping of heritage.

Take a food tour

foodie walking tour in bendigo at Ms Batterhams restaurant Bendigo foodie experiences — Join a Foodie Walking Tour to local highlights like Ms Batterhams.

Start in the capable hands of Bendigo Guided Tours. Named as the 2025 Victorian Best New Tourism Business, they run two 12-person options. A Taste of Bendigo – Foodie Walking Tour will see you tasting seasonal dishes and sipping wine, craft beer and cocktails made with regional spirits over two-and-a-half hours, with stops at Ms Batterhams, Wine Bank on View, The Dispensary and Bendigo Brewing.

You can up the ante a notch or two with the Four Hats of Bendigo – a night of fine-dine hopping with the experts across Terrae, Le Foyer, Alium Dining and The Woodhouse.

Book a table

Terrae restaurant in bendigo victoria — Dine at Terrae.

Alternatively, see Bendigo’s stars under your own steam. There’s Terrae, where produce from the owners’ own farm kitchen garden and orchard is plated up inside what was once a bank, while cocktails are poured in the underground bar below. For something special, book a private table in old bank vault. Rather less wholesome? The bullet hole in the window – a throwback to Victoria’s wild gold rush era.

Another former bank-turned-eatery, Alium Dining, goes full art nouveau inside a 1908 building overlooking the Alexandra Fountain in the heart of Bendigo. Here, Alium’s Asian-meets-European flavours run all the way from duck leg croquettes with mandarin marmalade to raw trevally with coconut and nước chấm, to pork milanese with anchovy and stout mustard.

Beneath an old school hall at Mackenzie Quarters, Ms Batterhams serves southern European-inspired dishes inside a 19th-century basement bar and restaurant. Beyond its sourdough crumpets (smeared with taramasalata, paprika and parsley oil, if you must know) is the origin of the restaurant’s name: Winifred Batterham, the owners’ mother’s former kindergarten teacher. Honour her properly with a ‘Winifred’ cocktail.

Alium Dining in bendigo victoria — Alium Dining offers a unique setting inside a 1908 building.

Carnivores, get ready to bang your sharpest knives on the table. Bendigo’s only dedicated steakhouse, The Woodhouse, specialises in Wagyu sourced from surrounding farms. They’ve got beef every which way – from tartare topped with Giaveri Oscietra caviar and wagyu toast to porterhouse dry-aged and grilled over redgum.

Your next bank stop on the food circuit is Bunja Thai. Housed inside the former Colonial Bank, it’s all Victorian-era Australian grandeur, from the enormous arched ceilings to the detailing overhead. Thai Singha and local craft beer jostle for attention – but both are perfect quenchers when you’re sharing barramundi baked in banana leaf beneath all that old-world opulence.

If your trip through Australia isn’t complete without a country pub stop, make it The Bridgewater Hotel on the Loddon River. Renovated since its 1942 beginnings, but the establishment still retains its Art Deco charm. It’s the kind of place where steak burgers come stacked with bacon, egg, cheese and dripping beetroot relish, and are best handled in the riverside beer garden.

Pour a glass

Heathcote Wine Hub bendigo food experiences — Find over 180 local wines at Heathcote Wine Hub.

Your plate’s been stacked. Now it’s the glass’s turn – ideally with the famously bold shiraz and cab sav grown here. Early settlers in Bendigo and Heathcote were onto something when they first planted vines in the area’s mineral-rich soil, and their legacy still pours strong across more than 60 cellar doors today. Start big at the Heathcote Wine Hub, where more than 180 wines from nearby vineyards sit beneath the rafters of a restored former wooden church, with 16 available to taste by the glass.

Heathcote Winery might have become one of the area’s first commercial wineries in the seventies, but its story started way before its courtyard tastings. Back in 1854, it operated as a miners’ produce store during the gold-rush years. Other cellar doors aren’t immune to reinvention under the wine wave either. At Munari Wines in Heathcote, charcuterie boards are presented in their newly renovated cellar, originally the stables of the former sheep station.

Discover local events

the Heritage and Hidden Spaces Wine Walk in bendigo — Time your trip for the Heritage and Hidden Spaces Wine Walk

Time your trip right and watch the parks, gardens and buildings fill with food and drink. Fans of the malt: mark 29 August 2026 for Bendigo On The Hop, when craft breweries take over venues throughout the CBD. Brews make way for history at the Heritage and Hidden Spaces Wine Walk (17 October 2026), where bottles are opened inside some of the city’s most interesting buildings – including rarely opened spaces. In November, the Regional Gin Gala raises spirits in Mackenzie Quarters with a boozy celebration of its homegrown distilleries, including Noble Bootleggers, Envy Distilling and In Good Spirits. Explore wine, food and live music at Heathcote on Show (6 – 8 June 2026).

Take it all in

bendigo tram cafe Bendigo foodie experiences — Tram meets tasty at Bendigo Tram Cafe.

Takeaway means something different in Bendigo. At Australia’s oldest operating Tram Depot, the Tram Cafe sits aboard an out-of-service 1916 N-Class Tram that serves tea and scones. Once you’ve polished off the last crumb, you can even pop into the driver’s cab and try the controls yourself.

Peppergreen Farm continues Bendigo’s long connection to Chinese market gardens, first established here by immigrants in the 1850s. Today, the not-for-profit farm invites visitors to pick up organic produce, alongside jars of honey harvested from its own hives.

Indulge in retail therapy

If there’s still room in your bag among the clanking jars and bottles, stop by Uniquely Bendigo inside the Old Post Office. Sharing space with the Bendigo Visitor Centre, it’s a one-stop shop for favourites like Bendigo Brittle, Bridgeward Grove and Tea Associates.

If you’d rather leave your fingerprints on your Bendigo souvenir, there’s a place for that too. At Bendigo Pottery, visitors can try their hand at shaping clay while taking part in another tradition of evolving old spaces – creating works of art within Australia’s oldest working pottery.

Start planning your Bendigo adventure at bendigotourism.com.

The Top 10 ways to enjoy Australia like a gastronome

Visit a gin distillery inspired by Tasmania’s wild rivers and truffle-hunt with dogs called Simba and Nala. But not until you’ve sampled Adelaide’s thriving bar scene and swung by Kitchen by Mike’s new airport outpost: wining and dining in Australia this year is as dynamic as ever.

1. Check out Adelaide’s thriving small bar scene

2. Try Long Chim chef David Thompson’s top five dishes

Where: Long Chim; Perth, Sydney and Melbourne