The best restaurants and cafes in Port Douglas

From must-eat tropical delights to blink-and-you’ll-miss-it destinations you’ll only find up in North Queensland, these are the best places to eat, drink and be merry in Port Douglas.

The tropical seaside paradise of Port Douglas is wedged between two magnificent World Heritage Sites – the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest – and surrounded by fruit farms, reef fishing hot-spots and growers of great regional produce. When it comes to where to eat in Port Douglas, we’ve made it simple: these are the best restaurants and cafes to put at the top of your itinerary.

The shortlist

Best outdoor dining: Treehouse Restaurant, Silky Oaks Lodge
Great for special occasions: Zinc
Most Instagrammable: Nautilus
Hottest new opening: Jungle Fowl
Fine dining gem: Harrison’s

Breakfast

Grant Street Kitchen

Cuisine: Bakery
Average price: $
Atmosphere: Relaxed
Location: Shop 4/5, Corner Grant Street and Macrossan Street, Port Douglas

Flaky almond croissants and succulent pies (creamy prawn and coral trout, anyone?) are handmade onsite by the owners at this buzzy bakery that sits beneath umbrellas at one of the town’s busiest intersections. Come for breakfast or lunch – there’s an all-day cafe menu, too – or pick up pastries to enjoy with an aptly iced latte. Pro-tip? The duo behind the bakery also sell their goods at Port Douglas’ Sunday market, so you can enjoy the deliciousness in store or at home.

St Crispins

Cuisine: Modern Australian
Atmosphere: Relaxed cafe
Location: 9 St Crispins Avenue, Port Douglas

Located on the sugar-cane-centric Bally Hooley railway line, which was used to transport sugar from the now-defunct Mossman sugar mill and down to the wharf at Port Douglas, this all-day eatery enjoys views over the water and greens of the Mirage Country Club golf course. Tuck into cinnamon French toast with chargrilled local bananas or a crispy fried chicken burger (elevated with Thai-inspired chilli mayonnaise, thank you very much), and pair it with a Bloody mary, sparkling mimosa or strong flat white. Four-legged friends are welcome, too. 

Lunch

Nu Nu

Cuisine: Modern Asian-Australian
Average price: $$$$
Atmosphere: Relaxed, tropical
Location: 1 Veivers Road, Palm Cove

Technically in Palm Cove, a 40-minute drive south of Port Douglas, this beachside restaurant is a must-do if you’re in the region. Ask for a table outside, where you’ll be shaded by coconut palms and serenaded by the gentle waves while overlooking Double Island. The eatery is open from 7am to 10pm, off and on, but a leisurely lunch is the best time to experience the tangy signature thin slice of caramelised duck wrapped around a cube of pineapple, followed by spicy butter-poached reef fish with salted cucumbers and tall, glistening glasses of blood orange gin sours in true tropical spirit. Take the flavour to go, too, with a scoop of white-chocolate-and-macadamia gelato from Numi Ice Creamery (by the same folks), just down the road. 

Salsa Bar & Grill

Cuisine: Modern Australian
Average price: $$ / $$$
Atmosphere: Casual and fun
Location: 26 Wharf Street, Port Douglas

An institution in Port Douglas for thirty years (just look at the signed plates stacked into the ceiling above the bar), this all-day eatery buzzes as loudly at lunch as it does at dinner. Diners on the wraparound verandah will enjoy sparkling views over Market Park and Dicksons Inlet. Wherever you sit, you’ll be amongst the hustle and bustle of experienced local waitstaff ferrying generous plates of linguine “pepperincino" with local tiger prawns, a jambalaya with chunks of crocodile sausage, and a lunch-friendly tropical cocktail, such as the “Gone bananas", which features Bacardi, banana liqueur, coconut cream and fresh banana. Save room for dessert: the tasting platter is a sweet (and shareable) note to end on. 

Melaleuca

Cuisine: Modern Australian
Average price: $$$$
Location: 22 Wharf Street, Port Douglas

When freshly baked bread comes out in a paper bag, still warm, and is followed by thin, crispy slivers of pig ear, you know you’re in for a special kind of evening. The latter is perhaps a nod to the Scottish roots of Melaleuca ’s head chef, but the remainder of the menu is a thoroughly Australian affair, championing local and regional produce across dishes such as seared Tassie scallops with smoked bacon, pan-seared Daintree barramundi with a cauliflower puree, and homemade gnocchi with a creamy, nutty mushroom and pumpkin treatment. Sit outside – beneath soft festoon lighting and swaying palms – to make the most of the warm breeze, or settle under cover; either way, the indoor-outdoor dining experience here epitomises the Port way of life.

Afternoon Delights

Zinc

Cuisine: Modern Australian
Average price: $$$$
Atmosphere: Smart casual
Location: 53-61 Macrossan Street, Port Douglas

Grab a table on the outdoor deck at this long-time eatery on one of Port Douglas’ main thoroughfares, where the cocktail list is extensive and the dishes – generous bowls of luscious pasta with fat prawns, whole barramundi fillets in a coconutty curry, and the signature eye fillet from Queensland’s Darling Downs – are piled high. It’s a family-run operation with roots in the local community, and you can find flavour from 2pm until the late evening. The Smoking Mandarin cocktail combines tequila and mezcal with zesty citrus to create a perfect complement to whatever is on your plate.

Wrasse & Roe

Cuisine: Seafood
Average price: $$$ / $$$$
Atmosphere: Casual dining
Location: Coconut Grove Complex, 9-11/56-64 Macrossan Street, Port Douglas

It’s only fitting that you embark on a seafood expedition while you’re up in Tropical North Queensland; if hopping on a fishing charter isn’t on your agenda, then this relatively new ocean-centric eatery should be. Tuck into buckets of chilled locally-trawled prawns or a bowl of rich, tomatoey seafood marinara packed with calamari, mussels, clams and more, then cap off the afternoon with a suitably tropical passionfruit parfait. Seats outside are perfectly placed for people watching and making the most of languid summer afternoons.

Dinner

Nautilus

Cuisine: Modern Australian / Seafood
Average price: $$$$
Atmosphere: Rainforest retreat
Location: 17 Murphy Street, Port Douglas

Dishes of blushing pan-seared scallops and succulent kingfish tartare look especially appealing when they’re ferried out to open-air tables beneath a canopy of palms at Nautilus , a Port Douglas institution and locally recommended must-visit dining destination. It’s been here since 1954, so the street cred is legit, and the menu puts tropical produce on a pedestal. The five-course degustation menu (available in vegetarian, pescatarian and seafood-free variations, too) gives you a little taste of everything, but you’ll want to add the signature crispy-skinned whole coral trout, which comes out vertical atop a pool of sticky, sweet, oh-so-moreish caramel sauce.

Jungle Fowl

Cuisine: Modern Thai
Average price: $$$
Atmosphere: Youthful, fun and funky
Location: Shop 2/28 Wharf Street, Port Douglas

The fun factor is turned up to 100 at this Thai restaurant , where the bright, colourful murals keep pace with the vibrant dishes. Happy hour runs from 5-6pm and includes $12 cocktails such as the makrut lime-spiked mojito or zesty Thai-twisted margaritas alongside $10 ginger-topped beef-brisket bao. The rest of the time, you’ll find pinchable portions of prawn-topped betel leaf and shareable chilled squid salad keeping pace with spicy green curry and Angus laced with snake beans on a menu that features homegrown ingredients from the kitchen garden out back. (The six-course banquet menu, at $83 per person, is a great way to get a taste of everything.) 

Seabean

Cuisine: Spanish
Average price: $$ / $$$
Atmosphere: Lively
Location: Shop 3/28 Wharf St, Port Douglas

Open Thursday to Sunday, this tapas-centric restaurant turns out pintxos and paella to deliver a trip to Spain without the jetlag. Consider the perfectly portioned terracotta bowls of grilled Spanish chorizo with poached pears, fishcakes made with local barramundi served with spicy tomato jam, or classic patatas bravas dusted with paprika, then order them all. Bite-sized pintxos change regularly, the paella is generous and piping hot, and dessert – Crema catalana served in a coconut half – is unmissable. Plus, it’s all within walking distance to both the water and the downtown action. 

Knock-Outs

Bam Pow

Cuisine: Vegan / Asian
Average price: $$ / $$$
Atmosphere: Relaxed
Location: 79 Davidson Street, Port Douglas

Neon lights and board games help this vegan eatery pump up the fun – but the funk is innate in the menu as well. Beyond the happy hour specials (refreshing $12 margaritas in shades of watermelon, spicy and classic, $7 beers and a banh-mi-and-beer combo for $24), the menu straddles the Asian fusion brief to produce flavour-packed dishes of chilli-topped dumplings, crispy eggplant tempura and a zesty papaya salad topped with a crunchy cassava crackle. With cuisine this creative, you won’t miss the meat at all.

Harrison’s

Cuisine: Modern Australian
Average price: $$$$
Atmosphere: Poolside elegance
Location: Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort, Port Douglas Rd

While it’s now located within the massive 147-hectare Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort, this eatery has been a part of the fabric of Port Douglas since 2007. It moved over here in 2017 and has been turning out luxurious degustation dinners and a la carte plates of citrus-cured reef fish, whole Queensland crayfish dressed in brown butter, and Hervey Bay scallops tossed in XO sauce ever since. The lagoon-side deck is the place to be on a balmy Queensland evening, where your meal’s backdrop will include lush palm fronds and the symphonic sounds of crashing waves from the beach further afield. 

Treehouse Restaurant, Silky Oaks Lodge

Cuisine: Modern Australian
Average price: $$$$
Atmosphere: Tropical luxury
Location: 23 Finlayvale Rd, Finlayvale

Technically in Finlayvale, still in Douglas Shire, this exceptional eatery enjoys stunning views over a private stream of the Mossman River with tables nested within a cavernous open-air dining room serviced by a capable, passionate culinary team. The menu changes regularly but makes a point of featuring local produce artfully presented with flair. Lunch is a set affair, with options for a two- or three-course selection including dishes such as fluffy smoked potato raviolis with pork ragu, kingfish cured in macadamia milk, and slow-cooked lamb shoulder with kunzea and black lemon. Settle in for the afternoon and let the gentle soundtrack of the river guide you between courses.

Discover the best places to stay in Port Douglas

From the moment you arrive in Moreton Bay, stunning natural vistas, fresh and tasty dining, history and more invite you to stay and play.

Untouched national park, mirror-like lagoons and endless stretches of beaches all make Moreton Bay experiences feel like you’ve stumbled across a secret Queenslanders collectively vowed not to tell. Yet it’s easily accessible. Explore further and discover hinterland farms, ancient rainforest, fresh seafood and more: there’s something on offer for every pace, interest and generation.

Just 20 minutes from Brisbane Airport, it’s hard to believe how underrated this Queensland getaway is. Here’s your ultimate guide to rediscover play with unmissable experiences in Moreton Bay.

1. G’Day Adventure Tours, Bribie Island

G’Day Adventure Tours’ Sea to Table Experience should be your first agenda item in Moreton Bay. Take a 4WD journey through the sandy tracks of Bribie Island’s beaches to the still, glassy waters of the island’s lagoons. Glide over perfect replicas of paperbarks and fluffy blue clouds mirrored in the lagoon waters in your kayak. Listen as native birdsong echoes around you.

Then, it’s on to Fort Bribie. During the Second World War, these concrete bunkers – now slowly being enveloped by the dunes – were the last line of defence for Moreton Bay.

End the day with a sun-dappled beach picnic of locally caught Queensland prawns and famous Moreton Bay bugs. As you head home, watch the dolphins playfully dart in and out of the surf.

2. Morgan’s Seafood at Scarborough

Right on the Scarborough Boat Harbour, you’ll find Morgan’s Seafood . Between the luxury yachts, you’ll also spot trawlers and fishermen delivering their day’s catch right to Morgan’s. The family-owned and operated spot is one of the best places to try the region’s eponymous Moreton Bay bug. Or, sample more of the area’s direct-from-the-boat seafood fresh at their oyster and sushi bar. If you’re lucky, your visit might coincide with a day they’ve caught tuna.

Picture fish caught that day, prepared and then served to you as fresh sashimi as the sun sets over the unique silhouette of the Glasshouse Mountains.

3. Woorim Beach, Bribie Island

On Bribie’s eastern coastline, you’ll find Woorim Beach : aka the closest surf beach to Brisbane. Find a place on the sand by the patrolled area or wander further south to find a quiet spot and while the day away between the shaded dunes, the pages of your book and the peaceful sound of rolling waves.

Ask any local where to grab lunch, and they’ll direct you to Bribie Island Surf Club Bistro . Tuck into a fresh, local seafood platter, just metres from the beach.

4. D’Aguilar National Park

D’Aguilar National Park is a 40,000-hectare slice of greenery that stretches from urban Brisbane right up to Woodford (home of the Woodford Folk Festival). The vast expanse of park is home to ancient rainforests, eucalypt forests and shaded swimming spots hidden within gorges and under waterfalls. The area is significant for the Jinibara and Turrbal people, with ceremonial bora rings and dreaming trails all found within the park.

Carve out some time in your itinerary to explore the park’s many trails. The Maiala day-use area is the perfect starting point for walks for all levels of ability.

5. Arcade Wine Bar

arcade wine bar moreton bay — Sit down to a menu inspired by Italy.

Opposite the Redcliffe Jetty and down a laneway, you’ll find an unassuming wine bar. Venture inside and quickly fall in love with Arcade Wine Bar , one of the region’s most beloved local haunts.

Owners Danilo and Matt have a combined 50 years of sommelier experience, which they have poured into the menu, styling and wine list. More than just a hole-in-the-wall wine bar, Arcade Wine is an enoteca (a wine repository), whose walls are lined with bottles upon bottles of Italian wine varietals from every corner of Italy.

Settle in with a wine and work your way through the menu inspired by Danilo’s native Italy: traditional meatballs, their quick-to-sell-out terrine, or a selection of Italian cheeses, charcuterie and arancini.

6. Wamuran & Loop Rail Trail

Away from the ocean, tucked in the hinterland, is the Wamuran & Loop Rail Trail . Perfect for cyclists or walkers, the trail was built to showcase the history of the Caboolture to Kilcoy rail corridor (last operating in 1964) and makes for the perfect family day out. The trail runs for 10.5km and connects Wamuran and Caboolture via an accessible path.

Pass through former railroad, bridges and shaded bushland as you cut from A to B. Plus, visit in winter for a detour along the way to one of the many pick-your-own strawberry farms.

7. Farm Visits

Beaches, mountains and history make an enticing combination. But Moreton Bay also brings hinterland, family-friendly farms to the table. Trevena Glen is one of the area’s most loved, with bunnies, ponies, sheep, alpacas (and more) available to visit for the kids. For the adults, book a horse-riding session and be treated to a grazing platter as you watch the sun set over the mountains of D’Aguilar National Park.

At White Ridge Farm , find camels, putt-putt, train and tractor rides and all kinds of animals. The entire farm is paved, making it accessible for all.

8. Miss Sprinkles

Miss Sprinkles Gelato moreton bay — Pick your scoop at Miss Sprinkles Gelato.

An ice cream at the beach is one of life’s most perfect pleasures. While in town, stop by Miss Sprinkles for the locals’ pick of homemade gelato on the Scarborough foreshore.

The gelato here is made the authentic Italian way and scooped up just across from the beach. Or, settle in at their kitschy pink wooden tables for traditional gelato in the sunshine. Aside from the homemade gelato, you’ll also find tarts, pies and even doggie gelato.

To start planning your Moreton Bay trip, or for more information, head to visitmoretonbay.com.au.