Ham and bechamel croissants from Black Cockatoo Bakery, loaded Lebanese wraps from Cedar Kebab Cafe and a wine-matched dinner at Megalong Restaurant should be on every Blue Mountains food trail.
The Blue Mountains, with its sandstone cliffs, eucalypt forests and hazy blue hills, is one of the state’s most beautiful settings for bushwalking. Our favourite trail, however, isn’t marked on a map – it winds between towns, through bakeries, cafes, restaurants and wine bars. But where to start and stop, and what delicious detours should you make along the way? Here’s where to eat and drink on your next Blue Mountains adventure.
Megalong Restaurant
There’s no sugarcoating the gnarly drive down the narrow, not-particularly-well-kept road to the Megalong Valley. It’s worth it, though. How often do you get to wander along rows of brassicas and wildflowers just as the cherry blossom is coming into bloom, or quietly watch hens peck, while enjoying a cup of Jerusalem artichoke veloute and truffles? This plush restaurant serves eight courses of produce mostly sourced from the surrounding Lot 101 farm. Chef Colin Barker’s menu speaks to fine dining the way it used to be done. There might be a crisp tartlet of blue oyster mushrooms and salted egg yolk or a Speckle Park steak with silken Japanese turnip puree.
3/7 Peach Tree Rd, Megalong Valley, megalongrestaurant.com.au
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Mountain Culture
A crisp, piney Mountains Culture IPA feels like the right reward after completing the nearby Charles Darwin walk. This craft beer brand is on the up, with new taprooms now open in Sydney and Hobart – but none match the charm of the original Katoomba brewpub, set inside a 1912 printing house. Small-batch beers are brewed and canned on site, while larger quantities come from their production facility in nearby Emu Plains. Owners DJ McCready, a former brewer at Mona Vale’s Modus Operandi Brewing, and partner Harriet use reverse osmosis water and imported hybrid yeast to craft their signature hop-forward, hazy ales. Start with a classic. The Status Quo New England Pale Ale was recently named Australia’s number one craft beer in the GABS Hottest 100 for its fourth consecutive year.
23-25 Parke St, Katoomba, mountainculture.com.au
Black Cockatoo Bakery
It’s not uncommon for a Sydneysider to line up for a ham and cheese croissant at Black Cockatoo Bakery, only to discover they’re not available on weekends. Locals know to check the baking schedule on their website, which will tell you that the twice-baked, cultured butter croissants, filled with Swiss gruyere bechamel and Feather and Bone ham, are only available on Thursdays and Fridays. Saturdays are for kale and ricotta quiches, while Sundays bring nectarine danishes – even then, flavours change with the seasons. The bakery changed hands in September last year, but the breads and pastries are made the same way, using Australian stoneground flour, filtered water and sea salt, and a natural fermentation of over 20 hours.
Shop 1 /1 Staples Crescent, Lawson & 165 Katoomba Street, Katoomba, blackcockatoobakery.com.au
Blaq
Wondering where chef Alejandro Huerta landed after Comedor shut up shop? Find him cooking alongside his partner Galia Valadez at Blackheath’s Kyah Hotel. Book a table close to one of the many fires heating the room during winter, or a seat on the enclosed balcony once it warms up. Or perch at the bar with a round of hash browns topped with whipped ’nduja. The menu includes nods to Huerta’s Mexican heritage, from beef cheek barbacoa to a deep-fried apple pie drizzled with cajeta – a tangy Mexican goat’s milk caramel.
13-17 Brightlands Ave, Blackheath, thekyah.com.au/blaq
Ates
The hardest-working member of the kitchen team at Ates is the sturdy W. J. Amos wood-fuelled oven. Installed in Blackheath in the 1870s, soon after the opening of the railway line up the mountains, it’s the heart and hearth of the restaurant. The menu is built around it, from a wood-fired head of cauliflower smothered in curry leaf butter to smoked beetroot with tahini and candied walnuts, and golden bubbled focaccia with ricotta and basil oil. Chef William Cowan-Lunn, formerly of Rockpool Bar and Grill, knows all the hot and cool spots, allowing each dish to develop the perfect amount of char.
33 Govetts Leap Rd, Blackheath, atesblackheath.com
Hominy Bakery
Hominy co-owners Kris Clarke and Francesca Sidoti don’t believe pastries should be trendy – what matters is that they taste good. It shows in the light, glossy vanilla custard in their croissants and danishes, and in the buttery, crumbly shortcrust pastry, that forms the base of the chunky beef and hearty lentil pies. Their potato bread is a favourite, with only 15 loaves baked per day, but it’s the classic sourdough – made simply from water, flour and salt and naturally fermented – that sells the fastest. Clarke often sets aside a few loaves to make sure the regulars don’t miss out.
185 Katoomba St, Katoomba, @hominy_bakery
Frankie & Mo’s
Winemaking family The Colmans (Adele, Bob, Tom and Jess) are very strict about the wines they sell at their Blackheath bar and bottle shop. Everything must be organic, biodynamic, naturally fermented, hand-harvested and completely unfiltered and unfined. The range includes their own label, Frankly, This Wine Was Made By Bob, made from grapes locally grown in the Kanimbla Valley. Pick a bottle from the shelves and match it with something snacky. A chef residency program keeps the menu fresh. The kitchen is currently led by Leila Khazma and Aysha Abulhawa, who are serving Lebanese and Egyptian dishes such as semolina-fried sardines and goat’s milk yoghurt panna cotta.
44 Govetts Leap Rd, Blackheath, frankieandmo.com.au
Cedar Kebab Cafe
What kind of kebab shop doesn’t open at night or weekends? That would be Cedar, a community-minded cafe that sells Lebanese wraps, many of them plant-based and packed with salads and slaws. Owner Josh Ireland, a former private chef to the Rolling Stones and U2, starts with marinated chicken or beef, fluffy, herb-strewn falafels or kofta, made from red lentils and Egyptian dried mint, then bulks them out with tabhouli, pickles and chilli, finished with a hit of garlicky toum or tangy pickled mango sauce. Don’t leave it too late – the operation wraps up by 7pm.
129b Katoomba St, Katoomba
Tempus Katoomba
The bistro-style restaurant opened in late 2021 in the centre of Katoomba and it offers just about everything you could want after a day scaling Govetts Leap. Whether that’s bright pickled vegetables and fried haloumi with fennel jam, or a rosy lamp rump with green sauce and crunchy roasted spuds. Locals also flock here for a breakfast menu featuring eggs and granola, among other things. The space looks best at lunch, when street-facing windows let in natural light to warm, peach-coloured walls and hanging tapestries.
66 Katoomba St, Katoomba, tempuskatoomba.com.au
Amara
You don’t need to stay here to eat here, but once you see the infinity pool, you might change your mind. A five-course harvest lunch (seven at dinner) highlights produce from the Hawkesbury, with everything grown, raised and caught within 100 kilometres of the restaurant. On the menu, that means roast duck with Dutch carrots from Harvest Farms in Bilpin and a citrus-heavy kingfish ceviche softened with whipped coconut cream. There’s no need to rush away afterwards. Head to the lounge for a night cap or add on a day-use package and you can even use the pool.
70 Grandview Ln, Bowen Mountain, restaurantamara.com.au
Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.
Erina Starkey – Erina is the Good Food App Editor for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Previously, Erina held a number of editing roles at delicious.com.au and writing roles at Broadsheet and Concrete Playground.
