Harvest
Ally Waddell likes to cook. Peter Hardwick likes to
forage for native, feral and otherwise underutilised
food plants, pickle things and make vinegars. Moira
Waterfall likes to pour people unusual and delicious
booze. Together they’re making beautiful music, upping
the tempo at this sprawling landmark eatery. Lately
they’ve started experimenting with extending their
Wednesday Wild Harvest menu, in which Waddell
showcases Hardwick’s finds and philtres, throughout
the week. That could translate to blackened garlic
scapes with crème fraîche and a charred-kelp vinegar,
a ceviche of cobia with sea purslane, finger lime and
sea velvet, or a bowl of native passionfruit, simply
sliced and salted.18-22 Old Pacific Hwy, Newrybar
Village, (02) 6687 2644, harvestnewrybar.com.au
Shelter
If you happened to be a kid in the 1980s visiting Lennox
Head, a small town north of Ballina, to have a splash
around in the tea tree-stained Lake Ainsworth, you’d
be overjoyed if you got some Redskins and a Bubble
O’Bill along the way. Today’s children are made of
sterner stuff. They make a beeline for this dunefront
shack and load up on raw fish with horseradish and
pickled rhubarb scattered with buckwheat and coastal
succulents. And why not? Shelter over-delivers: the
butter is cultured, the fish line-caught, the wines by
the glass extending to Si Vintners sem-chardonnay,
Ochota Barrels rosé and Jauma Disco Special grenache-
shiraz served chilled.41 Pacific Pde, Lennox Head,
(02) 6687 7757, shelterlennox.com.au
Di Vino
Sometimes you don’t want to eat fish or chips or
coastal succulents or neo-Oaxacan share plates. You
want spaghetti, damn it, and maybe a glass of wine.
And for those times, this newcomer – already a hit
with the locals – has you covered. One of the owners
is Roman, the chef is Ligurian, and the menu is
pleasingly clipped to essentials such as a classic
rigatoni all’Amatriciana and fried stuffed olives
alla Ascolana. Wine, meanwhile, leans natural, with
bottles from cult Italian producers such as Elisabetta
Foradori and Giulio Armani offered alongside those
from Australian fellow believers such as James Erskine,
Bryan Martin, and Owen Latta.2 Fletcher St, Byron Bay,
(02) 6680 8424, divinobyron.com
Pipit
Set to open early this year, this new independent venture
from Noma alumnus and former Halcyon House chef
Ben Devlin and his partner, Yen Trinh, promises
something similar to the originality of ideas and focus
on local seafood and green things that won Devlin
stars and a great many fans at Paper Daisy. That could
mean albacore taken on a spicy adventure, turned into
a marine ’nduja and served with green-garlic garum
and steamed bread, perhaps, or the sweeter pleasures
of black sapote pudding with macadamia miso.
8 Coronation Ave, Pottsville, pipitrestaurant.comTucker
Here are the magic words: open seven days, including
most public holidays, serving Blackboard coffee, roasted
by the owners. The juice is cold-pressed, the toast is
Bread Social, the beers are Balter, and the crowds are
local. “Stoked on our local suppliers,” reads the note
on the menu. And then some.480 Casuarina Way,
Casuarina, tuckercasuarina.comFleet
Beg, borrow or bribe your way into a reservation.
Do whatever you have to do. Fleet has quietly become
one of the best loved restaurants in Australia, which
is pretty impressive when you consider it seats 14, in
a town of 1,700. Josh Lewis does all the cooking
almost single-handedly, making his own bottarga
to sass-up coal-roasted hasselback-style celeriac,
say, or caramelising preserved lemons to provide
a dazzling foil for ephemeral curls of local squid.
Astrid McCormack rocks the counter service as➤Above: Dishes at
Harvest, including
(clockwise from
top left) pigface
fruit, grilled
garlic buds with
charred kelp,
ceviche served
two ways with
coastal plants,
and kangaroo
tartare with
coastal sunrise,
pepperberry,
and cured egg
yolk. Opposite,
clockwise from
top left: Wategos
Beach; Tucker;
chef Ben Devlin,
of Pipit; blue-eye
trevalla with
blood orange,
fennel and sea
greens, and
Brussels sprouts
with cultured
cream at Shelter.GOURMET TRAVELLER 141