31 May 2026
The Best Food in Byron Bay: A Local's Guide to Where to Eat
Where to eat in and around Byron Bay, chosen by a local: farm-to-table lunches, an oyster bar, bakeries, cafes and a sunset rooftop — across the beach town, the hinterland and the villages nearby.
When friends visit, this is the list we hand over. It reaches well past the beach town — into the Byron hinterland and the villages nearby — and runs from a long farm lunch worth planning a weekend around to fresh oysters above the main street, the bakery we line up for, and the rooftop where we end the day. Each comes with a link and Instagram so you can check before you go.
Balcony Bar & Oyster Co.
Oysters & seafood · Byron Bay
Up on the balcony above Byron's main street, this is one of the best spots in town for fresh oysters — shucked to order and served a dozen ways, from natural with mignonette to dressed and baked. The corner-balcony seating, looking down over Jonson Street, is made for a long, sunny afternoon of people-watching.
Wednesday is the one to plan around: oysters are half price from 5–6pm (Byron's original oyster happy hour), and there's a daily sunset happy hour on drinks too. Keep going from there with the wider seafood menu — our favourite is the chilli Moreton Bay bug pasta — alongside chilli-and-herb prawns and a grilled steak for the table. Bookings are essential, especially for a sunset table.
The Salty Mangrove
Community eatery · New Brighton
In the beach village of New Brighton, The Salty Mangrove is more a community eatery than a restaurant — a genuine local meeting place that runs from early-morning coffee and breakfast, through a bistro-style lunch, and into dinner later in the week. The welcome is warm, the room is full of regulars, and the plates are honest and generous.
Expect the kind of cooking you come back for rather than visit once: a proper brioche burger, grilled sausages with charred sourdough and house pickles, and big share plates that change with what's good. They're serious about the wine, too — the list leans natural and low-intervention, with biodynamic and skin-contact bottles from small Australian and European growers and a rotating line-up by the glass. If you want to eat and drink where the locals actually do around Byron, this is it.
Frida's Field
Farm restaurant · special occasion · Byron hinterland
When the occasion calls for something special, this is where we book. Frida's Field is a working eco-farm in the Byron hinterland, about ten minutes from Bangalow, where chef Alastair Waddell cooks a set-menu, produce-driven lunch just three days a week (Friday to Sunday). You eat at long tables in a beautiful, pared-back room, looking out over the paddocks, and almost everything on the plate has come from the farm or its neighbours.
It's not an everyday meal — it's a destination lunch you plan a weekend around. Expect a relaxed procession of courses, from just-pulled vegetables to a slow-grilled main and a knockout dessert. Bookings are essential and the lunches sell out well in advance, so plan ahead (it's also one of the region's loveliest wedding and event spaces).
Sunday Sustainable Bakery
Bakery · Byron Bay
For bread and pastries, Sunday Sustainable Bakery is one of the best in Byron Bay. Everything is baked fresh each day from organic, ethically sourced ingredients, with a real focus on doing things properly and keeping waste to a minimum — the "sustainable" in the name is the whole point, not a marketing line.
Go early for the best pick of sourdough loaves, croissants and seasonal pastries, because the popular ones sell out. There are a few outlets around Byron and the Northern Rivers, so check which one is closest before you head out. And do bring a whole loaf home — honestly, there's little in life happier than a still-warm sourdough, torn open while it's fresh and spread with good butter.
Old Maids
Cafe, coffee & burgers · Brunswick Heads
Ten minutes north of Byron in the seaside village of Brunswick Heads, Old Maids is the kind of all-day spot every town wishes it had. It opens early — from 6:30am — and by mid-morning it's the buzzing heart of the village: locals lingering over coffee, kids and prams, and happy dogs sprawled out the front. It's as much a community hub as a cafe, and that's the whole charm.
Mornings are for strong coffee, warm banana bread and a cabinet full of pastries — almond croissants, cinnamon scrolls, polenta cake, chia pudding. Then the rest of the day leans into an old-school burger menu, and the burgers are the real deal: big, properly stacked and seriously satisfying, with great plant-based options alongside the ethically sourced meat — some of the best around. It's BYO and unfussy: grab a coffee and a pastry on the way through, or settle in for a burger and make a slow Brunswick Heads morning of it, with the beach and the Brunswick River right there.
Highlife
Rooftop cafe & bar · Byron Bay
Highlife is a beautiful open-air space above the main street — airy and light, with lovely music drifting through and local art on the walls (much of it for sale). The atmosphere is half the draw: it just feels good the moment you walk up.
The coffee is excellent every single time, and on a clear day the morning sun pours straight in — a gorgeous place to start the day. Later it slips into rooftop-bar mode for golden hour: a cocktail or a wine and some Mediterranean-leaning plates, strung with festoon lights as the sun drops over town.
Folk Byron Bay
Garden cafe · Ewingsdale
Tucked just off Ewingsdale Road as you come into Byron, Folk is the cafe we point people to when they want a calm, leafy breakfast away from the main-street crowds. Almost everything is vegetarian or plant-based, much of it grown on site or sourced from nearby farms, and a lot of the menu is deliberately seed-oil-free — unusual for somewhere this relaxed.
Order the house-baked banana bread or a seasonal grain bowl, find a table among the plants, and take your time over the coffee. It's only a few minutes from the town centre, and it's at its best midweek when the garden is quiet — one of the most peaceful breakfast spots in Byron Bay.
Fishmongers Byron Bay
Fish & chips · Byron Bay
When the craving is for fish and chips, Fishmongers down Bay Lane is the Byron Bay go-to. It leans a little gourmet — crisp beer-battered fish, hand-cut chips, fish tacos and fresh local seafood — without ever losing the easy, grab-and-go spirit you want from a fish-and-chip shop.
It's a short walk from the beach, so order at the counter and take it down to the sand — there's no better way to soak up Byron's beautiful coastline, and it's especially gorgeous as the sun goes down over the water. (If you'd rather sit down to a bigger seafood feed — a bowl of whole local prawns, the works — there are good beachfront seafood restaurants nearby too.)
And one more, for the markets
If you're after something to eat while you wander, come find us. We hand-press onigiri (Japanese rice balls) fresh at markets around Byron and the Northern Rivers most weekends — a small, quiet bite between all the big meals above.
Find Pocket Rice at the markets — follow @pocket_rice_byronbay for this week's location.