Eating Out
Places to Eat
- Restaurants. Australians eat out frequently, and restaurants are nearly everywhere, with a large range in larger towns and cities.
- BYO Restaurants: BYO stands for Bring Your Own (alcohol). In many of the urban communities of Australia you will find small low-cost restaurants that are not licensed to serve but allow diners to bring their own bottle of wine purchased elsewhere. This is frequently much cheaper than ordering a bottle of wine in a restaurant. Beer can be taken to some BYO restaurants, others allow only wine. Expect to pay a corkage fee which can vary from $2 or $3, to $15, or may be calculated by head. BYO is not usually permitted in restaurants that are licensed to sell alcohol.
- Pubs. The counter lunch is the name for a lunch served in the bar of a pub. Traditionally served only at lunchtime in the lounge. Today some pubs provide lunch and dinner and many have a separate bistro or restaurant. Meals of steak, chicken parmigiana, nachos are common.
- Clubs. Clubs, such as bowling clubs, leagues clubs, RSLs are in many towns and cities. They are most common in the states of Queensland and New South Wales. Most allow visitors, and sometimes offer good value meals. Some offer attractive locations, like the water views from the Twin Towns in Tweed Heads.
- Cafes. Most towns and suburbs have a cafe or coffee shop, serving breakfast and light meals and cakes throughout the day. Not unusual for them to close before dinner.
- Bakeries. Usually a good place to buy bread rolls, a pie or a sausage roll. Some, like the Beechworth bakery, or the bakery in historic Gundagai offer an experience as well.
- Fast food restaurants. McDonalds, Subway and KFC are common. Burger King is known as Hungry Jack's. Red Rooster is a Australian chain, offering barbecued chicken and other mostly chicken-based items.
- Take-away. Milk bars or take-away stores usually sell pies, barbecued (rotisserie) chicken, hamburgers, fish and chips, gyros, kebabs. Ubiquitous in every town and suburb.
- Food Courts. Most shopping centres have a food court, even in country towns.
- Picnic. The Australian climate is usually amenable to getting whatever food you can, and heading to the nearest park, river, lake or beach.
- Barbecue is a popular Australian pastime and many parks in Australia provide free barbecues for public use. Contrary to the stereotype, Australians rarely "Throw a shrimp on the barbie" (also, in Australia a shrimp is more commonly referred to as a prawn). Steaks, chops, chicken fillets, fish, kebabs are popularly barbecued.
Native Foods
- Kangaroo. If you fancy some, it is commonly available from most supermarkets and butchers shops. Head to the nearest park, and barbecue it until medium rare. It tastes much like beef. It occasionally makes it onto the menu in restaurants, mostly in tourist areas. Kangaroos aren't endangered, and kangaroo grazing does far less damage to the sensitive Australian environment than hoofed animals, and far less carbon emissions too. If you are not ready to go vegetarian, kangaroo is the best environmental statement you can make while barbecuing.
- Crocodile meat from farms in the Northern Territory and Queensland is widely available around the top end, and occasionally elsewhere. At Rockhampton, the beef capital of Australia, you can see the ancient reptile on a farm while munching on a croc burger.
- Emu. Yes, you can eat the Australian Coat of Arms. Emu is low in fat, and available in some speciality butchers. Try the Coat of Arms pie in Maleny on the Sunshine Coast.
- Bush Tucker. Many tours may give you an opportunity to try some bush tucker, the berries, nuts, roots, ants, and grubs from Australia's native bush. Macadamia nuts are the only native plant to Australia that is grown for food commercially. Taste some of the other bush foods, and you will discover why.
Beyond cuisine
Vegemite, a salty yeast-based spread, best spread thinly on toast. If you aren't up to buying a jar, any coffee shop wiill serve vegemite on toast at breakfast time. It may not even be on the menu, but the vegemite will be out the back in the jar next to the marmalade. If you do buy a jar, the secret is it to spread it very thin, and don't forget the butter as well. It tastes similar to Marmie or Cenovis.
The Tim Tam is a chocolate fudge-filled sandwich of two chocolate biscuits, all dipped in chocolate. You can buy a packet (or two) from any supermarket or convenience store in the country. To consume one requires nibbling the chocolate off both ends of the Tim-Tam, then using the biscuit as a straw to suck up your favourite hot beverage, typically coffee. The hot drink melts the fudge centre and creates an experience hard to describe, but finesse is needed to suck the whole biscuit into your mouth in the microseconds between being fully saturated and dissolving. You may need more than one to perfect the manoeuvre, known as the Tim-Tam Slam. They are sold in packets of 9, so be careful buying a packet to share with your travel partner, as the fight over the last Tim-Tam may disrupt onward travel arrangements.
The lamington, a small sponge cake covered in a thin layer of chocolate and then dipped in desiccated coconut. Can be obtained from most bakeries, but the home-baked form is often found at a local Saturday morning market. Under no circumstances should you buy a packaged plastic wrapped one from a supermarket, unless desperate.
The pavlova, a meringue cake with a cream topping usually covered with fresh fruit. Often the source of dispute with New Zealand over the original source of the dessert. A popular alternative to Christmas pudding during the holiday season
ANZAC biscuits are a mix of coconut, oats, flour, sugar and golden syrup which were baked and sent to soldiers by support organisations and families to world war soldiers. Again, best found on market stalls rather than the packaged variety in supermarkets. On ANZAC day in April, they are everywhere.
Damper is a traditional type of bread that was baked by drovers and stockmen. It is made with the most basic of ingredients (flour, water and perhaps some salt) and usually cooked in the embers of a fire. Do not expect to find this bread in urban bakeries - it is only commonly served to tourists on camping trips in the Outback. Best eaten with as much butter and jam as possible since authentic damper is dry, tough and tasteless.
A 'pie floater' is a South Australian dish which is available around Adelaide. It consists of an upside down pie in a bowl of thick mushy pea soup. Similar variations on a pie theme are available around the country.
Other cuisines
Cuisines widely available in Australia, often prepared by members of the relevant culture, include:
- Chinese. Synonymous with the term "takeaway" in the past generations. Many Chinese restaurants still cater to takeaway addicts today, mostly of the Australianized Chinese variety, but major cities have small "Chinatowns" or suburbs with a large number of ethnic Chinese residents, that have excellent restaurants serving authentic Chinese food.
- Thai, especially in Sydney. As above, suburban Thai restaurants of indifferent quality are starting to replace the previous generation of Chinese restaurants of indifferent quality, but Australia also has excellent and authentic Thai restaurants.
- Italian, the Italian community is one of the largest ethnic communities of non Anglo-Saxon origin in Australia, and they have contributed greatly to the cafe culture that has flourished across the major cities over the past few decades. Restaurants either serve Italian food that has been adapted to suit Australian tastes, or authentic regional Italian food, with the latter tending to be pricier and in more upmarket surrounds.
- Greek, as above.
- Lebanese, especially in Sydney
- Indian, especially North Indian
- Japanese, including bento takeaway shops and sushi trains
- Vietnamese, although many are Vietnamese Chinese run and thus provide a more Chinese experience
- Asian Fusion refers generally to Asian-inspired dishes
Vegetarian
Eating vegetarian is quite common in Australia and many restaurants offer at least one or two vegetarian dishes. Some will have an entire vegetarian menu section. Vegans may have more difficulty but any restaurant with a large vegetarian menu should offer some flexibility. In large cities you will find a number of vegetarian and vegan restaurants, as well as in the coastal backpacker-friendly towns along the east coast. The market town of Kuranda or the seaside towns of Byron Bay are a vegetarian's paradise. In other country towns and regional areas be prepared to shop in supermarkets or to carry extra food with you, as vegetarians are often poorly catered for in such areas. Most towns will have a Chinese restaurant that can provide steamed rice and vegetables.
Religious diets
People observing kosher or halal will easily be able to find specialist butchers in the capital cities, and will also find a number of restaurants with appropriate menus and cooking styles. Outside the capital cities, it will be much more difficult to find food prepared in a strict religious manner.
Markets
All of the capital cities and many regional towns in Australia host a "farmer's market", which is generally held each week in a designated area on a Saturday or Sunday. These markets mostly sell fresh fruits and vegetables, as hygiene standards in Australia forbid the selling of meat directly from market stalls. Butchers who set up shop at a farmer's market would usually trade their wares from a display cabinet within their truck. The attraction of markets is the lower prices and freshness of the produce. The attraction for the traveller will be the cheap and excellent fruits on offer - depending on the region and season. In regional areas the market is usually held outside the town itself in an empty paddock; markets in capital cities are easier to reach but the prices are typically more in line with those you would find in supermarkets. It’s best to ask a local as in most cases they will be able to direct you.