The Good Food Guide to a summer road trip to Newcastle

Newcastle’s identity as a food hub is nothing new; its Indigenous name, Mulubinba, translates to “place of edible sea ferns”. But lately, the city’s culinary pulse has quickened, fuelled by a wave of openings and the clever reinvention of a few local favourites.

We’ve now reached the point where there’s too much good food in Newy to fit into a single weekend. From excellent bakeries and sandwich shops to fried chicken joints and bistros, here are the places to make time for on your next visit.

Arno Deli

This panino spot takes its name from the Arno River in Florence, where owner Will O’Brien ate the best sandwich of his life. Today, he’s paying it forward with his signature #1, a salty, creamy tribute featuring finocchiona salami, eggplant, pecorino and artichoke crema on Tuscan-style schiacciata. It’s one of 48 sandwiches that rotate on and off the menu. The crowd favourite is #28, a chicken parma built on crumbed chicken thigh cooked in beef tallow, layered with smoked mozzarella, vodka tomato sugo, and salsa verde. Don’t skip the cannoli, filled with Italian sheep’s milk ricotta and rippled with yuzu marmalade.

179-181 King Street, Newcastle, arnodeli.com.au

Scottie’s

A former fish and chip shop, this sustainable seafood restaurant and wine bar run by mother-and-son duo Jennifer Roberts and Jack Magin still sells fish burgers and battered hoki and chips from its takeaway window. But that’s not all. You can also get a lobster club sandwich stacked with a hash brown and a blistery XO prawn pancake, the dark, savoury seafood sauce made in-house by head chef Vincentius Rudy Widjaja. The beach is close by, but Scottie’s outdoor area – complete with fairy lights and garden furniture – is hard to beat, especially when you can order a sweet-tart yuzu margarita on the side. In the evening, Campari-cured trout and lobster tortellini are served by candlelight.

36 Scott Street, Newcastle East, scottiesne.au

Newy Fried Chicken

With its cayenne-spiced seasoning, double-breading and six escalating levels of heat, the orange-hued, craggy fried chicken here is more Nashville than Newcastle. Locals have faithfully followed Newy Fried Chicken around from its early days at the Newcastle Hotel to a pop-up diner in Broadmeadow, where it’s been operating for the past two years. Soon, the nomadic era ends as Nic Brady opens a bricks-and-mortar store in Cooks Hill, a two-storey space featuring a ’70s-inspired bar and pool table. The menu, however, remains sacred: fried chicken served in soft sesame-seed buns or in packs with pimento mac ‘n’ cheese and a sweet Carolina-style slaw.

U 3,127-129 Lambton Road, Broadmeadow, newyfriedchicken.com

Crumb

If you’re on the hunt for a good croissant in Newcastle, the breadcrumb trail leads to Lambton, where Ben Richardson from Autumn Rooms and pastry chef Gareth Williams, formerly of EXP. Restaurant, have opened Crumb bakery. The glass display cabinets are lined with primped and preened pastries, from pistachio and sour cherry pain suisse to a custard and cinnamon sugar cruffin. On the savoury side, there are croissant sandwiches stuffed with mortadella, Swiss cheese and pickles, plus maple bacon and sea salt scrolls. They have their own custom-branded boxes because no one ever leaves with just one pastry.

113 Elder Street, Lambton, crumb.coffee

Flotilla

Wickham’s industrial estate is not where you’d expect to find ironbark-smoked cod beignets or squid ink noodles in a brothy mushroom XO – menu highlights at Flotilla. Some top-tier talent has passed through the narrow theatre kitchen over the years – the latest being head chef Josh Thurston, who recently moved over from Muse in the Hunter Valley vineyards. He’s now plating wagyu and sprout skewers blanketed in spoon-thick bearnaise, and honeyed Jerusalem artichoke ice-cream. With the set menu rotating every six weeks, these fleeting standouts are here for a good time, not a long time.

9 Albert Street, Wickham, theflotilla.com.au

Humbug

It’s impossible to be in a bad mood when you’re eating pizza fritta piled with fat-rippled wagyu bresaola at Hunter Street restaurant Humbug. Chef Michael Portley and restaurant manager Steph Wells are behind this new-school pasta bar, which brings European and Asian ingredients together in one bowl. Go for the pumpkin agnolotti, bolstered by a rich, savoury pumpkin and miso butter, or the chilli prawn campanelle, brightened with a licorice hit of Thai basil. The interiors are joyful, with cosy mustard banquettes and colourful local art splashed across the walls. Bah humbug? Not a chance.

87-89 Hunter Street, Newcastle, humbugnewcastle.com.au

Jana

Named after the two-faced Roman goddess of beginnings and endings, this Italian restaurant and bar on the ground floor of the QT Newcastle has recently had a fresh start of its own. New executive chef Carmine Mari, formerly of sister venue Pascale Bar & Grill in Melbourne, has updated Jana’s menu, with new hits like the mortadella lasagne, a tidy, stratified slab of pasta sheets and cured meat, and a dry-aged duck breast finished in a Hunter Valley red wine jus. For dessert, a flaming rum baba delivers the kind of theatrics you’d expect from this quirky, design-forward hotel.

185 Hunter Street, Newcastle, qthotels.com/newcastle/eat-drink/jana

Vera Wine

Over in Hamilton, Vera Wine has corked a long, unfilled spot for a great natural wine shop in Newcastle. Owner Josh Distefano has brought together a broad range of wines, spanning classic regions and familiar styles through to quirky bottles you won’t find elsewhere in town. That includes a teroldego from the Dolomites, all dark cherry and wild herbs, which you can open on the spot. There are 12 seats at the front reserved for sipping and snacking – crack a tin of Galician mussels, pour a glass of something chilled, and watch the foot traffic go by.

67 Beaumont Street, Hamilton, verawine.com.au

Bistro Penny

Newcastle hit the jackpot when Bistro Penny opened on Bolton Street. Owner-chef Joel Humphreys, formerly of Rockpool and Bistro Moncur in Sydney, tends the wood grill’s open flames, turning hanger steaks, flaming whole flounder and searing scallops in the shell. Even something as simple as an oxheart tomato salad shines, lifted by a peppy chilli oil dressing and the gentle savouriness of lovage. It’s a pretty penny, too. The dining room still carries the bones of its former life as a bank, from dark timber balustrades to kitchen cabinets fashioned from the building’s original hammered glass.

8-10 Bolton Street, Newcastle, bistropenny.com.au

Papalote

Newcastle food royalty, Stephanie Wells and Michael Portley of Humbug, and Eduardo Molina of Flotilla (see above), have teamed up to create tacos – the kind that come filled with roasted poblano peppers and barbecued beef tongue, that is. Cochinita pibil, achiote-marinated whole pig, is cooked Yucatan-style, in a pit of coals for eight hours, while tangelo, jicama (Mexican turnip) and Tajin pay tribute to the fruit cups many Mexican street vendors sell. Molina’s wine list is far-reaching, spotlighting bottles from Spanish-speaking regions.

148 Parry Street, Newcastle West, papalotemexican.com.au

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