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The Tweed Valley is home to a stunning coastline, tropical rainforest & perfectly kept farmland. With easy access to this region via the Gold Coast or Bryon Bay airports, a visit to the Tweed Valley should be on everyone’s Australian bucket list. And, while exploring this precious part of Australia, of course, you gotta eat! So keep reading to discover the best places to eat & drink throughout the Tweed.
Riverside Cafes, beachside eats, country houses, and caravans serving coffee, you can’t get much fresher than the food and drink served in this part of Northern New South Whales. A lot of the meals that are served in the tweed valley restaurants are created with locally sourced fresh & organic produced and you’ll be able to taste it in every bit.
All the restaurants & cafes I list below have [at least a few] options for vegans and vegetarians. And, many of these restaurants are within a short drive from Tweed Heads.
Baked on Ancora
The closest thing to Paris in Tweed heads in Baked on Ancora. They serve sweet treats, French croissants, fresh bread, and simple breakfast dishes. That you can devour while enjoying the view of the tweed river and the local marina. Or there’s seating inside and grab one of the smaller tables if you’d prefer to sit on a swing as opposed to a seat.
The vegan options at Baked on Ancora are minimal, but there are options available, plus the coffee never disappoints.
Address: 118 Wharf St, Tweed Heads
The Bread Social
With a primary school close by this is one of the busiest restaurants in Tweed Heads around 9 am. Completely understandable though because the coffee, pastries & cakes are that good.
The Bread Social specializes in organic sourdough and I really have never tasted anything like it, it’s absolutely amazing. When the doors open in the morning often the loaves are still warm and you can smell the freshness. If you arrive early the sourdough will be fresh out of the oven and so warm they may be unable to slice it. But fresh is best, right?
They also serve a selection of simple breakfast dishes, light pastries, and sweet tarts & cakes, including a few vegan options.
They make everything from Australian ingredients, I’m pretty sure it is all organic and locally sourced where possible.
There’s a fair amount of seating inside and out the front of The Bread Social, but it is very popular with takeaway orders.
Address: 12 Bay St, Tweed Heads
Next Door Espresso
When you step into the Next Door Espresso and make your order it’s like you have just arrived at your friendly neighbor’s house. The staff are absolutely delightful and have a way of making you feel like you’re an old friend.
Next Door Espresso is a restaurant in a residential area of tweed heads. It’s an old house that has been converted into a very stylish cafe, and they have seating inside & outside. They serve delicious coffee and have a wide selection of plant-based milk. Plus a very reasonably priced menu, mainly breakfast dishes and burgers.
They also have a small selection of eco-friendly products for sale such as Keep Cups, gift cards, and soaps.
Address: 56 Dry Dock Road, Tweed Heads
Chinny Brew
Chinny Brew is such a great idea, it’s located on Phillip Street which is just around the corner from the entrance to the freeway. So there couldn’t be a more convenient location to pull over and grab your morning caffeine. And, you won’t miss it, Chinny Brews is a vintage caravan and it looks awesome.
There is also a lawn area with tables and chairs next to their insta famous coffee sign made from succulents.
So Chinny Brew serves great coffee but also sweet treats like muffins & banana bread, and small breaky items like toasties.
Address: 89 Phillip St, Chinderah
Cubby Bakehouse
I’m ashamed to say I only found out about Cubby Bakehouse’s existence a few weeks ago. A friend spoke very highly of them so as soon as we could Lawrence and I were there for breakfast.
Cubby is a cafe across the road from the Tweed River and as the name suggests they sell so many freshly baked goods. Cookies, pastries, bread, and cakes, you can even pre-order a full-sized cake for a special occasion.
I’m not a massive sweet tooth so I was keen to try their all-day brunch. I had avo toast and a coffee and it was delicious, big-sized portions too.
Also, Cubby Bakehouse is pretty big, with seating inside, out the front, and in the garden next to the cafe.
Address: 162 Chinderah Bay Dr, Chinderah
Farm & Co
I considered not including the Farm & Co as somewhere I would recommend! But, the food really is very fresh & delicious, so that’s the main thing.
So recently my husband & I went to the farm cafe for lunch and was disappointed to see that the menu was much smaller than before. [possibly to do with covid so I don’t want to hold it against them]. Also, we had a Dine & Discover voucher issued by the NSW government. This is an initiative to encourage the community to get out and support businesses. But they wouldn’t accept the voucher because only the manager knows how to process them & they weren’t there!
So that was annoying, but we were hungry so went ahead and ordered two of the burgers. The burgers used to come with a side of wedges but with this new menu, it’s just the burgers. $20 each of these burgers were! I don’t think I’ve ever spent $40 on just two burgers.
Luckily they were both very tasty, I could taste the freshness of all the ingredients and the burger was full of flavor. One burger was vegan and the other vegetarian.
Farm & Co is a working farm and the property is beautiful. The cafe has a very relaxed atmosphere and a lot of the fresh ingredients are grown right there. And being a farm there is of course more than just fruit and vegetables. Make sure you see the chickens, rabbits, and guinea pigs.
Address: 529 Cudgen Rd, Cudgen
Mockingbird Cafe
Perfectly located right in Kingscliff but off the main road so there isn’t too much traffic passing by. Mockingbird Cafe is a perfect restaurant in Kingscliff on a sunny day and there are heaps of big tables if you were visiting with a group.
The majority of the seating area is in the front yard, and you’ll be surrounded by herb gardens and fresh flowers. Mockingbird is an old house converted into a busy cafe but has charm and a warm feeling like you’re at a close friend’s house for lunch.
The Mockingbird Cafe’s menu has a range of tea, coffee, smoothies & juices. And, the breakfast and lunch menus offer large portions of reasonably healthy meals and from my experience have all been very good.
Address: 4 Seaview St, Kingscliff
Nectar Juice House
I came across Nectar Juice House after a sunny morning at Cabarita Beach, I was drawn to the interior & colors because it made me feel like I could have been in a fancy cafe in Bali.
Nectar Juice House serves coffee, smoothies, fresh juices & sandwiches, as well as heaps of yummy breakfast dishes. They also have something for different dietary requirements.
There is the option to make your order online if you don’t want to possibly wait in-store, on the home page of their website you’ll see the order now button.
The cafe also has a small store selling mainly books and candles.
I love the laid-back style of Nectar and the friendly & welcoming staff make it one of the cafes in the Tweed Valley I will keep going back to.
Address: 34 Tweed Coast Rd, Cabarita Beach
All of the Tweed Valley restaurants / cafes I have listed above are open in the morning and generally close early afternoon. So their menus are designed for breakfast & lunch or grabbing a coffee and something sweet.
The Tweed Valley restaurants I have included below are more suited for a boozy lunch or dinner.
Lolitas Mexican Cantina
Lolitas Cantina does more than just serve Mexican food, the whole interior and atmosphere of the restaurant made me feel like I was on holiday. There’s a unique layout to the restaurant and the ceiling is covered in hanging plants.
The menu is perfect for those with dietary requirements vegan, vegetarian, or gluten-free. As there’s a separate menu for these dishes. Also, they have the option of ordering a banquet, it’s $49 per person and you’ll pretty much get a bit of everything on the menu.
Lolitas also have a very impressive drinks menu, so many cocktails! I highly recommend the coconut, chili margarita.
The location of Lolitas Mexican Cantina is also a good one, it’s just off one of my favorite roads, the Tweed Coast Rd. After an afternoon at Cabarita or Kingscliff beach, you could head to Lolitas for dinner & drinks. You’ll love it.
Address: 1 Barclay Drive, Casuarina
Husk Distillery
Husk is a gin and rum distillery located in the picturesque inland suburb of Tumbulgum in the Tweed Valley.
It’s a unique distillery, their slogan is farm to bottle as they’re located on a working farm and 100% of the sugar cane used is grown on the property.
So this property is absolutely beautiful and has the most relaxing atmosphere. There’s plenty of seating outside or you can set up a picnic mat & be seated on the lawn. The lawn area is awesome as they have multiple umbrellas and a QR code system for ordering so you don’t even need to get up to order or pay.
The menu unfortunately didn’t offer too many Vegan options, but there was at least a couple. The other meals we saw at the surrounding tables all looked really nice, especially the grazing platters.
But I didn’t visit Husk Farm Distillery for the food, I was more after a taste of their award-winning drinks.
And, Husk’s Ink Gin is 100% Vegan friendly.
They have so many cocktails & the tasting paddle, which was only $15, has three types of their gin.
If you want even more they also sell bottles of Husk Rum & Ink Gin on-site and you can also book a tour of the distillery if you’d like to learn more about the production process.
We were at Husk a few weeks ago enjoying drinks on the perfect spring day, when the ladies at the table next to us started to jump up out of their seats!?! Then we noticed a little baby Brown Snake slithering past. At first, I thought it was so cute, I had never seen one so small. But the manager was quick to come over and advised us to move back as even the babies can be deadly. It wasn’t long before the snake had moved on and he was saying that during October and November they often see Brown Snakes around the property. So be aware!
Before you leave make sure you take some time to wander the grounds. The staff encourages this and they’ll be signs in the areas the public isn’t allowed to go.
Address: 1152 Dulguigan Road, North Tumbulgum
Mavis Kitchen
If you drive 40 minutes south of Tweed Heads you’ll be in the quaint little town of Uki. But just before you hit the main town, turn off onto Mount Warning road and into Mavis Kitchen.
This restaurant is in a big, beautiful white house and perfectly positioned at the foothills of Wollumbin – Mt Warning.
The property used to be a dairy farm but now specializes in growing fruits & vegetables, the restaurant, cabin style accommodation, and areas can also be hired for events.
The restaurant only used fresh & organic ingredients, a lot of which is straight from their garden. Lawrence and I recently celebrated our wedding anniversary there and it was lovely. It is more expensive than the other places I’m recommending but all the food we had was absolutely delicious, so this is certainly a great place for any kind of special occasion.
Mavis Kitchen served plenty of Vegan options and some dishes the staff would have been able to make Vegan by substituting some ingredients.
Like Husk, make sure you explore the grounds before you leave. The garden is full of exotic fruit & veg, and has uninterrupted views of Wollumbin – Mt Warning is worth enjoying.
Address: 64 Mount Warning Rd, Uki
During the last few months of lockdowns & travel restrictions in Australia, we have been making the most of our local area. It has become even clearer to me just how many amazing restaurants & cafes are in the Tweed Valley.
Good food is highly valued in the Tweed Valley region and these venues are the perfect example of that.
Eat where the locals eat and try one, or all of, these awesome paces today.
Are you a local? Let me know where your favorite place to eat is below in the comments.
Thanks for reading
Happy Travels
Plan Your Trip to the Tweed Valley Here;
The closest airport is Gold Coast (OOL) and the next closest is Ballina Byron Airport (BNK), but Ballina airport is an hour’s drive to Tweed Heads.
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Elyse is the author & content creator behind A World To Live. After traveling to over 40 countries, she has a passion for discovering new places. Elyse is a money-conscious traveller who loves writing independent travel guides to help her readers get the most out of their travels.
This sounds like a great list of places to eat and drink. I hope I can visit this area in the near future and be able to try some of these cafes and restaurants myself 🙂
We’d love to have you 🙂
Why does Australia have the cutest freaking cafes?? I’m blown away every time. Can’t wait to go!
Hahaha we sure do. Thanks Emma
I am absolutely STARVING now. I’ve been in the area before but never heard of Tweed Valley and I’m very curious now. These are fantastic and seriously delicious looking restaurants. Thanks for sharing, can’t wait to visit Australia when it opens up again!
totally love these suggestions! everything looks great
What a great list of places to check out. I never really thought of Tweed as a place to stop for food before.
They all look and sound like great recommendations. I could live on brunch and happy hour, so this list was perfect for me! Cute interiors too!