Dine with a conscience at Queensland’s best sustainable restaurants

List

By Sarah Bristow

Eating out doesn’t have to come at the cost of the environment, we swear. It all comes down to embracing the dining destinations which proudly proclaim a focus on going green where they can. From north to south, the Sunshine State can lay claim to dozens of these eco-focused enterprises - you’ll find a gathering of Queensland’s best sustainable restaurants below.

Best sustainable restaurants in Cairns & Great Barrier Reef

CC’s Bar and Grill by Crystalbrook

In Cairns CBD you’ll greet CC’s, the resident eatery for Crystalbrook’s trio of suave hotels in town. This steakhouse takes a true farm-to-table approach when it comes to its ingredients, sourcing its meat from Crystalbrook’s own cattle station sitting three hours outside of Cairns, and partnering it with local ingredients and wines sourced from across Australia.

Oaks Kitchen and Garden

A similar farm-to-table approach can be found at the SouthEast Asian-focused Oaks cooking school and in Port Douglas, the creation of couple chef Benjamin Wallace and gardener Rachael Boon. The four-acre garden overflows with the likes of Thai eggplant and kaffir lime, which visitors are welcome to explore and learn to cook with in on-site classes.

Nu Nu Restaurant

Tropical ingredients in all their splendour are celebrated by the menu at the award-winning Nu Nu on Palm Cove’s golden beachfront. Serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner, dishes are based on locally grown specialties like smoked reef fish, North Queensland mud crab, and bunya nut among plenty more.

The Sunshine Coast's best sustainable restaurants 

Ricky’s Noosa

The linen-laden Ricky’s isn’t just a Noosa institution but one of Queensland’s best sustainable restaurants. This fine diner is devoted to showcasing the best produce of the region - in fact, they grow it themselves on their farm tucked into the surrounding Noosa Hinterland.

Flame Hill Vineyard restaurant

It’s in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland that you’ll also find Flame Hill, the 300-acre property housing a vineyard, cattle, and garden orchard. It’s from these paddocks that the eatery gathers the majority of its ingredients. Special mention should also go to the venue’s embrace of sustainable food production, meaning a focus on reducing waste in everything from fare to wine.

Fish on Parkyn

Back on the coastline at Mooloolaba sits another of the leading Queensland sustainable restaurants. As its name suggests, Fish on Parkyn is a seafood-focused venue, but one with a keen interest in the environment. The 18-year-old establishment is committed to serving only local and seasonal seafood brought in daily from the dock, just seconds away.

Brisbane's best sustainable restaurants 

Three Blue Ducks Brisbane

In the heart of the eccentrically dressed W Hotel in the CBD is where you’ll find the Brisbane outpost of the ever-popular Three Blue Ducks group of eateries. Born back in Sydney’s Bronte, the concept around the casual venues is one that sources ethically grown, seasonal and local ingredients where possible - an ethos that the Sunshine State location has proudly embraced.

Grown Brisbane

Arguably the key to becoming more eco-friendly is reducing your meat consumption. An easy feat at Grown, the plant-based restaurant tucked into the inner city’s West End. The ingredients for the seasonal menu here are gathered from several local independent farmers, each with a proud focus on ethical and fair food systems, including FoodConnect, Loop Growers, and SunCoast Fresh.

Scenic Rim's best sustainable restaurants

In the picturesque Scenic Rim sits Spicers Hidden Vale on 120,000 acres. It’s not just the accommodation that will tempt you but eatery Homage, an award-winning enterprise which is famously one of Queensland’s best sustainable restaurants thanks to a unique paddock-to-plate concept. Picture a market garden overflowing with vegetables, fruit, and herbs, and native ingredients (like roo) sourced from local farmers.

The Gold Coast's best sustainable restaurants

Restaurant Labart

The Gold Coast isn’t lacking in some of Queensland’s most sustainable restaurants. If you’re after proof look no further than Restaurant Labart. The Burleigh fine diner champions seasonal produce courtesy of a frequently changing menu prioritising local suppliers and businesses. The suave eatery’s casual bar Paloma down the road shares the same ethos.

Pasture & Co

This firm favourite among families can be found within an eco village in the luscious Currumbin Valley. The vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, and paleo-friendly menu is one based around nurturing both people and the planet and uses local, organic, and sustainably sourced ingredients.

Greenhouse Canteen

“Meat-free and killing it” is the mantra of this Miami establishment, a proudly plant-based space that’s a part of the burgeoning vegan population on the Gold Coast. Nibble your way through a menu awash with the likes of cauliflower tacos and chickpea fettuccine.

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