Head for the hills: where to eat on the Atherton Tablelands
Itinerary
By Danielle Reckless
Prefer to taste your way through your travels? Atherton Tablelands is the table you want to sit at.
Rolling green hills, tumbling waterfalls, and filled to the brim with farm stores, cafes and restaurants; this rich food bowl is worlds away from the colourful reef and Coral Sea that Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef region is known best for - even though it's only 90 minutes' drive.
But that's the beauty of Queensland's north: you'll find surprises at every turn. Let your tastebuds lead the way on this Atherton Tablelands food itinerary.
Fuel up at Skybury Café & Roastery
Forget inner-city laneways and head straight to the source: Australia's oldest coffee producing plantation is nestled into the Tablelands.
Sip freshly roasted coffee straight from the farm at Skybury Cafe and Roastery., take in the sweeping views from the deck, and order a healthy papaya bowl too, made from the sweet red papayas that also grow on the farm.
Open: Monday - Friday 9am - 4pm.
Grab lunch at the Yungaburra Pub
There's nothing quite like a country pub. After spending the morning grazing at the market in historic Yungaburra, where some 250 growers and artisans gather on the fourth Saturday of the month, you should follow the lunchtime crowd of locals heading across the road to enjoy a burger and beer at the Yungaburra Hotel, a low-key pub-grub bastion.
Open: Daily.
Indulge in afternoon tea at Lake Barrine
Photo by @athertontablelands
The best way to admire Lake Barrine? Sit at a table at the Heritage Teahouse Café overlooking the deep green waters of this volcanic crater lake.
Walk up an appetite first with a 6.5km hike that loops in 1100 year-old kauri pines, before enjoying scones slathered with Rainforest Bounty Ooray plum jam and Malanda Dairy Farm cream. The teahouse has been in the Curry family for four generations and the scones are from the same recipe that Grandma Marg used when she opened the cafe in 1926.
Open: Thursday & Friday 9am - 4pm; Saturday & Sunday 830am - 4pm.
Sample cheese and chocolate at Gallo Dairyland
There’s no hiding where the milk comes from to make Gallo Dairyland’s award-winning cheeses. From the moment you turn off the highway, you'll see about 500 of the resident bovines lowing happily amid 404hectares of rolling hills.
Check out the cheese factory at the working dairy farm, sample your way through their award-winning chocolates, and if the kids are in tow make sure to stop by the nursery to meet and hand-feed the animals.
Open: Daily from 9:30am - 4:30 pm.
Get your fill at Sweet Farm Tours
Stay on a sweet note and take a tour of Australia's first cocoa and sugarcane experience. You'll learn a lot here about the family's sustainable farming practices - and taste even more, including Australian origin chocolate and fresh sugarcane juice. Tour bookings are essential.
Open: Tuesday - Saturday, 930am - 4pm.
Chill out at The Falls Teahouse
Detour from the food for just a moment, because a visit to Millaa Millaa Falls is a must on any Atherton Tablelands road trip. It’s one of the most picturesque waterfalls on the planet. After soaking up the misty-aired scenery and swimming in its cool fresh waters, head to The Falls Teahouse for a Devonshire tea.
Locals know that the teahouse cranks up the wood-fired oven for pizza night every Friday too, which is well worth a visit.
Open: Mon to Wed 10am - 4pm; Fridays 10am - 4pm and 6pm - 9pm; Sat-Sun 9.30am - 4pm.
Get your milk moustache on at Mungalli Creek Dairy
Photo by @maxcoquard
The Atherton Tablelands is laid out like a quilt of neon-green pastures, emerald lakes and rainforest. And just 10 minutes from Millaa Millaa Falls lies north Queensland's only biodynamic farmhouse cheesery and cafe.
Savour your lesson on organic farming practices and sustainability at the Mungalli Creek Dairy Farmhouse Café where you can get a side order of clean Tableland air with your cheese platter for two. Bring a bottle of wine, add verandah views of Mt Bartle Frere (Queensland's tallest mountain) and you can see why it's a firm favourite on the Atherton Tablelands food trail.
Open: Daily from 10am to 4pm.
Spot platypus near the Smokehouse Café
Venture to Tzali Lakes north of Cairns and you'll have a food experience paired with native wildlife encounters.
Home to a thriving platypus population, Australian Platypus Park is also home to the delightful Smokehouse Cafe. Take a stroll through the 16ha property (which guarantees a sighting of the elusive platypus, particularly if you stay until sundown) before settling in for lunch. Fuel your foodie adventures by picking up a range of different smokehouse products such as freshly smoked barramundi, mackerel and chicken with lemon myrtle from the Smokehouse Cafe.
Open: Daily from 8am to 4pm.
Enjoy a tipple at Mt Uncle Distillery
The brainchild of head distiller Mark Watkins, Mt Uncle Distillery in Walkamin is the first and only distillery on the Atherton Tablelands.
Tours and tastings are the order of the day here, so take a walk around the grounds to meet the resident peacocks, alpacas, donkeys and goats before settling in to a tasting of the premium spirits and liqueurs made using all-Australian ingredients, including fruit sourced from local farms.
Open: Daily from 10am - 4pm.
Chew with a brew at Coffee Works
You'll smell the coffee roasting before you even step in the door at Coffee Works. Here at HQ in Mareeba you can discover the history of the coffee machine, take a plantation tour and taste a flight of coffee with unlimited tastings all day.
But this is more than a boutique roastery: there's also handmade chocolates, liquers and tea to work your way through.
Open: Daily from 6am - 3pm.
For even more flavours while you're here, check out these food experiences in Cairns and great Queensland.
