How Bellingen became a ‘foodie mecca’ in regional NSW

Restaurant group Three Blue Ducks has opened a new farm-to-table restaurant in Bellingen, a town on the Mid North Coast of NSW whose fast-growing food scene has made it a thriving travel destination.

The Ducks’ fifth restaurant, helmed by head chef Julien Vasseur, draws on local, sustainable producers such as Levenvale Farm (Bello Beef) and The Patch Organics to produce Asian-inspired dishes such as “dirty duck”, roasted with citrus fruit and Davidson plum.

It joins more than eight new restaurants, cafes, specialist food stores and bakeries to open across the Bellingen Shire since COVID-19 ‒ not bad for a region with a population of about 13,000.

“Some of the most interesting and awesome food offerings in Australia are now happening regionally, and Bellingen is a big part of that movement,” says Three Blue Ducks co-founder and chef Darren Robertson.

“It’s a quaint little town, but the standard is incredibly high, whether you’re going to the local bottle shop (Libertine Liquor), the brewery (Bellingen Brewing Co) or the restaurants.”

Located just outside town at The Lodge, a converted roadside motel, Three Blue Ducks has already become a destination restaurant for out-of-towners, particularly from nearby Coffs Harbour, since opening in mid-July.

Bellingen Shire has welcomed more than 311,000 domestic visitors in the 12 months to March, a number not seen since 2018, and research by Destination NSW reveals that eating out is the most popular activity.

Ask a local for a restaurant recommendation, and they’ll invariably direct you to Bruno’s, a Mediterranean restaurant in a weatherboard cottage on Oak Street, where chef Jesse Dolman, formerly of two-hatted Brunswick Heads restaurant Fleet, heads the kitchen.

It is the first hospitality venture from brothers Joshua and Oliver Gluck, who moved to the region from Melbourne and Byron Bay during the pandemic.

“We opened it for the community in the middle of COVID, when there was no way to target tourists. It was all about what we wanted to experience in Bellingen,” Joshua Gluck says.

Gluck says their arrival coincided with a boom in local eateries. Since Bruno’s opened, the former logging town has welcomed restaurants such as Osteria Fiume and Charlie’s at Church, alongside cafes like Eden and Habitat Coffee House.

“It has always had a wonderful food scene, but there’s definitely an increasing number of venues opening, focusing on quality local produce and a slightly higher end of dining,” Gluck says.

“It’s become a destination for dining. Where Bellingen restaurants used to fly under the radar, now they’re put on the map.”

Outside interest has spread up Waterfall Way to nearby Dorrigo, where Peaches Patisserie opened last year.

The small shop is the fulfilment of a childhood dream for owner Beth O’Loughlin, who returned to Bellingen Shire after honing her pastry skills in Melbourne.

Locals’ appetite for her seasonal pastries, such as Davidson plum doughnuts and butterscotch and brown butter pie, means O’Loughlin has had to step up her working hours, and she has found a strong food culture in the region.

“People are happy to spend money on food, but they do have high expectations.”

O’Loughlin suggests it is the region’s dense rainforests, waterfalls and creeks (with names like Promised Lands and Diehappy) that attract skilled hospitality workers to the area.

“Think of Bangalow, or Byron Bay. With beautiful landscapes come creative types, and with creative types come hospitality workers,” she says.

That’s the case for Gabriel Gutnik and Nathalie Poludniewski, who moved to Bellingen last year after discovering its natural beauty. Operating under the name Ziggy’s Wildfoods, the pair forage the surrounding landscape for native ingredients and wild invasive species to create a range of condiments, ferments and shrubs, drinks combining fermented plants, vinegar and a sweetener.

In February, they opened their first brick-and-mortar store on the town’s main street, and in July, their products were featured at Maaemo, when the Michelin three-star Norwegian restaurant held a weekend-long pop-up at the two-hatted Berowra Waters Inn.

The hospitality industry’s success is underpinned by a community of growers and producers who draw on the shire’s rich soil and subtropical climate to supply everything from black truffles to native Dorrigo pepper.

“For a foodie, Bellingen is like the ultimate dream,” Gutnik says. “People bring bucketloads of fruit they find or grow on their property. Often we show up at the door and there are buckets of Davidson plums.”

To repay their kindness, Gutnik transforms the plums into ferments, or works with family-run gelateria Bellingen Gelato to create small-batch flavours.

“We want people to be able to fully experience and taste the ingredients growing in the valley and the mountains,” he says.

“There are so many foodies here that care about the land they’re on, and it’s created a real foodie mecca.”