From old-fashioned fishmongers to waterfront restaurants and sunny gelato parlours, here are the best places to eat and drink in Wyong, Woy Woy, Terrigal and beyond.
The coast with the most? If you’re talking standout locals dedicated to raising the bar for their community, the Central Coast just might be it. That means markets with stalls and pop-ups from makers and shakers, burgeoning independent bottle-shops, good old-fashioned fishmongers, sunny gelato parlours and more. And that’s before you get to the beachside bakeries, the artisan butcher moonlighting as one of the region’s finest restaurants, or the cocktail bars with big-city energy. That’s a slice, but up, down and around, there’s so much more to discover. Here’s where to start.
For coffee and snacks
Burnt Honey Bakery
The Coast crowd is up early. Plenty to surf, the rest seemingly in the queue at Burnt Honey Bakery in Avoca, where kouign-amann, bread and coffee are just the start. Launched in 2019 by Jo Fairall (a Northern Beaches local) and Hayley Thorncraft (from Bateau Bay), the shopfront is ground zero for artisan sourdough and tin loaves, but it’s the pastries that keep a steady throng of coasties perched on seats and stools out front.
Impossibly golden ricotta pastizzi stuffed to bursting. Brown sugar cinnamon buns glazed in burnt butter. Multilayered mustard, honey and cheddar bear claws. Special mention of barista coffee, served in loaner ceramic cups for you to take to the beach then drop back once you’re done.
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1/224 Del Monte Place, Copacabana, burnthoneybakery.com.au
Glee Coffee Roasters
Glee Coffee Roasters has been running on the Central Coast for more than a decade, roasting single-origin espresso and blends for wholesale and home enthusiasts alike. Subscriptions keep locals caffeinated up and down the coast, while Glee’s Wyong HQ, known as The Source, is a one-stop shop for the tools of the trade, from espresso machines, to microscales to filter papers and more. Meanwhile, Glee Chapman in Wyong and Glee Erina each has a full menu to complement the brews.
B1/4 Dulmison Avenue, Wyong, gleecoffee.com.au
Spoonys Gelato Shop
The Coast’s hottest gelato? It’s at Spoonys, the freshly launched sunny scoop shop by Spoon Bay Gelato, right next to AB Antiques on Avoca Drive. The shop may be new, but the Spoon Bay story goes way back to owners Dan (formerly a chef at Three Blue Ducks) and Julia Hughes churning gelato at home in Bronte under the name Mr Goaty. The pair won accolades for their creations, before relocating to the Central Coast in 2016 and relaunching as Spoon Bay Gelato, specialising in pop-ups and markets in their retro-styled van, plus cart hire for events.
The shop is a more permanent chance to get around the breadth of their flavours, such as matcha mint choc-chip, salted caramel cheesecake and from-scratch Bellbird Farm hokey pokey. (And who can go past Aperol Spritz sorbet on a summer day?) Fruit cups topped with sorbet and inventive sundaes seal it (go the Dubai chocolate topped with crisp kaitafi and pistachio butter).
173 Avoca Drive, Avoca Beach, spoonbaygelato.com.au
Arnie’s Espresso Bar
Make your way along The Scenic Road and a sympathetically restored retro camper van on the roadside might catch your eye. That, or the masses of people perched on tree stumps and stools around it. They’re here for sweets and single-origin espresso, cold brew and more, but the van, launched in 2023, isn’t the whole story.
Arnie’s is linked to Ukuzala, a charitable enterprise providing barista training as well as free short-term respite accommodation in the leafy surrounds of Bouddi National Park, which is on track to be funded by the profits from Arnie’s, and Zala Coffee Roasters, managed by Rick Dunne.
“Our primary focus is community building and facilitating human connections,” says Dunne. “And in my experience, there are few better ways to do that than through coffee and cafe culture.” Proper espresso never tasted so sweet.
227 The Scenic Road, Killcare Heights, arnies.org
For lunch or dinner
Chillis Deli
Bacon and eggs on house focaccia? Bloody Marys spiked with house sambal? Gildas and cavatelli and house dry-aged T-bones, cooked over coals? Vitello tonnato and rocket panini? It can only be Chillis Deli, tucked into the labyrinth of piazze and frescoes that is Ettalong Galleria.
A sister to Chillis Cottage in Davistown, this all-day, all-comers destination run by husband-and-wife team Cameron Cansdell and Hayley Hardcastle does the lot. Go next door for rotating gelato flavours, topped with chocolate fudge and hazelnut crunch. Drinks range from spritzes to Chianti classico, while the tone strikes the right balance between rustic and special. Eat in, or raid the deli for a levelled-up picnic overlooking the calm of Brisbane Water.
Shop 33/34, Ettalong Galleria, 189 Ocean View Road, Ettalong Beach, chillisgroup.com.au
Warung Malaysia
Spot the kueh on the counter? The striated layers of white, green and red of the kueh lapis? Or coconut-flecked pandan-scented ondeh ondeh, bursting with molten gula melaka? That’s how you know you’re in ripe territory for proper Malay cooking. Go early on weekends for nasi lemak and traditional drinks including Milo dinosaurs and teh tarik, or bring a crew and load up rendang, satay and char kway teow, plus roti canai stretched, flipped and folded to order. Craving a hard-to-find kueh? Odds are if you ask, they can make it happen.
Shop 47C, Ettalong Galleria, 189 Ocean View Road, Ettalong, warungmalaysia.com.au
Sulo’s Shish & Pide
Created by Suleyman “Sulo” Kirbancioglu, Sulo’s is a relaxed, casual eatery grounded in Turkish tradition. The takeaway counter gives a direct view of the all-important charcoal grill, where skewers of lamb, chicken and hand-minced adana get kissed by char under a dusting of Sulo’s signature spice mix.
Barbecue half-chickens follow a similar path, a more substantial dish brightly adorned with sumac and garlic, served with blistered flatbread, pickles, toum, hummus and a tangy, house-made chilli sauce. Bone-in lamb shoulder comes mellow and sweet, enlivened with lemon and thyme seasoning and served with a similar array of trimmings.
Pide are more classic, though the boat-shaped bread is next level in pillowy texture and crisp, blistered pockmarks – don’t miss the umami-laced eggplant offering, or the breathy hit of garlic and gamey richness of the sucuk version. It’s a pilgrimage for many on the Central Coast, and dining in gives guests an immersion in the kookiness of the architectural marvel of the Ettalong Galleria.
189 Ocean View Road, Ettalong Beach, sulosshishkebabs.com
Amarilla
The breezy, upmarket restaurant with sweeping views over Terrigal Beach and adjacent village, focuses on Spanish food. Owner-chef Scott Price once ran Yellowtail restaurant in Terrigal.
Expect croquette variants (the snapper and gribiche more subtle and elegant than cheese and sobrasada), tangy mussels with potato and espellette pepper, sweet scallops on cauliflower with dashes of pancetta, plus a more substantial kingfish swimming in nutty ajo blanco peppered with jalapeno and tomatillo.
Peri-peri spatchcock is a worthy main, and comes with suede textured, smoky romesco sauce and cooling yoghurt and guindilla peppers. Cocktails lean into the fruity and fun, the wine list jazzed up with Spanish staples of frisky whites, albarino and txakoli, and bright tempranillo, garnacha and mencia.
With its showstopping, aquamarine outlook, this is the long, lazy lunch spot the Central Coast was missing.
2A The Haven, Terrigal, amarilla.com.au
Terrigal Pavilion
The Pav sits smack-bang on the water’s edge of Terrigal Beach with long-distance views throughout. Owner-operators Ben May and Rob Domjen have renovated the former Reef Restaurant site into a multi-level, several-venues-in-one, casual drink and dining spot that glamours up a pub ethic with its whitewash, frozen cocktails, open kitchens and no-bookings policy.
The top floor is for pub food favourites of pizzas, burgers, salads, schnitzels, fish and chips). The ground floor, The Tropic, is the more upmarket dining experience with “Mediterranean” leanings and a more considered focus on seafood and fancy pastas. A general store has more causal eating options and takeaways. The new “it” place for the in-crowd of the Central Coast.
2 Scenic Highway, Terrigal, terrigalpavilion.com.au
For drinks
Upstairs Wines
Sommelier Michelle Parmentier and wine scientist Dave Kynaston might have had an inkling that the Central Coast was itching for something good to drink, but they couldn’t predict the thirst would be so fierce. Their freshly opened Green Point tasting room and shop is now the couples’ third operation on the coast, following boutiques in Long Jetty and Ettalong.
What to expect? Shelves stocked with third-generation Soave or small-batch lambrusco fizzing with interest, fridges packed with local craft brews, from Goons Brewing Japanese rice lager to Six String hazy, and a tight selection of pantry goods, from bougie chicken salt to koji salted caramel. Watch for pop-ups, tastings and events, too.
9/314-316 The Entrance Road, Long Jetty; 46 Picnic Parade, Ettalong Beach; 389 Avoca Drive, Green Point, upstairswines.com.au
Pocket Bar
Co-founded by Pocket Group’s Karl Schlothauer, Pocket Bar Terrigal was the group’s first foray into the Central Coast following the launch of three cocktail bars – Stitch Bar, Button Bar and the original Pocket Bar – in Sydney. Thirteen years on, it’s among the Coast’s premier destinations for all things mixed and shaken.
Try your luck with The Gambler, where bourbon, Cointreau, vermouth and absinthe combine, or stay fresh with a Chain Reaction, where Poor Tom’s Amaro Imbroglio and bergamot liqueur are topped up with hibiscus and grapefruit soda. Craft beers keep it local, and the birria tacos, live music, DJs and karaoke nights mean there’s something for everyone, through to the small hours.
1/74 Terrigal Esplanade, Terrigal, houseofpocket.com.au
Bar Toto
Established in 2013, Bar Toto is a stalwart of the Central Coast cocktail scene, a sprawling venue that runs from street-side seating to a sit-up bar and into a lavish parlour that feels cinematic in its retro styling and grandiose seating – appropriately so as it’s adjacent to the Ettalong Galleria’s old-school cinema. Cocktails veer from experimental to well-made classics and there’s a dedicated section of negroni variants for those seeking rum, scotch or mezcal instead of gin as a ballast.
A spicy hibiscus sour built around chilli-infused tequila and house-made triple sec is a bracing heart starter, but the Suits and Cigars – a riff on the Rusty Nail, using local distillers Amber Lane Equinox whisky and finished with a peaty spritz – is the real showstopper. Happy hours roll through the weekat a generous three-hour window from 3pm and again at 10pm for an hour. Toto also levels up with dining collaborations with Galleria neighbour Chillis Deli, a regular comedy night and life-drawing classes.
83/189 Ocean View Road, Ettalong Beach, bartoto.com.au
Distillery Botanica
Distillery Botanica, amid carefully curated botanical gardens, is home to an eponymous label and the range of master distiller Phillip Moore’s dry gins. The original focus was on growing herbs, botanicals, flowers and fruits for the various distillations; now, guests can take guided tours and book spirit tastings or gin-blending masterclasses. The mud brick hewn cocktail bar may appeal if more academic pursuits aren’t on the agenda.
Highlights include standard-bearer Moore’s Dry Gin, the product of Moore’s infinite detail in blending, juniper-laden and stippled with peppery spice, leafy herbs and gentle floral lift – take it with soda and a green olive for best results.
25 Portsmouth Road, Erina, distillerybotanica.com
For food shopping
Central Coast Farmers Market
Gosford Showgrounds, home to greyhound racing, an indoor archery club and a Men’s Shed (don’t miss the woodwork for sale), hosts this Sunday-morning market that has been spruced up by a recent change of management, reinforcing the organic and Central Coast farm focus and now inviting four-legged friends in to play.
Regenerative farmed beef, chicken and eggs from Wyong Creek’s The Food Farm are sold alongside Alan Foods small-scale farm organic vegetables and herbs from Jilliby. Other highlights are Wyong’s Little Creek Cheese and The Waratah Farm, offering potted natives from Calga. Food stalls do Seven Miles coffee, organic empanadas, dumplings, Chinese pancakes and locally made kombucha and kefir. Expect aboutm50 stalls most weeks.
Showground Road, Gosford, thecentralcoastfarmersmarket.com
Saratoga Quality Meats
Launched in 1985, Saratoga has a long and illustrious history on the Central Coast, thanks to founders Rob and Bruce Kay. Tony Palmer bought the business in 2020, but keeping UK-born Jason Bowden on as head butcher has paid dividends in maintaining the consistency that Saratoga trades on.
The Kincumber shop is flush with grass-fed beef from the likes of Rangers Valley or Woodward, there are more than 65 flavours of sausage on rotation, and the likes of lamb kofta and chicken Kyiv are ready to go. Swing past Erina Heights, meanwhile, and the deli range expands to house-smoked chorizo, boudin noir, speck and more, before the site transforms into Carne & Cucina at night – where star turns are stuzzichini, mezze maniche alla vodka and a hulking Rangers Valley Black Market dry-aged rib-eye, heavy on marbling.
Shop 31/32, Kincumber Shopping Village, 43 Avoca Drive, Kincumber; 3/488 The Entrance Road, Erina Heights, saratogaqualitymeats.com.au
D & L Witchard
Go coast, eat fish. But which fish, and more importantly, from where? Woy Woy Fishermen’s Wharf is renowned for its range as much as its takeaway fish and chips counter, while Skinner’s Seafood in Ettalong stays lo-fi and local, with the day’s catch kept on ice in a streetside shack until sold out. Seacoast Fishing in Kincumber has similar co-op vibes and school prawns aplenty.
The pick for anyone heading north from Sydney? A pitstop at D&L Witchard in Woy Woy, which keeps things small scale and close to home. Think flathead, whiting, squid and school prawns, plus Patonga Creek oysters by the dozen.
54 Ocean Beach Road, Woy Woy, instagram.com/witchards_seafoodoutlet
Ettalong Fresh Food Market
Every Saturday in the ramshackle and infinitely charming Broken Bay Scout Hall, Ettalong Fresh Food Market combines a huge array of seasonal fruit and vegetables alongside local bakery and pantry goods, Mountain Pride Farms eggs, Kulnura’s Grace Springs Farm pasture-raised meats and locally grown Margin’s Mushrooms.
Heavily stacked trestle tables seem impossibly verdant. Heirloom potatoes are not to be passed over, likewise the array of seasonally harvested nuts, fresh currants and mangosteens when available. A coffee cart caters for early starters.
1 Picnic Parade, Ettalong Beach
The Food Farm
Tim Eyes and Hannah Greenshields operate The Food Farm on a collection of formerly unused hinterland paddocks, raising animals naturally and regeneratively. Beef is grass-fed and finished with carefully managed rotational grazing, while chickens, for eating and egg laying, roam freely, moving on to fresh pasture every few days, with no chemicals, antibiotics or hormones used. The bacon and liver sausages, and deeply flavoured, organ-rich “offally good mince” are excellent.
The Food Farm has delivery services and appears at notable Sydney and Central Coast markets. In 2023, the pair built a quant, roadside store with a couple of fridges for their stock, an honesty cash box, and a self-use EFTPOS machine. What fun! The tin shed farm shop is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
216 Yarramalong Road, Wyong Creek, thefoodfarm.com.au
David Matthews is a food writer and editor, and co-editor of The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2025.