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Typically, restaurants on Barrier Reef islands are part of each island's main resort, so many resorts' rates include some or all meals. Some larger resorts have a range of restaurants, with formal dining rooms, outdoor barbecues, and seafood buffets; some have premium dining options for which you pay extra. Dress is generally "island casual." Some upscale restaurants—such as those on Hayman Island—require men to wear jackets for dinner and frown on flip-flop sandals. On the mainland you'll find plenty of casual, open-air restaurants, serving mainly Modern Australian–style meals that showcase seafood and regional produce. With a few notable exceptions, Cairns, Palm Cove, and Port Douglas are your best bets for upscale dining.
Sexy suede lounges, intimate banquettes, and unbroken views of the Coral Sea make lingering easy at this Palm Cove noshery with the region's best and freshest produce. Select from small plates or larger share portions, which include the likes of kimchi butter-poached reef fish, paperbark-smoked duck, and Sichuan eggplant.
With a pool accessible to customers with spectacular views over Airlie Beach, this is the place to be on a balmy day in the tropics. Snack on share plates such as chicken wings and minitacos between dips, or go for the Anchor Can't Decide Seafood Platter.
Dining in this spacious, central restaurant, you can enjoy some of the most delicious, innovative cuisine in North Queensland. Choose from an expansive menu that combines traditional Balinese spices and recipes with native Australian ingredients. Dishes include a crocodile satay skewer and nasi goreng (fried rice with chicken, mixed sates, fish fillet, and egg). Don't eat lunch if you're planning to order the rijstaffel at dinner—it's huge.
Head to the ritzy Hamilton Island Yacht Club for a truly special dining experience at this upmarket noshery, which has sensational views over the Whitsundays through its floor-to-ceiling windows. Try a bit of everything with its degustation menu, available on weekend nights, or choose from the three-course sample menu from Wednesday to Friday.
This cozy, friendly café makes a point of supporting local farmers, with a locavore breakfast menu featuring the best of Whitsunday produce. There are plenty of vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free options, plus high-quality coffee. And beanbags to sit on.
In a city that loves a steak, this is probably the best of them. CC's Bar & Grill sources most of its beef from farms in the Atherton Tablelands. Those cuts—as well as others sourced from around Australia—are either wet- or dry-aged, and grilled to perfection. The atmosphere here is upmarket and classy, and the wine list wouldn't look out of place in a Sydney or Melbourne fine-diner.
This acclaimed restaurant, which is run by a British chef and his wife who named it after their first son, impresses with deftly executed dishes that showcase fresh seafood and small-batch ingredients, sourced locally. There's a six-course tasting menu at A$140 per person, A$210 with matched wines, and on the wine list you'll find plenty of good mid-price antipodean drops and a smattering of French ones.
This breezy, upscale eatery turns the local catch into fresh contemporary dishes: freshly shucked oysters, kingfish sashimi, and butter-roasted Moreton Bay bugs, all artfully plated. You can also get vegetarian and nonseafood options, and wine from a bar stocked mainly with midprice Antipodean vintages. Book a balcony table and watch yachts dock as you dine.
Dine on a deck surrounded by rain forest at this enchanting outdoor restaurant, which opened in 1954 and is still going strong. The regularly changing degustation menu has a focus on Modern Australian cuisine, with Asian and European influences, and matching wines. When it rains, a nifty retractable canopy keeps diners from ducking for cover.
Local seafood and native and seasonal ingredients take top billing at this upscale yet relaxed Cairns institution that specializes in native ingredients and local produce. Expect to find the likes of kangaroo, crocodile, seafood, and high-quality beef, with fine antipodean wines to match.
At this much-lauded seafood restaurant, modern Australian dishes put the focus on fresh North Queensland produce and seafood, which is delivered direct from local fishing boats. You can choose your own live mud crab from holding tanks, or down the sunset special---a generous bucket of prawns and a choice of Aussie beer or wine.
Sip sangria at an outdoor table and watch the world go by or grab a seat the bar to watch mixologists at work at this lively tapas bar, where the dishes are so enticing it's hard to decide what to order. Spanish dolls above the bar and framed matador embroideries bring a European vibe to one of the hippest places to dine on the Great Barrier Reef.
This Modern Australian eatery fits the bill: location (riverfront), service (impeccable), ambience (relaxed), food (exciting and flavorful), and wine (top-flight). The menu is a carefully curated collection of local meat, seafood, and vegetable creations, with something to suit every palate, including a comprehensive "plant-based" section to the menu.
Enjoy Coral Sea views framed by palms and melaleucas along with Mod Australian dishes at this classy beachside eatery. Diners come for the Vietnamese Crepe, battered coral trout, and nasi goreng at lunch; and crab tagliatelle or barramundi for dinner.
