Inside The Belongil, Shannon Bennett’s $10 Million Multi-Venue Precinct In Byron Bay

Set to redefine coastal luxury, renowned Australian chef and restaurateur Shannon Bennett has just opened a landmark multi-venue dining destination in Byron Bay.

With doors officially open, The Belongil is Bennett’s first major project since the globally recognised Vue de monde took off in Melbourne.

Sitting pretty just moments from the shoreline, the $10 million multi-venue precinct is an ambitious collaboration between Bennett and his Belongil Beach neighbour Glen Norman, a partnership rooted in creativity, community and a shared vision. Each of the four distinct venues with The Belongil expresses a different side of coastal sophistication. It's seriously unlike anything we've seen before; let's dive in.

Image Credit: The Belongil | Supplied

The Belongil Venues

Feu is instantly recognisable by its stunning architecture, with each ingredient cooked over local yellow box timber. This is the fine-dining experience that you may come to expect from Bennett. Described as striking, cinematic and surreal, you can imagine how luxurious it feels inside.

Image Credit: The Belongil | Supplied

For a more relaxed space but still keeping that elegance, The Bistro hosts long lunches and gatherings during golden hour, grounded in community and crafter from reclaimed materials. According to The Belongil, locals treat this space like their living room, and travellers never want to leave. Celebrating local farmers and produce, and with a seasonally-evolving menu , you can see why.

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The third of four venues, Blind Tiger is an invite-only, hidden members’ bar, built around a 300-year-old Japanese temple. Cameras and phones aren’t allowed in this space, it’s purely for celebrating music, connection and rare spirits.

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If that’s sounding a little too exclusive—last but not least is The Kiosk, a beachside outpost serving simplicity in the highest quality. Here you can grab your coffee at sunrise, or salt-crusted snacks post-swim. It’s the place for early risers, sandy feet, and familiarity. Everything Byron does best.

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Sustainability

All the venues, curated with painstaking attention to detail, champion sustainability. From the centuries-old recycled timbers from a 300-year-old Japanese temple (yes, really), to an E-water sanitation system or the on-site 100kg composter, the level of attention is undeniable.

Even the restrooms are said to respond to guests’ emotions through mood-sensitive light and sound, which I’m dying to test out on a bad day.

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With a board of visionary collaborators and a seriously all-star team, The Belongil feels less like a hospitality venture and more like a living art piece. As Bennett puts it, “The Belongil is about the intersection of food, design and emotion.”

“It’s a place where every detail, from the cutlery to the wall art, tells part of the story," he says. 

Image Credit: The Belongil | Supplied

So whether you’re just dropping in for a morning coffee, or booking an unforgettable meal for that special occasion, The Belongil is shaping up to be Byron Bay’s most anticipated opening of 2025—and quite possibly, the most beautiful.

We'll have more details and images shortly.

Main image credit: The Belongil | Supplied