We know that sustainability is something that's front of mind for a lot of you when it comes to decision-making throughout your days, weeks and years. There are a bunch of things we’re all doing to help reduce our carbon footprint, from buying second-hand threads to embracing green energy providers, and increasingly, switching to electric vehicles.
The best thing is, moving towards a greener existence doesn’t mean leaving behind life’s little luxuries. In fact, it can mean leaning into unmatched experiences—especially if quality dining experiences are involved. To celebrate the release of the fully electric BMW iX1, we’ve teamed up with BMW to bring you the best (and tastiest) sustainable restaurants around Australia worth jumping in the car for.
NSW
Pipit, Pottsville
Jump in the car and make tracks to the coastal enclave of Pottsville, home to one of NSW’s tastiest—and most sustainable—restaurants, Pipit. Headed up by award-winning chef Ben Devlin (Noma), every element of this eatery has sustainability at the forefront: leftover bread is made into miso, wine dregs are converted to vinegar and fruit scraps are turned into kombucha. You won’t find meat on the menu either—ingredients are bought directly from local farmers and they’re part of the Good Fish Project. You can devour delicious dishes like smoked squid and scorched Spanish mackerel knowing nothing is going to waste.
RE Cocktail Bar, Sydney
You’ll find the world’s most sustainable bar in Eveleigh—and we’re not exaggerating. Created by innovative drink creator, Matt Whiley, Re is leading the charge on ethical consumption. At these sleek Sydney digs, everything you touch is recycled and everything you eat has been diverted from landfill. Whiley and the team take surplus produce from the markets and food waste from local businesses (think: coffee beans to fish offcuts) to create pure magic on the plate. Devour coal-roasted shishito peppers with wasted herb salsa and milk-braised lamb ragu before diving into a dessert of rice pudding and a Secret Life Of Coffee, made with green coffee fino, foraged coffee, berry wine and cascara.
Petermen, North Sydney
Book yourself a table at Josh Niland’s Petermen and you won’t be disappointed. The 60-seat eatery is all about championing sustainably sourced seafood. Living by the philosophy of fin-to-tail seafood, Niland is a true pioneer for zero waste in the kitchen where the whole fish (and not just a single fillet) is used. In fact, their off-cuts are often repurposed by Matt Whiley at RE cocktail bar. On the menu at Petermen, you can find the likes of fisheye ice cream (yes really, and it’s delish), Saltbush empanadas and Coffs Harbour line-caught hapuka green curry.
Three Blue Ducks, Sydney
Proof that you can find an organic, ethical eatery in the middle of a concrete jungle, Three Blue Ducks in Roseberry is the spot to score a soul-nourishing feed. Created by mates from Bronte who have a passion for surfing, travel and organic produce, Three Blue Ducks’ Sydney outpost is educating diners on a sustainable approach to eating and living. With an Argentinian grill in the garden firing up whole lambs, pigs and large cuts of beef, you can tuck into a tasty meal knowing everything on your plate was sustainably sourced.
Victoria
Four Pillars Healesville, Yarra Valley
While this one isn't strictly a 'restaurant', a delicious gin that puts the environment at the forefront of its production is something we can't go past. A road trip to the stunning Yarra Valley is always a good idea, especially when the end destination is Four Pillars. With tipples made from native botanicals, their Healesville distillery was built using recycled and upcycled materials and saves around 29 tonnes of glass per year thanks to their use of copper gin pipes. It’s this forward-thinking that earned them the title of Australia’s first carbon-neutral gin distillery.
Attica, Melbourne
Dining at Attica is a foodie adventure you won’t soon forget. But even better than the works of art you’ll be devouring is the knowledge that everything from chef Ben Shewry’s magical mind has sustainability at its heart. With a huge respect for the sea—and everything we source from it—Attica only buys from sustainable fish farmers. The menu also includes plant-based meats, green ants, black ants and witchetty grubs, all sourced from Indigenous farmers.
Little Picket, Lorne
Award-winning chef, Jo Barrett, brought her sustainable vision to a humble coastal lawn bowls club and the results are truly amazing. In fact, her organic plates see carloads of foodies travelling from Melbourne to Little Picket for the chance to enjoy her tasty talent. The ever-changing menu (a great reason to return often) is exclusively filled with produce grown locally, sustainably and often at a small scale. The result? Perfect plates, the likes of BBQ quail and hazelnut purée and Flinders Island wallaby with rocket.
Brae, Great Ocean Road
At Brae, you’ll get to dine amongst the farm from which your meal is sourced. Nestled on a beautiful 24-acre farm with more than 1,000 native trees, each day Brae’s team of wizards (...we mean, chefs) forage the property sourcing ingredients for the ever-evolving menu. It’s rare that any meal you taste at Brae will ever be the same as one that came before it. Water-efficient, solar-powered and with a closed-loop composting program that diverts around 100kg of food scraps and green waste from landfill daily, Brae is a true pioneer of sustainable dining.
Queensland
Blume, Boonah
Tucked away in the lush Scenic Rim you’ll find Blume, an intimate eatery you need to add to your Queensland hit list. Here the menu is based on the principle of ‘time and place’, whereby the small team only serves produce from local suppliers. A destination dining experience, the menu showcases the breadth of this nutrient-rich region with farm-to-fork delights aplenty–Red Emperor with watermelon radish and herring caviar, Cape Grim short rib with cavolo nero sauce, and sheep’s froyo with blood plum, fennel pollen and pistachio.
Homage, Scenic Rim
Set on a 12,000-acre cattle farm, Homage is another Scenic Rim eatery you simply can’t drive past. With a dining philosophy that pays huge respect to the land on which the restaurant resides, Homage embraces its surroundings with a kitchen garden that supplies an abundance of fresh veggies, herbs and fruits. The chefs here know the local farmers by name, so everything from the duck to the fish on the menu is thoughtfully sourced and cooked on the hatted restaurant’s two fire pits, smokehouse and wood oven.
Picnic Real Food Bar, Mount Tamborine
While less fine dining than the other eateries on this list, Picnic Real Food Bar, located at North Stores, deserves a shout-out thanks to its closed-loop waste system. Turning their kitchen waste into compost minimises their rubbish and in turn nourishes the rich, red volcanic soil of the mountain. The menu here, while short and simple, is a true love letter to local, sustainable produce, featuring charred zucchini and black bean salad and ciabattas stuffed with prosciutto, artichoke, mozzarella and tomato jam.
WA
Ethos Deli + Dining, Fremantle
Cruise just 25 minutes from Perth’s CBD for a soul-warming feed at Ethos Deli + Dining. Environmentally conscious to its core, the laidback eatery slings plates of Hungarian/German goodness. Try the likes of hot pastrami sandwiches, matzo ball soup, red tail prawn rolls and BBQ monkfish tail with Hungarian pepper stew. The airy, neighbourhood deli-come-dining room has a zero-waste approach to food, from finding a use for every part of the ingredients to compostable packaging for their takeaway meals.
Glenarty Road, Margaret River
Paying homage to the land and the region, Glenarty Road is a working farm and vineyard, run by fourth-generation farmers Ben and Sasha McDonald. A must-visit when road-tripping through the Margaret River, here you can tour through the property’s veggie garden and learn about their regenerative farming practices like intentionally raising sheep, pigs and beef to use from top to tail. The ever-changing menu is brimming with homestyle, refined eats you’ll love.
Old Young’s Kitchen, The Swan Valley
Undone fine dining is what you’ll find at Old Young’s Kitchen. The rustic, relaxed eatery, set within the stunning Swan Valley, grows much of its menu’s produce on-site or sources it close to home. Head chef, Rohan Park is known for showcasing native ingredients, like crocodile chorizo with wild rosella and ocean trout with finger lime and pepperberry, so dining here is always an extra special experience.
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