Among NSW’s rural towns, Orange is easily one of its best for foodie-oriented travellers. The rural town, a 3.5-hour drive from Sydney, is known for its brunch cafés and fine dining restaurants, award-winning wineries and farmers’ markets and food shops with fresh produce you can eat there or take home.
If you’re heading to Orange soon, we’ve rounded up some of the best drinks and foodie experiences to do while you’re there. From a restaurant serving Chinese and Korean dishes, made with native Australian ingredients, to a bakery known for its organic sourdough and a kid-friendly winery with alpacas and cows, ahead are some of the top wineries, producers and restaurants to visit in Orange, NSW.
Best Restaurants in Orange
Orange’s restaurants put their produce to good use. At Mr Lim, local and native Australian ingredients are found in a menu of Korean and Chinese cuisine, with a setting just as colourful as the food.
Another option is The Schoolhouse Restaurant, inside the ever-popular Union Bank Wine Bar. The elegant spot has an extensive menu of share plates. Nab a seat in its sunny courtyard for a long lunch or come for dinner.
Birdie Noshery & Drinking Est. features a shareable menu of tapas and oysters, as well as more substantial offerings. Drinks here are fun and eclectic, including fine regional wines, colourful cocktails, craft beers and plenty of alcohol-free options.
After dinner, Spilt Milk Bar is a locals’ favourite gelato stop, with flavours made from scratch using local ingredients. For a post-dinner drink, head to Hey Rosey, Orange’s intimate 20-seater wine bar, focusing on unexpected flavours and local producers.
Best Cafés in Orange
Orange is home to countless cafes. Bills Beans has been the go-to for local coffee lovers since 2007. It’s grown from a shop-front roastery to one of Australia’s largest regional coffee roasters.
Take the taste test at that original shopfront, Bills Beans East Orange, or try their blend at Groundstone, a cafe on Byng Street with a simple menu. It’s conveniently located within the Orange Regional Gallery and Orange Regional Museum precinct, so when you’ve finished eating, you can wander these exhibition spaces.
Breads and pastries are coveted in Orange, find them baked in-house at Byng Street Local Store or head to Racine Bakery for organic sourdough, pies, sausage rolls, pastries and cakes. At Anything Grows, you’ll find a cafe, boutique nursery and gift shop.
Best Producers to Visit in Orange
Stock up on some of Orange’s finest goods at The Agrestic Grocer, a food and wine hub with a restaurant, grocery store and cellar door for Badlands Brewery and Pig in the House organic wines. You can also find local condiments, artisan breads, small goods and more at Red Chilli Deli, and pick up drinks at Ferment, a wine bar-meets-bottle-shop selling drinks from smaller producers without cellar doors.
If you’re in Orange on the second Saturday of the month, don’t miss the Orange Farmers Market at Northcourt, behind the Orange Regional Gallery. This is where you can meet the growers, providores, community gardeners and independent primary producers. Sample everything from deli items, meats, preserves, olive oil and nuts to some of the region’s award-winning wines, beers and ciders.
Best Wineries in Orange
With vineyards planted at different altitudes around the area, wineries in Orange produce everything from light and bubbly sparkling wines to bone-dry rosé, complex pinot noir and exotic viognier. There are more than 30 cellar doors to visit, and many offer dining experiences alongside wine tastings.
Try Philip Shaw Wines‘ consistently applauded pinot noir alongside a locally made cheese plate. Head to Borrodell to find one of Australia’s highest vineyards, set atop a steep hillside overlooking the Towac Valley, and stay for a meal at the acclaimed restaurant Sister’s Rock. Try the many varietals at Rowlee Wines, ordering a picnic hamper to enjoy with a bottle on the grounds. Then stay the weekend in the luxury guesthouse.
Or book into one of Printhie Wines‘ incredible experiences, from a sparkling masterclass to a helicopter winery tour; both come with a five-course lunch. Printhie’s cellar door even has an oyster tank filled with water shipped from the Clyde River so you can have freshly shucked oysters with your sparkling.
Heifer Station is a kid-friendly winery. It has a petting zoo with alpacas, highland cows, chickens and a Shetland pony named Tilly, and offers private picnic experiences with their tastings.
Best Foodie Festivals in Orange
Every year the town gets together to celebrate its producers. The annual Orange F.O.O.D Week is Australia’s longest-running regional food festival, on for 10 days every April. Showcasing local farmers and chefs, events range from markets, celebration dinners, workshops and visits to farms, orchards and kitchens.
Local producers put on quite a show in winter at the Orange Winter Fire Festival. You can eat comforting meals besides crackling fire pits and sipping heart-warming red wine.
Related: This ’70s Hotel in Orange Is the Perfect Base to Explore the NSW Food and Wine Region
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