11 of the best Lord Howe Island restaurants and cafes

From informal outdoor eating to the finest of island dining, Lord Howe Island has a variety of offerings to satisfy every craving.

Not taking up too much space on the map, the remote UNESCO World Heritage-listed paradise that is Lord Howe Island might not have a huge number of eating establishments to choose from, but what it lacks in quantity it certainly makes up for in the quality and diversity of its fare.

Here’s a list of the best – from pop-up gourmet picnics to Lord Howe Island restaurants and cafes to keep you fueled in between activities.

The Shortlist

Best fine dining – Capella Restaurant
Best casual eats – Lord Howe Island Brewery
Best outdoor – Benny’s Fish Truck
Best date spot – The Crooked Post

1. Capella Restaurant

views of Mounts Gower and Lidgbird at Capella Restaurant, Lord Howe Island

Enjoy relaxed dining with superb views of Mounts Gower and Lidgbird. (Image: Capella Lodge)

If you like your fine dining paired with premium views, the choice must be Capella Restaurant housed within Capella Lodge – though you’ll need to be a guest at the luxury resort to dine at its restaurant. While drinking in superb views of Mounts Gower and Lidgbird, you’ll dine on exquisite dishes from a menu that changes daily. Curated by Capella’s executive chef Dennis Tierney, expect starters like watermelon salad served with pistachio, pomegranate, rosewater, labneh and nasturtium; mains such as local kingfish with gai lan, green chilli with yuzu emulsion and salmon roe; and deserts like chocolate, caramel and peanut wrapped in a parcel of puffed rice.

Cuisine: Modern Australian
Average price: $$$$ – $$$$$
Atmosphere: Relaxed elegance
Review: 5/5
Location: Capella Lodge, Lagoon Road

2. Anchorage

alfresco dining at Anchorage, Lord Howe Island

Anchorage is a popular option for casual dining near Lagoon Beach. (Image: Supplied)

This restaurant’s style is elegant casual, and the food reflects this as well, with executive chef David Chlumsky having worked at some of Sydney’s finest dining institutions such as Otto, Quay and Longrain.

Expect modern Australian cuisine, complemented by plenty of locally caught fish and locally grown fruits and vegetables, plus artisan sourdough, Turkish bread, pies, cakes and pastries, all baked on site daily. Open from your morning flat white and avocado on toast through to your post-dinner lemon cheesecake and digestif, this restaurant located just a few steps from the golden shores of Lagoon Beach, hits the mark for every meal, seven days a week. A perennially popular option on the island, it’s best to book ahead at Anchorage for dinner.

Cuisine: Modern Australian
Average price: $$
Atmosphere: Casual
Review: 4/5
Location: The Anchorage, Ned’s Beach Road

3. The Crooked Post

ocean views through the pines from the veranda of The Crooked Post, Lord Howe Island

Nab a table for intimate and relaxed beachside dining. (Image: The Crooked Post)

If you’re looking for somewhere special to take your significant other or to meet others in a fun, modern small bar setting, The Crooked Post Bar is the perfect place. With ocean views through the pines from the veranda of the beautifully preserved historic house in which it is set, this small contemporary bar offers live music, island-inspired cocktails and delicious bites including pizzas and mezze plates. Open daily for lunch while dinner is served on Sunday and Monday nights.

Cuisine: Modern Australian
Average price: $$ – $$$
Atmosphere: Intimate, relaxed
Location: The Crooked Post, Ned’s Beach Road

4. Lord Howe Island Brewery

friends enjoying drinks at outdoor tables, Lord Howe Island Brewery

Find a breezy spot at one of the picnic tables. (Image: Heidi Morris)

If there’s any food and beverage that tastes better outdoors, it’s got to be wood-fired pizza, and beer. Lord Howe Island Brewery does them perfectly, often adding some live music into the mix. Lagers and pale ales are brewed onsite using island botanicals, while ingredients for the pizza toppings are plucked from the brewery’s glasshouse. Ever popular with a local crowd and tucked down a dirt track among the Kentia palms, this is the spot to plonk yourself down at a table in the afternoon and soak up island vibes.

Cuisine: Modern Australian
Average price: $$
Atmosphere: Casual
Review: 4/5
Location: Lord Howe Island Brewery

5. Love Lord Howe

Indulge in a gourmet beachside picnic. (Image: Love Lord Howe)

Seeing as you’re visiting one of the world’s most beautiful UNESCO World Heritage-listed islands, it’s worth considering eating outdoors to make the most of Lord Howe’s natural surrounds.

While not a brick-and-mortar establishment, Love Lord Howe can set the perfect scene with their award-winning picnic pop-ups. Whether it’s at a secluded beach or beneath the pines, founder Danielle will choose the best location on the day, dictated by the weather conditions. With low picnic table, cushions, blankets, cutlery, crockery and gourmet platter and drinks, everything is ready and waiting for you to just turn up and enjoy. And the best thing is there’s no packing up afterwards.

Cuisine: Modern Australian
Average price: $$$$
Atmosphere: Casual
Location: Location TBA on the day

6. Thompsons General Store

Going strong since 1925, this general store purveys all the everyday essentials you might need, as well as a few extras, from souvenirs and fishing supplies to fresh bread and fruit. But it’s the takeaway service that has visitors rapt with its specialty coffee and gourmet rolls, a popular choice. While there are options for veggies, you’ll also find prawn burgers, chicken burgers, and the classic beef, beetroot and egg. Add on a cold beer and hot chips and eat your lunch under the shade of the palm trees outside, watching the world go by. If burgers aren’t your thing, then opt for the fish and chips, sandwiches or ready-to-go salads instead.

Cuisine: Takeaway
Average price: $
Atmosphere: Casual
Location: Thompson’s Store, Ned’s Beach Road

7. Arajilla Restaurant

a plate of food at Arajilla Restaurant, Lord Howe Island

Arajilla Restaurant serves a seasonal menu with locally sourced and pasture-fed meats. (Image: Destination NSW)

Like Capella Lodge’s Restaurant, Arajilla Restaurant has a seasonal menu that changes daily, and you’ll also need to be a staying guest at the resort to eat at this fine dining restaurant.

Arajilla boasts its own kitchen garden, which supplies the restaurant with organic veggies and herbs, while line-caught fish are brought in fresh from the island’s waters.

Artisan cheeses and pasture-fed meats are sourced from the mainland. And the experienced in-house chefs bake their own bread. As a result, the artfully plated dishes sing with freshness and vibrancy. Dinner might include lamb breast terrine with feta ravioli, crispy fried capers and romesco sauce for starters, sesame-crusted kingfish with a baby corn and miso broth for main, and a tonka bean bavarois for dessert. But even breakfast is a cut above (think miso-cured trout corn fritters with Japanese mustard greens, yuzu dressing and a poached egg). Moreover, the kitchen can accommodate all kinds of diners with dietaries, from vegans to celiacs.

Cuisine: Modern Australian
Average price: $$$$
Atmosphere: Relaxed elegance
Location: Arajilla Retreat, Old Settlement Beach

8. Driftwood Bar and Restaurant

steamed local flame snapper at Driftwood Bar and Restaurant, Lord Howe Island

This steamed local Flame Snapper is a specialty at Driftwood Bar and Restaurant.

Driftwood Bar and Restaurant might have only opened a few years ago but it’s quickly become a local favourite with its delicious food, intimate feel, warm local service and wonderfully nostalgic island decor and memorabilia. The restaurant located at Ocean View Apartments specialises in Asian inspired dishes with a focus on locally caught fish and seafood. The wahoo ceviche with chilli, lime, coconut and tobiko, and coconut fish curry is especially good, mopped up with some freshly fried roti.

Cuisine: Asian fusion
Average price: $$$
Atmosphere: Intimate, relaxed
Review: 4/5
Location: Ocean View Apartments, 1 Ocean View Drive

9. Benny’s Fish Truck

fish and chips at Benny’s Fish Truck, Lord Howe Island

Find the best fish and chips on the island at Benny’s Fish Truck. (Image: Supplied)

While not a restaurant as such, Benny’s Fish Truck is reputed to serve the best fish and chips in Australia, and is where you’ll find some of the tastiest and freshest seafood on the island. Often parked in front of the jetty near the centre of town, stroll down as the sun begins to set and take a seat on the grassed area like the locals do to enjoy the likes of kingfish sashimi, sesame-crusted yellowfin tuna or the good old, battered catch of the day.

Cuisine: Takeaway
Average price: $
Atmosphere: Casual
Review: 5/5
Location: Jetty, Ocean View Drive or TBA

10. Coral Cafe

the lush exterior of Coral Cafe, Lord Howe Island

Coral Cafe is tucked into a lush space within the Lord Howe Island Museum. (Image: Supplied)

You need to time it right at Coral Cafe. While the restaurant housed within the Lord Howe Island Museum is open daily for breakfast and lunch, it’s only open for dinner three nights a week.

This cosy and reasonably priced cafe has simple yet hearty breakfast and lunch options (think egg and bacon rolls, milkshakes, hamburgers, sandwiches, wraps and cakes).

Come dusk, a more sophisticated offering takes hold: dine on prawn and chilli linguine, grilled local kingfish, as well as the occasional Malaysian special.

Cuisine: Australian
Average price: $-$$
Atmosphere: Casual
Location: Lord Howe Island Museum and Visitor Centre, Middle Road

11. Lord Howe Island Bowling Club

There’s a limited menu at this Lord Howe institution, popular with locals and families, so choose your night wisely. Some nights pizzas are on special; some nights the chef spotlights the humble pie; and others still have a wider ranging traditional Aussie pub menu, plus a few more island-specific nods, such as grilled blue-eye trevalla, or kingfish sashimi. Similar to any kind of bowls club or RSL back on the mainland, this isn’t the place to go for glamour and haute cuisine: instead, come for a glass of wine, a good time and a hearty feed.

Cuisine: Classic Australian
Average price: $
Atmosphere: Casual
Location: Bowling Club, 1 Lagoon Rd

Originally written by Chloe Cann with updates by Bonita Grima

Discover the best accommodation on Lord Howe Island

At Lord Howe’s inaugural Dark Sky Festival, we learn how this island paradise is on track to be certified not only as an International Dark Sky Place, but Australia’s first Dark Sky Island.

Lord Howe Island could become the country’s first official Dark Sky Island, according to a renowned advocate for the preservation of dark skies. Marnie Ogg, along with her astronomer husband Fred Watson, was responsible for getting NSW’s Warrumbungles designated Australia’s first International Dark Sky Park in 2016.

Astrotourism is a fast-growing travel trend. (Image: Gavin Heatherington-Tait)

Ogg, director of astro tourism company Dark Sky Traveller and the Australasian Dark Sky Alliance, spoke on a panel to a gathering of astronomy enthusiasts, nature lovers and holidaymakers at the Lord Howe Island Brewery in April 2025. The science talk formed part of Lord Howe Island’s inaugural Dark Sky Festival.

“It would just be a beautiful badge not only for tourism but for conservation,” she said.

What is a Dark Sky Island, and why is it important?

A Dark Sky Island has little to no pollution obscuring the starry skies. (Image: Eliot Drezet)

A Dark Sky Island is part of the International Dark Sky Places (IDSP) program that certifies communities, parks and protected areas around the world that preserve and protect their dark skies through responsible lighting and public education.

Since Flagstaff, Arizona, was declared the first International Dark Sky Place in 2001, the program has expanded to include over 160,000 square kilometres of protected land and night skies around the world.

The benefits of preserving our dark skies are manifold, as societies are becoming increasingly aware of the damaging effects of light pollution and how it affects not only our ability to observe stars but also ecosystems, wildlife and our own human health.

If Lord Howe becomes a Dark Sky Island, it will join a global roster of Dark Sky Islands, including Sark in the Channel Islands, which was first designated in 2011.

“Sark is like Lord Howe, in a way, except that they don’t have cars at all – they just have tractors and bikes,” said Ogg. “They have a thriving community of people who go there because they can see beautiful dark skies at night and go back in time to really experience life in a night environment.”

Are there Dark Sky Places in Australia already?

Kestrel Nest Eco Hut dark sky approved lodge

The off-grid Kestrel Nest is Australia’s first international DarkSky-approved lodge. (Image: Grant Hardwick)

Australia is already home to seven official Dark Sky Places, including Warrumbungle Dark Sky Park (designated 2016); The Jump-Up Dark-Sky Sanctuary in outback Queensland (2019); the River Murray Dark Sky Reserve in South Australia (2019); and Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary in SA’s Flinders Ranges (2023).

In 2024, the coastal town of Carrickalinga on the Fleurieu Peninsula in SA became Australia’s first Dark Sky Community, and Sydney’s Palm Beach Headland became our first Urban Night Sky Place. In April 2025, Kestrel Nest EcoHut became the country’s first DarkSky-approved lodging. Located on Highland Farm and Woodland in NSW’s Eastern Riverina region, this off-grid property is committed to protecting and enhancing the natural environment it’s part of.

What will becoming an International Dark Sky Place mean for Lord Howe Island?

Lord Howe is a haven for stargazers. (Image: Eliot Drezet)

Lord Howe’s fabulously starry skies already make the UNESCO World Heritage-listed island one of Australia’s premier stargazing destinations.

A designation as a Dark Sky Island would cement its reputation, attracting further mindful tourists to a place that famously limits its visitor numbers to 400 at any one time to preserve the fragile ecosystem and pristine landscape.

“Astronomy-based tourism brings a traveller who is very conservation-minded,” said Ogg. “They help and support the community.”

It would also extend the tourism season, spreading the economic benefits throughout the year and giving travellers to the island more options when planning. “Where you might not be doing swims and dives and trips up Mt Gower [in winter], you could be sitting under a night sky.”

And while there is no official timeline right now for when Lord Howe might become an official Dark Sky Island, Ogg says it already meets much of the criteria, and the road map to designation will be a fairly straightforward one.

“The biggest benefit with Lord Howe is that there is a lot that doesn’t need to be undone,” she said. When we talk about a lot of Dark Sky Places, they might have to retrofit streetlights, pull out lights from buildings or talk to residents about how they use light. That could take years. But it won’t here. Lord Howe is so far along the track.”

Central to an application – which costs US$250 (A$380) to lodge with non-profit organisation DarkSky International – is the creation of four events a year, Ogg explained, which could be anything from a letterbox drop to raise awareness of dark skies (covering anything from the impacts on animals and people to cost savings and good lighting principles) to a major event in the calendar like Lord Howe Island’s new Dark Sky Festival.

When is the next Dark Sky Festival on Lord Howe Island?

Being in the light of stars is an artful enjoyment and encourages stress relief.

The next Dark Sky Festival on Lord Howe Island will run between 16 and 23 May 2026.

Organiser Danielle Nicolson was inspired to launch the festival after winning gold at the 2024 Australian Tourism Awards for Excellence in Food Tourism with her business, Love Lord Howe. “While there, I met organisers of festivals in other remote regions and was moved by their passion and the impact these events had on their communities,” she explains. “The idea for a ‘Dark Sky Festival’ quickly emerged as it strongly aligns with our Island’s conservation values.”

“Next year, we’re planning even more immersive activities and experiences,” Nicolson continues. “The goal is not only celebrating and educating people about the importance of night sky conservation but also supporting local businesses by boosting tourism during the quieter season.”

Flight, accommodation and event ticket packages are available through Oxley Travel.