From bakeries to bistros to hip cafes in heritage buildings and spaces with their own market garden, the best cafes in Bowral and beyond are a celebration of Southern Highlands produce.
Drop pins on all the best cafes in Bowral and your Maps app will look like it’s been scattered with confetti. Cafe hopping here is one of the best things to do in the Southern Highlands. It’s right up there with getting out into nature, exploring its vineyards and trawling for antiques.
The centre of Bowral is easily walkable and you’ll find everything you’re looking for here from specialty coffee to artisan pastries, a brunch of champions, lunch paired with local cool-climate wine, afternoon tea or all of the above. Here is the ultimate guide to the best cafes in Bowral and beyond.
1. The Press Shop, Bowral
Described as ‘that lovely little café in Bowral’ for a reason, The Press Shop is located in what was once an old bespoke letterpress studio. The darling entrance, though updated, has remained the same, offering visitors a taste of the Highlands’ heritage on the main street of Bowral.
Even on a grey day, brunch at this Bowral restaurant conjures up an image of brightness and conviviality. There are the bare floorboards, duck-egg-blue décor and hanging pendant lights. And of course, the happy staff scribbling up lists of inspired specials that keep their customers and local producers proudly front of mind.
Delicious menu options might include zucchini corn fritters with house-made chilli jam, smashed avo, lime yoghurt and poached eggs. Or the breakfast burrito with scrambled egg, pico de Gallo, jalapeno relish and chipotle mayo.
Even on a dreary day, The Press Shop is bright and cosy.
2. Plantation Cafe
Just down the street from The Press Shop is the buzzy Green Lane shopping and dining precinct, home to all manner of culinary, retail and horticultural delights including Plantation Cafe, – a light, bright and plant-filled cafe serving Double Roasters coffee, fresh pastries and an all-day menu.
Plantation is next door to its sister venue, Harry’s On Green Lane, considered one of the best restaurants and bars in Bowral. The eclectic interior features a covetable floor-to-ceiling bookshelf that is worth a browse. Harry’s is open daily for lunch (and on Fridays and Saturdays for dinner, too). The cafe is next to Dirty Janes Market, one of the best places to shop for unique vintage treasures and unique finds in the Southern Highlands.
This plant-filled cafe offers a delectable all-day menu.
3. Your Vintage Occasion
One of the best things to do in Bowral is bounce between antique shops looking for vintage finds. Get dressed up in your Bridgerton best for high tea at Your Vintage Occasion, a pretty-as-picture place for high tea.
The tea salon is the go-to place to head for high tea in Bowral. According to Brits, Bowral feels a little bit like an English village in character and so became the summer playground of Sydney’s gentry in the 19th century. Channel the spirit of eccentric aristocracy as you sip on brews from the Highlands Tea Company in fine bone China cups at the venue tucked away in The Milk Factory, an art gallery and exhibition space in Bowral.
Scones are the headline attraction here, served with generous dollops of jam and cream and delivered in a range of flavours: from classic to rose to white chocolate and cinnamon. Book ahead on weekends.
Browse the store for amazing antique collectables.
4. Fermento
Look no further than Fermento for your fix of artisan baked goods, This family-owned bakery and cafe in the centre of town has honed its cornerstone offering down to a fine art. The sourdough bread is by Baked in Berrima and contains just three ingredients – organic flour, purified water and Australian sea.
Choose from a concise selection of sweet and savoury breakfast or lunch dishes from the Bong Bong St bakery including flaky pastries, golden pies and freshly made cakes. Angle for a table from which to enjoy the focaccia bun with smoked chilli flakes, halloumi and maple bacon. The roll gets all the details right, which is why this Bowral café is regarded as one of the region’s best. This attention to detail is the thread that binds Fermento to its sister venues: Berrima General Store and Baked in Berrima.
5. Gumnut Patisserie
Gumnut Patisserie has stores in Bowral, Berrima and Mittagong. The family-run business has been going strong for more than two decades. Moreover, it’s justifiably known for its baked goods, cupcakes and tailored cakes for birthdays and special occasions.
Bridgerton protagonist Penelope Featherington would most certainly approve of the high tea on offer at Gumnut Patisserie which is available to pick up in-store and take back to your Bowral accommodation. The range of elaborate bites on offer here includes mini quiches, sausage rolls, mini pies and petit fours as well as individual sponge cakes with jam and cream.
Given that Gumnut Patisserie won Best Neenish Tart in the Wotif Uniquely Aussie Awards, we’d recommend getting to grips with the dessert made with a pastry base and a filling comprising of gelatine-set cream.
The cafe’s mantra is ‘Life’s Short Eat Dessert First’. (Image: Carla Grossetti)
6. Studio @ The What If Society
Moss Vale has also been bookmarked as a destination rather than a place to pass through in the Southern Highlands. And consumers conscious of their environmental footprint will love supporting the Society, a cafe within the What If Society where they can meet like-minded people.
The What If Society is a sustainable food cooperative that works in collaboration with local suppliers around the Southern Highlands to make a difference. The café is an offshoot of all that the co-op delivers and is also committed to a zero-waste policy.
Head chef Eilish Maloney has worked at the Michelin-starred Ledbury in London alongside Brett Graham and was head chef at Saint Peter. Now the chef has gone back to her roots running everything from cooking classes to supper clubs.
7. RAW & WILD Market & Café
Head to RAW & WILD Market & Cafe on Bowral’s main street to rummage up a health-conscious breakfast, lunch or afternoon snack.
The eco-conscious eatery leads onto an outdoor terrace at the back of a wholefood store and even its more decadent menu items are guaranteed to be made with the cleanest of ingredients.
Pick from an all-day breakfast menu that includes ricotta pancakes with cinnamon poached pear, berry compote and pistachio and coconut crumble. Or ogle the lunch menu for inspo from the likes of potato and leek fritters or Mittagong train tunnel risotto. There’s a kids’ menu too, afternoon grazing options and dinner on Fridays and Saturdays.
The front of the cafe features a whole-food store. (Image: Carla Grossetti)
8. Rush Roasting Co.
Rummage in the vintage section of Dirty Janes until you find a tweed coat or foppish hat so you fit in with the immaculately dressed locals drinking coffee at the award-winning Rush Roasting Co. This lovely eatery, run by the award-winning artisan roasters, is now considered one of the best cafes in Bowral.
The Bong Bong St Bowral cafe is the sister venue to the Moss Vale cafe run by Rush Roasting Co. It offers barista training courses and sells a range of coffee-related products, too.
Enjoy a silky-smooth latte or espresso at the Moss Vale cafe run by Rush Roasting Co., which started roasting in 1998, long before artisan coffee was given in the Southern Highlands. The staff are well trained when it comes to the different types of beans so they can help you find your perfect cup.
The coffee at Rush Roasters in Bowral is award-winning. (Image: Carla Grossetti)
9. Nick’s
Coffee and art collide at Nick’s in Bowral, a light-filled café has been a place for the community to gather since opening in 2020. You’ll see evidence of this in the queues congregating here on Saturday mornings for carefully made shots of coffee and a chat.
Grab a seat on the bench outside this slip of a place and watch the hubbub of Bong Bong Street go by. Or bunker down inside to admire coffee-related ‘Nick’-knacks and art. The café has free wi-fi so expect to share the communal countertops with a few trust fund kidults.
While the café started out as more of a gallery, it’s become a full-blown institution for coffee thanks to the fact one of its main baristas worked at Canberra cafe ONA run by Sasa Sestic. Who’s that you ask? Well, duh. He was crowned World’s Best Barista no less. A coffee here will keep you wired for the day.
Nick’s in Bowral has been going strong since 2020.
10. Cafe Rocca
Cafe Rocca is an institution in Bowral. Located a few doors down from Leila’s at the Grand, considered one of the best places to eat in Bowral, the cafe is always crowded with locals.
Head here for Black Mountain coffee made using beans roasted by Seven Miles and breakfast staples such as smashed avo on toast or shakshuka. The cafe, which has been going strong for almost three decades, recently underwent a change of ownership. But the menu remains the same. Cafe Rocca is open for lunch selling crowd-pleasing favourites such as za’atar pizzetta, Lebanese spicy sausage pasta and toasted sangas.
Cafe Rocca is very well-known among locals. (Image: Carla Grossetti)
11. The Boston Ivy 1880
Again, we’re cheating by including The Boston Ivy 1880, which is a mere five-minute drive down the road in Mittagong, but it’s 100 per cent worth going beyond Bowral for.
The Boston Ivy 1880 is housed in a stone-and-ivy-clad building that dates to 1880. It has a pretty courtyard out the back and an interior that marries a folksy heritage feel – think unfinished wood and exposed brickwork – with clean, contemporary lines. Open Monday to Saturday (closed Tuesdays), it does a good line of specialty coffee and delicious hearty dishes.
Plump for a Posh Ploughman, schnitzel sandwich or bacon panini. If you’re lucky there will still be a still-warm croissant waiting for you take with you for the remainder of your road trip.
12. Franquette Crêperia
Overtake the locals with teacup poodles in their handbags to secure a table for le petit dejeuner at Franquette Crêperie. The crêperie that declares “These are not pancakes’ on its website deserves a dedicated detour. On weekdays, you’ll find the place buzzing with former city slickers who now work from their country homes and queue up on the daily for fresh-baked crêpes and coffee.
Charismatic French owner Julien Besnard and his Australian wife Remy have brought a little bit of Breton to Bowral’s cafe culture. The focus at the crêperie is on perfecting paper-thin crêpes with a contemporary twist with flavours such as pavlova and banoffee pie.
Practise the French you learned on the Duo Lingo app and order j’ai dit Franquette. Ask the friendly waiters to package up a few galettes to go with your bottle of plonk from Thirsty Cellars Bowral.
Franquette Crêperia serves a sustainable vegan brunch. (Image: Mattio Panunzio)
13. The Hungry Monkey Bowral
The Hungry Monkey started out in Kiama in 2015 and has since been given a license to grill in Berry, Bowral and Thirroul. There’s even a Hungry Monkey food truck that allows the brand to expand its offerings and cater to weddings and events in and around the Southern Highlands.
The specialty coffee is White Horse and it’s locally roasted and always freshly ground. The Hungry Monkey brand delivers beyond breakfast, brunch and lunch options with special dinners designed to support live music. Everything here is homemade from the pickled onion to the salsa verde and tomato relish.
Ask for all of the above to be added to your big-arse brekkie burger. The energy here is great. And the smiley bearded waiters are as much of an attraction as the boutique burgers.
The Hungry Monkey covers breakfast, lunch and dinner.
14. Berrima General Store & Cafe
You are guaranteed to rub shoulders with fellow foodies from Sydney looking to enjoy the very best local food and produce at Berrima General Store. The rustic general store doubles as a community hub. It stocks indulgent treats supplied by Baked in Berrima and features as a place to stop on the Southern Pielands Trail.
Check Instagram to see if anyone you know has geotagged the general store, which is home to one of the best cafes in the Southern Highlands. It’s all about beautifully presented food made with fresh ingredients from the store’s own organic market garden. Pop back for pizza night and a bowl of salad bristling with leaves and fresh herbs.
15. Flour Bar
Flour Bar is set in a beautiful mid-century bank on Argyle St, Moss Vale. And though a lot of recipes are under lock and key, it’s safe to say we know the formula for success here involves beautifully presented food made with fresh ingredients.
Flour Bar is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Check Instagram to see what’s coming in hot at Flour Bar, which is one of the best bakeries in the Southern Highlands. The dining room at Flour Bar is soothing and warm and ignites as much joy as the treats the bakers are turning out of the oven. Forget TikTok trends. The food here is more nostalgic. Think pulled beef brisket pie. Or beef bourguignon. Pair your meal with wine available by the glass, by the bottle and even to take away.
Dine on exquisite meals. (Image: Christopher Pearce)
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