Max Brearley

“Some people are just licking the plates.”

The 500-person mega venue from the Parker Group has cemented the once-sleepy seaside town as a go-to gourmet destination.

The $15 sandwich from the ex-head chef of Vasse Felix is a true great of the chicken sandwich canon. And you don’t even have to get out of the car to eat it.

The balance between savoury and sweet can be precarious, but chef Paul Bentley walks that highwire like an expert. “Everyone that comes is just like, ‘Holy shit, why aren't savoury eclairs more of a thing?’”

The classic dish – for the uninitiated, a meat pie ringed by thick pea soup – is a South Australian icon. And it was this writer’s first meal as a visa holder on Aussie soil – at Sydney’s iconic Harry’s Café de Wheels. But chef Blaze Young’s iteration – with slow-braised pork and rabbit and cognac gravy – is all her own.

Before moving to Byron, she’s working on a couple of projects in the Bass Strait. “If you really wanted to get a taste of Australia, this is kind of what tourism is heading towards – which is experiential,” she says.

The chef and star of River Cottage Australia is now touring his new cookbook, and he’s passionate about the home veggie patch.