Cairns & Far North Queensland Australia

Eating & Drinking

Eat As with much of Cairns, you can divide the city into the Esplanade and the places within a block of it, and the rest of the city. The Esplanade is littered with bar and grill places supplying red meat and beer all in the one place, and with seafood restaurants. It's relatively difficult to find anything open before 11am, since they expect the clientele to be sleeping in. The rest of the city has small cafes and milkbars catering to locals. The number of Japanese tourists here makes Japanese food a fairly reliable option, although prices can be steep.

A number of the more expensive restaurants on the Esplanade, particularly towards the north end, offer discounts of 20-30% for early birds: usually you will need to order by 6:30pm and pay and leave no later than 7:30pm to get a discounted meal.

La Pizza Trattoria. La Pizza Trattoria has good pizza. It lures most patrons in by letting them wander past the pizza chef kneading the dough as they smell the baking pizzas.
Villa Romana Trattoria. Large Italian meals with some good seafood options.
Hide's Coffee Cafe. Hides Coffee Cafe, a couple of streets back from the Esplanade, is a good place for a relative cheap breakfast or lunch.
Sushi Express. A sushi train made up to look like the Kuranda Railway.
Perrottas At The Gallery. If you want to escape from several evenings touring the bar and grill places, Perottas is just off the Esplanade and does more sophisticated Western food.
Donninis Ciao Italia. Features indoor and outdoor dining with a beautiful ocean backdrop.


Drink The Woolshed Chargrill & Saloon Bar. If you are looking for a place to find all the travelers, go to the Wool Shed in downtown Cairns.
Rattle 'N Hum. The Rattle 'n Hum is a bar and grill in the midst of one of the busiest parts of The Esplanade.