Early October is a long weekend in NSW, and I’d been wanting to really try out the foodie scene thats been happening in Orange for a number of years, so I booked in a three night weekend. I’ve travelled through Orange a few times in the past couple of years when going to other places and saw enough to know it really was a happening place and we needed to spend more time there.
I remember years ago as a kid, the food scene in country towns (as well as everywhere else) was pretty dire. Meat pies, pub steaks, fish and chips or the 1970s Chinese takeaway were about it. The roads were also terrible. Wow, things have changed……
One “fun fact” about Orange is that is has nothing to do with growing Oranges. The climate is too cool for the fruit and is one of the few towns in Australia that will likely see some snow in Winter.
Be prepared to read through what was essentially three days of a food and drink extravaganza.
First stop in the morning on the way to Orange was Glenbrook in the mountains for Coffee & Breakfast at Glenbrook Underground. I’ve mentioned that cafe before. Glenbrook is a great place for Breakfast as it’s the first town on the way up the mountains so many people skip it in the morning and wait till they reach Leura. Glennbrook seems less crowded, I’ve not had any issues getting parking there on a morning.
A quick stop in Bathurst to top up the car and we were on the way to Orange for our lunch stop at The Agrestic Grocer for lunch. This place is just outside town to the North West, but I’d say it’s a microcosm of everything thats great about the Orange food scene. They sell lots of interesting fresh local produce and have a great cafe attached. They often have live music and a fireplace for when it’s cold. This is a must visit place if you are staying in Orange or even just passing through.
We picked up lots of local samples to try. Got a selection of the red apples, they were all massive and all super delicious.
After checking into our hotel, looking around for something to do in town, noticed a local distillery that also did pizza. We drove over and shared a Gin tasting menu (Had I not been driving I think I could have had quite a few of these! They were wonderful). Was really too early for dinner, considering lunch wasn’t that long ago, but we decided we would come back and get a takeaway Pizza for dinner.
One of our favourite butchers shut up their local shop in Kirrawee and relocated out here to Orange. We did pop by his new shop to see if we could pickup some of our all time favourites. Thankfully he does do local visits back to Sydney for regular customers a few times a year.
So if you are in Orange and want a great Pizza or a great Gin (or both!) head on over to Parrot.
The hotel we picked was the de Russie Boutique Hotel. It looks relatively modern, has onsite parking. It’s located on Hill St which is only a very short stroll from the centre of town and close to some wonderful restaurants and cafes. They have a number of serviced apartments and the room we had included a small kitchenette.
Breakfast on Saturday morning had to be back at Factory Espresso, I was impressed when I came through in August and wanted to have a breakfast here. Was a great decision, I had one of the best Bircher Muesli I’ve ever had. Only potential improvement would be to use normal yoghurt as opposed to coconut yoghurt. Pic of the dish in the block below.
After breakfast, started the day with a visit to a winery just a few minutes out of town : Nashdale Lane. They were all great but I had a real liking for the Pinot Noir. Of course, we purchased a box of wine. Leaving the winery carrying the box some smarty on the way in suggested I was walking out with a box of problems, I suggested they are actual a box of solutions to one’s problems….
Nashdale Lane also have some accomodation onsite with Glamping tents if you want to stay on the vineyard.
Next stop was the historic town of Millthorpe. It’s a quaint little old town, much of it on the National trust. Back in the late 19th century a flour mill was built and the railway came to town. Well worth a wander with lots of little cafes, “old ware” type shops, pubs and restaurants. If you were looking for somewhere close to Orange but maybe a little quieter, you wouldn’t go wrong here.
Had a browse through Millthorpe Providore before settling on the Old Mill Cafe and Restaurant for lunch. Couldn’t fault the coffee or the food. After lunch went for a walk around town and checked out the historic rail station.
Around a few places I’d seen this local Cherry Gin mentioned or for sale, being a slight fan of Gin, I was keen to buy a bottle to take home, but cherry flavour can be hit or miss, so I really wanted to try it first. The distillery is in Lucknow just outside Orange, so we dropped in on the way back for a tasting. Glad I did, as it wasn’t particularly to my liking, maybe a little on the medicinal tasting side. Next time in Orange will try some of their others, as no shortage of selections !
Dinner later Saturday night was at the Union Bank House Restaurant, a short 5 min walk around the corner from the hotel. Lovely old colonial building, food was as good as the ratings suggested. I had a miso encrusted steak and Sharon had a fish dish.
Day three of the food tour started looking for a coffee. Bit of googling suggested there was a great one about 15 minutes walk away called Academy Coffee Roasters on Woodward St. It was a nice walk through Cook Park, however I should have checked closer as it was closed on Sundays. Not to worry, I’d walked past an amazing looking place “Anything Grows” which is a cafe inside a plant nursery. Whilst the Coffee was no where near as good as Factory Espresso, it was still good and the location and atmosphere is amazing, especially on a nice cool sunny day.
After breakfast we had a walk through the Orange Botanical Gardens, then over to Lake Camobolas. That’s a man made lake, it was once the main water supply to Orange, however thats been replaced with a larger dam further out from town and this is now a recreation and picnic area.
Lunch and the afternoon were spent at Sisters Rock Restaurant and the Skybar. I’d started to worry a little as they had recently had some lower google reviews, however we had a fantastic experience there, the food and wine were excellent. I’d started to really feel all the food from the weekend already so I stuck to a vegetarian option. 5 stars on my review !
Views over the valley from both the restaurant and the skybar were amazing on such a clear sunny day. I tried the Cherry Liqueur…. This was very very nice. The restaurant also had free EV charging, so was able to top up the car whilst we had a leisurely afternoon too.
Much later that evening we walked 5 minuted from our hotel and had Thai in the Gladstone Hotel. Excellent food, served super quick, couldn’t fault it at all.
We sadly had to leave Orange on the Monday morning, and then faced a coffee dilemma in that Monday being the Labour Day holiday, almost nothing was open. We drove past “Crema on Lords” (which had also been recommended to me) and it was open. There was a massive queue, however absolutely worth the wait. First cafe that I’ve ever seen that gives you a free macchiato whilst you wait for your late, cappuccino or flat white.
On the road and back up Victoria pass in the mountains for a night there before heading home.
Wandered around for a while and the queue for the open sandwich (Smørrebrød) had died down so I ordered a roast beef one. It had roast beef, corn pickle, dried onion, pickles and onion. It was sensational, way better than the one yesterday which was chicken.
It's all about the coffee 