Two days, 30 First Nations businesses, and a lineup of chefs deep enough to put guests in an enviable dilemma. The Australian Native Food Festival is returning to Carriageworks on 26 and 27 September 2026, for its second year. The event brings together Indigenous and non-Indigenous chefs, cooks and business owners around native ingredients, culture and connection. The festival is presented by Indigiearth and led by Weilwan woman Sharon Winsor. On the demonstration stage, Rayleen Brown, Aunty Beryl Van Oploo OAM, Kerrie Saunders, Mindy Woods, Zach Green and Bruce Pascoe will each draw on their own expertise and connection to native ingredients. They’re joined by Kylie Kwong, Nat Thaipun, Adam Liaw, Lucy Tweed, Karima Hazim, Colin Fassnidge, Jason Roberts and Amber Doig, all cooks with their own long-running relationship to native foods. The market floor The market floor hosts 30 First Nations owned and run businesses from across the country, selling native spices, bush beauty products, chocolate, native wild tea, bush beef jerky and handcrafted weaving pieces. Each day of the festival includes a weaving workshop from Ngumpie Weaving, the NSW-based, First Nations, female-led company founded by Barapa Barapa and Barkindji woman Tegan Murdock, where guests can learn traditional Aboriginal basket weaving. New for 2026 are Ngangkari Healing Treatment Sessions, led by Debbie Watson, a Pitjantjatjara healer from the APY Lands in South Australia. The sessions are one-on-one, offering a traditional hands-on treatment for physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing, and bookings are required. Two days on the demonstration stage On Saturday, the chef demonstration program opens with 2024 MasterChef Australia winner and Vue de Monde chef Nat Thaipun, who draws on the Thai cooking traditions passed down by her mother and late grandmother alongside her own curiosity for global flavours. Sydney food stylist and three-time cookbook author Lucy Tweed takes the stage with Ben Tyler, owner and founder of Kakadu Kitchen, for a conversation swapping stories with the audience. Later, chef and restaurateur Colin Fassnidge joins Indigiearth founder Sharon Winsor for a demonstration on swapping everyday ingredients for native ones, promising plenty of banter along the way. Sunday, and the festival, closes with Adam Liaw. The cook, writer and broadcaster behind The Cook Up with Adam Liaw and Who The Bloody Hell Are We? on SBS has written ten cookbooks, and his closing demonstration is full of tips for bringing native ingredients into home cooking. A number of last year’s chefs are back too: Karima Hazim, founder of Sunday Kitchen and co-author of Sofra; Rayleen Brown, founder of Kungkas Can Cook; proud Gamilaroi Elder Aunty Beryl Van Oploo OAM, founder of Yaama Barrgay; chef and author Kylie Kwong; author and agricultural thinker Bruce Pascoe; and proud Bundjalung woman, chef, author and educator Mindy Woods, among others. The festival is supported by ANZ, Breville and AV1, both for a second year, alongside the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and the NSW Government through Destination NSW. Find more food and drink news on Crumb Wire.

Noosa Chocolate Factory is opening its sixth store, bringing its hand-crafted chocolate to the heart of Noosa Heads. The family-owned chocolatier will open on Hastings Street on the Sunshine Coast in October 2026. The new store sits within the Village on Hastings (Bay Village) precinct at Hastings Street and includes a generous retail section, a café with seating for 10-15 guests, and on-site parking. The fitout has the same warm, artisanal feel as the group’s other stores, with modern, minimalist styling and multi-toned timber floors and features. Inside, it’s casually chic, with a large window-seating area where guests can sip a signature hot or iced chocolate drink or coffee and watch the beach crowd go by. Counter and table seating is also available. Noosa Chocolate Factory began in 2009 with a small kitchen in Noosaville, before growing into today’s factory, café and retail store on Venture Drive. The group has since expanded to Brisbane City, Sunshine Plaza in Maroochydore and Westfield Chermside. Hastings Street will be its sixth store. Noosa Chocolate Factory Chief Executive Officer Marcus Raward said the group had long envisioned opening a store in the heart of Noosa Heads, and Hastings Street offered the perfect neighbourhood of like-minded, local, artisanal and boutique businesses. “We’re homegrown and absolutely love Noosa, so we’ve created a space that’s unique to this location: bright, spacious and that encourages guests to linger over our signature and specialty drinks – the perfect post-beach or shopping treat. “Our new Hastings Street store will capture the local foot traffic and beach crowd and complement our original Noosaville factory and store – a destination location in its own right, where visitors can watch the thrill of chocolate making underway.” The Hastings Street store will stock the group’s most popular signature and speciality ranges, made with ingredients sourced from ethical and sustainable suppliers, and traditional recipes dating back to the 1920s and the family’s original chocolatier, Charles Thomson. The Noosaville factory and store will continue to stock the full product range, along with its viewing window into the chocolate factory itself. At Hastings Street, the dine-in and takeaway menu is all about Noosa Chocolate Factory’s signature hot and iced chocolate drinks, a blend of fresh chocolate and milk, including Rocky Road and vegan varieties. Speciality coffee roasted by Padre Coffee, based in Noosaville and Melbourne, is also on the menu. The Noosaville factory will supply the new store with fresh, hand-made chocolate that is palm oil and preservative free, made with quality raw ingredients sourced locally wherever possible, including macadamias, hazelnuts, pineapple, mango, strawberries and passionfruit, with additional vegan and no added-dairy options also available. Noosa Chocolate Factory Hastings Street opens seven days a week from October 2026 at 18 Hastings Street, Noosa Heads. Find more food and drink news on Crumb Wire.

Chef Nelly Robinson is opening NOA, a new oceanfront restaurant overlooking Cronulla Beach. Robinson has spent more than a decade building a reputation as one of Australia’s most creative chefs, turning his Surry Hills restaurant NEL into one of Sydney’s most experience-led dining destinations through immersive degustations, theatrical storytelling and boundary-pushing cuisine. This September, Robinson and partner Danielle Richards-Robinson will open the new venue, bringing the creativity and attention to detail of NEL into a more laid-back, all-day setting. “NOA is the coastal expression of NEL,” says co-owner Richards-Robinson. “Where NEL is the creator and the visionary, NOA brings a softer, lighter and brighter approach. It’s understated luxury with warmth, sunlight and an effortless sense of calm and confidence.” Joining it is Little NOA, an oceanfront terrace designed for casual burgers, cocktails and walk-in dining just steps from the sand. Together, the two spaces form a new all-day hospitality destination for Sydney’s south. Truly experiential dining Robinson believes Australia has only just begun embracing truly experiential dining beyond special-occasion degustations, and at NOA, that experience won’t be reserved for a tasting menu. Guests can start with a Champagne and caviar trolley, build a personalised cheese board in the venue’s dedicated wine room, order dishes finished tableside, or simply have a steak and a glass of wine for an hour. Others can settle in for an eight-course chef’s selection. The format is designed to adapt to the guest, rather than the other way around. “You might come in for a steak and a glass of wine, or spend the afternoon sharing snacks before finishing with our chef’s menu. It’s your experience. We simply help shape it,” says Robinson. That flexibility runs through the whole venue, with two private dining rooms and a menu built around choice rather than a fixed format. “We wanted NOA to feel like it belonged to Cronulla. Rather than competing with the view or the food, the design frames both, creating spaces that feel warm, timeless and connected to the coastline.” says LikeMinds, the interior design team behind the venue. For Robinson and Richards-Robinson, both Cronulla locals, NOA is as much about community as it is about food. Having spent years living and dining in the Shire, the pair saw an opportunity to bring a restaurant experience to the area that locals would otherwise travel into the city for. Robinson leads the kitchen, while Richards-Robinson brings more than two decades of brand-building experience to the business, overseeing guest experience, design, marketing and partnerships. “We’ve always believed Cronulla deserved a restaurant experience that could sit alongside Sydney’s best while still feeling completely local,” says Richards. Robinson has put together an à la carte menu that celebrates seasonal produce, letting guests explore the dishes at their own pace. Menu highlights include pork and truffle hot dogs with apple, bug toast, premium rib-eye, whole fish for sharing and Robinson’s signature banoffee trifle, alongside curated tableside moments like liquid nitrogen fairy bread and interactive seafood dishes. Little NOA is designed as NOA’s laidback sibling, letting locals walk straight off the beach for burgers, snacks, cocktails and relaxed all-day dining without a booking. Breakfast launches from October, rounding the precinct out into a sunrise-to-sunset destination. For Robinson, success won’t just be measured by accolades. He’s hoping NOA becomes the kind of restaurant locals return to every week. “If people leave saying, ‘I’ve never dined like that before,’ we’ve done our job. But more importantly, I want them to come back the following week. That’s what great neighbourhood restaurants do.” NOA and Little NOA will open in Cronulla this September at 1/8-18 Kingsway. Find more dining out updates on Crumb Wire.

Macca’s is bringing back its Cheesy Range because, evidently, one layer of melted cheese was never going to be enough. Landing nationally from August 19, the limited-time range brings back the Cheesy Quarter Pounder and Mozzarella Sticks with Tomato Chilli Jam, while adding two new burgers: the Cheesy Double Quarter Pounder and Cheesy McCrispy. The range is aimed straight at the cheese-pull crowd, with each burger stacking a golden cheesy patty, melted cheese, creamy McChicken sauce and tomato chilli jam onto either 100 per cent Aussie beef or crispy Aussie chicken. Tobi Fukushima, Marketing Director, McDonald’s Australia, said, “We know Aussies absolutely loved the Cheesy range when it was last on the menu, so we’re excited to be bringing it back and making it even better with the introduction of the new Cheesy Double Quarter Pounder and Cheesy McCrispy. “From the golden cheesy patty and melted cheese to our 100% Aussie beef and 100% Aussie chicken, every item in the range is packed with crave worthy flavour and quality ingredients. “Whether you’re revisiting an old favourite or trying one of the new burgers for the first time, the Cheesy range is the ultimate comfort food for cheese lovers.” The cheesy line includes: Cheesy Quarter Pounder – Returning to the menu, the burger features a quarter pound of 100 per cent Aussie beef, topped with a golden cheesy patty, melted cheese, 100 per cent Aussie lettuce, creamy McChicken sauce and tomato chilli jam, served on a sesame seed bun. Cheesy Double Quarter Pounder – New to the range, the burger features two quarter-pound 100 per cent Aussie beef patties, a golden cheesy patty, melted cheese, 100 per cent Aussie lettuce, creamy McChicken sauce and tomato chilli jam. Cheesy McCrispy – Also new to the range, the burger is made with a crispy 100 per cent Aussie chicken breast fillet, topped with a golden cheesy patty, melted cheese, 100 per cent Aussie lettuce, creamy McChicken sauce and tomato chilli jam, all served on a soft bun. Mozzarella Sticks with Tomato Chilli Jam – Returning to the menu, the snack features creamy mozzarella cheese coated in a crispy golden crumb and served with tomato chilli jam. The Cheesy Range will be available at Macca’s restaurants nationwide from August 19 for a limited time, via drive-thru, front counter, kiosk and the MyMacca’s app. Find more food and drink news on Crumb Wire.