Hawks Nest and Tea Gardens restaurants: where to eat
Updated: Oct 6
Written by the owners of Tilly and Annies Place and Seacrest 7, Hawks Nest. Last reviewed October 2026.
Hawks Nest is small. Tea Gardens, over the bridge, has most of the food. Plan accordingly.
In short: Most Hawks Nest and Tea Gardens restaurants and cafés are over the Singing Bridge on Marine Drive in Tea Gardens. In Hawks Nest itself, the golf club and the bowling club do meals for visitors, and the Myall River oysters are worth buying close to where they are grown.
At a glance
Most cafés: Marine Drive, Tea Gardens, over the bridge
In Hawks Nest: golf club and bowling club meals
Shopping: general store and bottle shop in Hawks Nest
Big shop: before you leave, or at Raymond Terrace
In this article
Bring the basics with you
There's a general store and a bottle shop in Hawks Nest, and they cover what you forget rather than a full week's shop. If you're coming from Sydney or Newcastle, do a proper shop before you leave, or stop at Raymond Terrace on the way. Both houses have full kitchens with dishwashers, and most people end up cooking more than they planned.
Do the big shop in Raymond Terrace, Newcastle or Sydney on the way through, and treat the Hawks Nest general store as a top up rather than a plan. Bread, milk, ice and a bottle of something are easy to get here. A full trolley for six people is not.
Worth bringing: coffee and a plunger or a stovetop if you are particular about it, a good knife if you like cooking, and more sunscreen than you think. Both houses have the rest.
Oysters
The Myall River produces good oysters and you can buy them close to where they're grown. Ask locally about what's available the week you're there, since it changes.
Buy them the day you want to eat them and keep them flat and cold until you do. Shuck them yourself if you know how, with a proper oyster knife and a cloth. Buy from a licensed seller and keep them cold, because a freshly opened oyster is a different thing from one opened that morning. Lemon, nothing else, is the local position on the matter.
A dozen on the deck in the late afternoon is, as far as we can tell, the single most repeated thing our guests do.
Tea Gardens
Five minutes over the Singing Bridge. There's a bakery, several cafés along Marine Drive, a pub and the boat club. Marine Drive is where you'll end up for coffee.
The clubs
Both the bowling club and the golf club do meals and both welcome visitors. Not fine dining, and not pretending to be. Reliable, cheap, and good with a group.
Coffee in Hawks Nest
Limited. Some mornings you'll want to walk over the bridge for it. This is the trade-off for a town that hasn't been developed, and most people decide it's worth it by day three.
A realistic week of eating
Arrival night: something easy you brought with you. You will get in late and nobody wants to shop
One morning: walk or drive over the Singing Bridge for coffee and a bakery breakfast on Marine Drive
One night: the bowling club or the golf club, especially with a group or with kids
One afternoon: oysters, bread and something cold on the deck. This is the one people remember
The rest: cook at the house
If you are here in the Christmas to Australia Day weeks, book anywhere you actually care about eating. Outside those weeks you will generally walk in.
Frequently asked questions
Where are the restaurants in Hawks Nest?
Most of the food is in Tea Gardens, five minutes over the Singing Bridge, with a bakery, several cafés along Marine Drive, a pub and the boat club. In Hawks Nest itself, the golf club and the bowling club do meals and welcome visitors.
Is there a supermarket in Hawks Nest?
Hawks Nest has a general store and a bottle shop, which cover what you forget rather than a full week's shop. Do a proper shop before you leave Sydney or Newcastle, or stop at Raymond Terrace on the way.
Where can I get coffee in Hawks Nest?
Options in Hawks Nest are limited, so some mornings you will want to walk over the Singing Bridge to Marine Drive in Tea Gardens, which is where most people end up for coffee.
Cooking in, which is what most people do
Because the eating out options are limited, a week here usually works out as a few meals out and the rest cooked at home. That is not a compromise. It is why the kitchens matter more here than they would in a town with twenty restaurants.
Tilly and Annies Place has a full size oven, a dishwasher and enough bench to cook for six without people colliding. Seacrest 7 has an open plan kitchen and a barbecue on the balcony, which in summer is where dinner actually happens.
The pattern that works: big shop on the way in, oysters and bread locally during the week, one night at a club with the group, one breakfast over the bridge in Tea Gardens. Nobody ends up cooking every night and nobody spends a fortune.
Plan your stay
Two Waters has two places to stay in Hawks Nest, each sleeping six. Tilly and Annies Place is a three-bedroom townhouse near calm Jimmys Beach. Seacrest 7 is a two-bedroom apartment with a pool, across the road from Bennetts Beach. Pick your dates on either live calendar.
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