After an energising swim, join locals for breakfast at Noosa Junction’s Vanilla Food cafe. With whitewashed walls and recycled blond wood, there’s a coastal-meets-Nordic aesthetic, which makes sense, given owner/chef Nilla Tomkins originally hails from Denmark. Almost everything is made in-house, sourced from organic and sustainably focused producers, or picked from the VanillaFood kitchen garden. While it’s very much flavour-first, the food is also designed to be healthy, although when you’re digging into a stack of cardamom buckwheat waffles or avocado on charcoal sourdough with turmeric cashew cream and hazelnuts, you wouldn’t credit it. Coffee is by local roaster Clandestino (no extra charge for alternate milks) and tea by Mayde.

While beachside Hastings Street in Noosa Heads is the go-to for many holidaymakers, leafy Noosaville – where the tranquil, tree-fringed Noosa River flows around sandbanks into the sea – has an abundance of excellent restaurants and cafes. For lunch, either pick a riverside picnic table or dine in at JD’s Chicken Co. No ordinary chook shop, JD’s is co-owned by no less a culinary luminary than Justin North, the hatted chef/owner of Sydney’s former Bécasse restaurant. Chickens are free-range, brined for ultimate juiciness and dusted with an umami-loaded house-made chicken salt before being cooked on a flame-fired rotisserie. There are sides of rosemary salted fries, potatoes roughed up and roasted in duck fat, and a silky, buttery mash. Absolutely order an extra serve of the glossy gravy, made from real chicken stock and rosemary-infused burnt butter.

Beachgoers packing up their towels and recreational fishers reeling in their lines are your signal that aperitivo hour has arrived. Pull up a chair for sundowners at Apéro, located across from the river, where flocks of chattering rosellas settle for the evening in the gum trees. An elegant wine bar with a European ambience, Apéro offers classic cocktails, local and international beers and a comprehensive list of old and new world wines, from the everyday to the extraordinary, along with a succinct, wine-friendly menu of cheese, bread, pate and charcuterie.

For dinner, head to nearby Tewantin and Lucio’s Marina. Owned by the Galletto family of the famous but sadly now closed Lucio’s in Sydney’s Paddington, the waterside seafood restaurant opened in December last year and quickly became the most coveted reservation in Noosa. Here, the family-run eatery operates with the same mix of warmth and consummate professionalism as the original; and seafood is the star – whether oysters, kingfish crudo, a classic fritto misto or sweet local spanner crab threaded through Lucio’s house-made pasta.

If it’s Sunday morning, then rain or shine, the Noosa Farmers’ Market is the ideal place to find the best of Noosa produce. There are the famous Noosa tomatoes, only picked when deep, ruby red; award-winning cheese from Woombye and Gympie Farm; Eumundi strawberries and local breads, meats and seafood. Coffee carts will see to your caffeine needs, while a warm, flaky Portuguese custard tart, a gently spiced curry with roti or maybe an oozy fried cheese Italian panzerotti can serve as breakfast. Alternatively, Hastings Street institute Cafe le Monde is the place for precision-made coffee from roasters Fonzie Abbott, a healthy breakfast bowl or the cafe’s famous Noosa Spanner Crab omelette.

Bandita Woodfired Mexican Cantina and Bar was welcomed with much excitement when it opened in July 2022, and so far the buzz hasn’t quietened. Chef Jason Jones was responsible for bringing the much-loved Mamasita to Melbourne more than a decade ago, and has tapped into the culinary zeitgeist here, too. The menu is an appealing collection of iterations of Mexican dishes, as contemporary and elegant as the decor; sashimi tuna tostadas, smoked wagyu brisket tacos and sweet Mooloolaba prawns cooked to charry perfection over a woodfire grill, dressed with jalapeno oil.

Don’t let its location on the fringe of a semi-industrial estate or the fact it’s a working distillery put you off – Seaborne Distillery is a surprisingly serene and lovely space. Book a private tour, then perch up at the bar to taste the gins: “Coastal Dry” with native botanicals of white kunzea flower, sunrise lime, river mint and sea parsley; and the pretty in pink “Berry Blush” with aromatics of blackberries, lemon aspen and vanilla. There’s also an aperitif, “Sunset Bitter”, that’s perfect for sipping straight up or in negroni-style cocktails.

Date-night special, with crisp white linen, prescient service, candlelight and a soft, jazzy soundtrack, the family-run Trattoria Benati is also authentically Italian. Chef/owner Davide Benati hails from Italy’s gourmand heartland, Emilia-Romagna, and draws influence from the region’s rich cuisine. The menu changes seasonally, but if the osso buco tortelli with saffron sauce, hand-rolled pici pasta with Mooloolaba prawns or stuffed calamari are on, consider yourself especially lucky. There’s also an entire gluten-free and vegan menu.

You don’t have to go far to indulge in one final toast to Noosa – a few doors down from Trattoria Benati is Atelier Wine Bar, which has everything on its extensive wine list available by the glass (or even half glass). Meanwhile, across the road, Theo’s Social Club – a neighbourhood wine bar fiercely loved by locals – has an eclectic and often-changing list of small release and low intervention wines, as well as seasonally inspired cocktails.