Ochre Restaurant Cairns: Our Date-Night Spot for Native Australian Flavours

We have been to Ochre a few times now, and there is one thing I can confidently say.

They know what they are doing.

Ochre is one of those Cairns restaurants I would save for a proper dinner out. It is locally owned, they have been doing this for years, they run a fantastic catering operation alongside the restaurant, and the entire menu feels incredibly connected to Far North Queensland.

This is where you come when you want dinner to feel like an experience.

• Kangaroo.
• Crocodile.
• Local seafood.
• Gulf bugs.
• Tablelands beef.
• Native fruits, spices and ingredients you probably are not seeing on restaurant menus back home.

And because it is right on the waterfront, you get the sea breeze and the water views too.

For us, this is date night.

We basically order the entire appetizer menu

Our family has a slight problem when we eat at Ochre.

We want everything.

So rather than everyone politely ordering one entrée and one main, we tend to order a ridiculous number of appetizers, put everything in the middle of the table and share.

I highly recommend this strategy.

Ochre is one of the best places in Cairns to eat this way because so many of the interesting Australian ingredients appear across the smaller dishes.

You can try kangaroo without committing to an entire kangaroo main.

You can try crocodile.

You can get oysters.

You can try different native fruits, herbs and spices.

Everybody gets a little bit of everything, which is much more fun than watching somebody else eat the thing you wish you had ordered.

If the Gulf bugs are on the menu, I am getting them

I am a complete sucker for the tempura Gulf bugs. Trust me I thought they were actual bugs too… Turns out they are the yummiest crab ever! Dang Aussies trying to scare us off!

If they are on the menu when we go, I want them.

Gulf bugs are one of those things I think you should eat while you are in Far North Queensland anyway, and Ochre knows exactly what to do with them.

The version I love is tempura, so you get that light crispy outside with the sweet bug meat underneath, usually paired with bright tropical or native flavours.

It is fancy without being weird about it.

Which is a pretty good description of Ochre in general.

The food looks beautiful when it comes out, but I am still very happy sitting there stealing things from everyone else’s plate.

This is another great place to try Australian ingredients

If you want to try kangaroo or crocodile while you are in Cairns, Ochre belongs on the list.

But this is a different experience from somewhere like Dundee’s.

At Ochre, the native ingredients really run through the entire style of cooking.

You will see things like lemon myrtle, finger lime, quandong, native pepper, wattle seed, Ooray plum and other Australian ingredients worked into sauces, desserts, marinades and accompaniments.

The restaurant also makes a point of sourcing produce from around Tropical North Queensland, including seafood and beef from the Tablelands.

So you are not just ordering “Australian food” because there happens to be kangaroo on the menu.

The whole meal feels connected to where you actually are.

We also love doing the set menus

When Ochre has one of its multi-course menus available, we love doing that too.

This is exactly the kind of restaurant where I am happy to let the kitchen make some of the decisions for me.

The menu changes with the season, which means you can end up trying combinations you probably would not have ordered individually.

And that is half the point of going somewhere like this.

I do not need to go to Ochre and order the safest thing on the menu.

I want to try things.

Give me the weird fruit.

Give me the native spices.

Give me crocodile.

Apparently I have become very trusting when someone brings me a beautifully plated dinner.

Save room for the wattle seed pavlova

I do have one non-negotiable.

Dessert.

Specifically, the wattle seed pavlova.

I am a sucker for it.

Ochre uses wattle seed and native fruits throughout its dessert menus, and the pavlova is exactly the kind of dessert I want after a meal like this.

It is still recognisably Australian.

But it is a little more interesting.

Sweet, tart, creamy, crunchy, native flavours mixed through it, and just fancy enough that you feel like you made the correct decision by ordering dessert.

Which you did.

Always order dessert.

Get one of the outdoor two-tops if you can

Ochre has outdoor dining along the waterfront, and for date night I love the little two-person tables outside.

You get the water views and the breeze coming through, and the whole thing feels very Cairns.

If you are coming as a couple, I would ask for an outdoor waterfront table when you make the reservation.

There are definitely evenings when the tropical weather has other ideas, but when Cairns gives you one of those beautiful breezy nights?

Sit outside.

It is lovely.

This is a splurge dinner

Ochre is not where we go because we want a quick inexpensive dinner.

For us, this is firmly in the special-occasion category.

Date night.

Anniversary.

A really good dinner on one of the last nights of a trip.

The night where you are completely fine ordering far too many appetizers, trying half the menu and getting dessert because you have already committed.

That kind of dinner.

The food is beautifully presented and the ingredients are interesting, but it does not feel painfully formal.

You still know you are sitting in tropical Cairns beside the water.

And that balance is what I like.

Then go for a walk

This may be one of my favourite parts of eating here.

After dinner, you are already on the waterfront.

There is nowhere you need to drive to.

There is no complicated plan.

Get up and walk.

Wander along the water.

Walk toward the marina.

Let your extremely full stomach recover from the fact that you ordered almost every appetizer on the menu.

It is such a simple thing, but it makes Ochre particularly good for date night.

Dinner does not have to be the end of the evening.

My tip

Come hungry and do not be afraid of the menu.

This is one of those restaurants where ordering only the things you already recognise almost defeats the purpose.

Try the kangaroo.

Try the crocodile.

Try the Gulf bugs.

Try the native ingredients.

And if you are dining with people who like to share, order a table full of appetizers and turn dinner into your own tasting menu.

That is how we like to do Ochre.

Then get the pavlova.

Obviously.

Restaurant website: Ochre Restaurant