Alice Spring has some great spots to eat: restaurants, cafes and pubs. But forget nouvelle cuisine or "fine dining". In a town with a transient population it can be hit and miss when the chef who was so great last week packs her wok and heads south. Having said that, some places are more consistent than others, so listen up while we check out where the locals dine.
Restaurants
Oscars Café and Restaurant at the north end of Todd Mall is one of the most consistent eating houses in town, reasonably priced, Mediterranean cuisine, friendly, prompt service and is tops for breakfast as well. Oscars won the 2007 Gold Plate awards for best cafe-restaurant and stand-alone restaurant. For value and reliability, I'd opt for Oscars.
Tinh and Lanh's Alice Vietnamese Restaurant is quirky and unusual in a quaint garden setting near the market garden where the owners grow the vegies. Or you can eat inside during cold weather. The owners are a delight and their authentic food just gets better and better. Bit of a drive out of town on Heffernan Road (all sealed), but it's worth it.
Sukra in the Lasseters Hotel Casino has pretty good Thai, Indian and Malaysian at reasonable prices in an intimate atmosphere. But don't go for the view — there are no windows.
Casa Nostra can be great fun, but for me it will always be the only Italian restaurant I have ever eaten in that has run out of pasta. On two separate occasions! Authentic atmosphere with checked red tablecloths and good food, but the acoustics are such that you can hardly hear your dinner companion. Check out Nostra's dining wall of fame, which includes Tom Selleck. But be careful if you are having a good time and want to stay a bit longer, diners have been known to overstay their welcome!
The Overlanders Steakhouse is popular with tourists and can be pricey, but the steaks are of dinosaur proportions. It is famed for its "Drovers Blowout" (read damper and meat plus more meat), which can be too much for some. Be prepared to eat some serious cow here. Or Camel. Or Roo!
There's a good wine list. And the owner is an outgoing host. But hang on to your wallet if he tries to entice you to sample wines from his "special cellar" downstairs. The "downstairs" prices have to be seen to be believed. Back upstairs, there is an interesting array of cricketing memorabilia and a bar in stereotypical "outback" style. I last ate here a couple of years ago for the launch of a commemorative wine and the food and service — on that occasion — were top shelf.
The Sport Café and Restaurant (otherwise known as Sporties in the middle of the Todd Mall near the sails) has a consistent standard of good food, appropriately priced and the alfresco tables are a good spot to people watch. But avoid the coffee, it's perhaps the worst I have ever tasted.
Hanuman, in the Crowne Plaza and sister to its acclaimed Darwin counterpart, is the classier selection for Thai food. Try the famous Hanuman oysters! Less expensive is the Thai Room in Fan Arcade Todd Mall, where the food is consistently good and modestly priced, but still more expensive than say a cheap Thai place in Sydney (where volume is everything). Just don't ask too many questions about the desserts. The owner one night brought out a range of pre-packaged and imported frozen desserts to show to my wife, who was "looking for something different". Also good value is Nong's (on Hartley Street, priced between the two. Try at lunchtime for the same food only cheaper.
Try the Blue Moon cafe which is only open Fridays and Saturday nights. It's in Undoolya Road, you will know it by the vintage cars out front. I've not been, but friends who have say it is worthwhile. Red Ochre Grill Restaurant in Todd Mall is having a good run at the moment, and is one of the few restaurants to use uniquely Australian ingredients on a regular basis. But in the past it's been more prone than some to the ups and downs of chef supply, so be careful.
Pub fare
Bojangles Saloon and Dining Room is a noisy tourist mecca, where you can get a cold beer and a decent steak out the back. It is Texas tavern style complete with woodchips on the floor, which I find untidy and annoying. But the dining room seats 70 and has a range of NT tucker on the menu including barramundi, camel, crocodile and emu. If there is live music on, the place can really jump.
Todd Tavern is more your traditional pub, and is at the northern end of Todd Mall. It has recently lifted its game food wise and is serving some excellent value meals in its dining room and at its alfresco tables.
At the Juicy Rump you will pay the most for a steak of practically anywhere in town. But the atmosphere on a warm night is great with close-up views of the ranges and the cuts of steak are, as the name suggests, juicy. On a Friday night you will spot most locals here at some time or other.
If you're not fussed about décor, one of the best options around is the Heavitree Gap Tavern Restaurant, reviewed here. Tucked away just south of Heavitree Gap, before you come in to the town from the airport , you can get a roast and veggies bistro-style meal that is hard to beat and would fill the emptiest traveller's belly. As well there is live music (both kinds ... country and western) along with an informative show by Alice Springs' resident snake man Rex Neindorf from the Alice Springs Reptile Centre (yes, kids you can touch some of the snakes!).
Cafes
Perhaps Alice Springs' strongest suit is in the wealth of groovy cafes that have sprung up in the town over the past decade. Most are daytime options only however, but best to check as this changes from time to time. Here are my top three.
Nestled in the Olive Pink Botanic Garden is the Bean Tree Café, a favourite spot with locals for a home-style cooked brunch on a lazy Sunday morning. While the service is sometimes slow (small kitchen and it can be very popular) the menu is mouth-wateringly intriguing, the coffee excellent and the surroundings — a veritable who's who of arid zone native species — are idiosyncratically Central Australian.
Next is the Watertank Cafe, or as it is sometimes known locally, the "nursery café" after its location in the Bloomin' Desert Nursery. It is listed by www.taste.com.au among its best Australian cafes.
Originally, the owners bought the property as an operating nursery and landscape supplier, apparently with the idea of opening a cafe as well. A local chef set up in one corner and it took off. Eventually, the owners added music, more tables, bohemian lounge chairs, then an expanded menu and excellent coffee (for which they have won awards). Now this relaxed cafe has become, from all appearances, core business. And deservedly so. My favourite from the menu — which features many bush ingredients — is the chicken supremo focaccia, of course the coffee, and anything from the salad bar or stunning array of cakes.
Finally comes Bar Doppio in the Fan Arcade at the southern end of the Todd Mall. When I first came to Alice Springs more than a decade ago, this cafe held the distinction of being the only place I would recommend for a cup of coffee. They do it so well.
Thankfully for the town they now have some competition from other establishments! Their food has been maintained at a high standard for a long time and through several owners. Check the blackboard for the specials of the day, or try the poached eggs on Turkish with pesto and fetta for brekkie, or a fabulous Fattouche salad for lunch.
Worth a mention are two other cafes. The first is known around the traps as Rob's Café after its friendly owner, who serves good coffee and stout breakfasts from hole-in-the-wall premises next door to Gallery Gondwana where there is a clutch of alfresco tables under trees in Todd Mall. Another block down Todd Street past the Town Council Chambers and through the traffic lights is the Tea Shrine, which has a range of exotic herbal teas and a vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free menu, including specials every day of the week.
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