Where Nigella Lawson Ate in Australia in 2025

Cook, host, food writer, “domestic goddess”. Nigella Lawson is known for many things, chiefly her fantastic taste in food and her flair for describing it. Be it for Vivid, Masterchef, a speaking engagement, or just for a vacay, Lawson loves Australia.

Each time she touches down Down Under, she makes a beeline to the country’s best restaurants. Lawson documents her visits and what she eats on Instagram.

Here’s a running list of the Australian spots Nigella Lawson has visited and loved in 2025.

Nigella Lawson’s love affair with Lulu La Delizia started last year. In 2024 she booked in on a recommendation from Matt Preston. Lawson says ever since that first dinner she’s been “feasting on the memory, in particular, of the orecchiette with prawns, baby zucchini, white wine, garlic and chilli ever since … I couldn’t book my return visit to Lulu La Delizia fast enough. And, oh, the orecchiette were as sensational as before: just bliss with every bite! And the same can be said of everything else I ate.”

Lawson feasted on “an only slightly eccentric order for two”, which began with anchovies on bread “followed by corzetti (which are a traditional Ligurian pasta shape, like stamped discs/coins) with basil, pine nuts and Parmesan, as well as the beige-but-beautiful and full-flavoured fazzoletti (named for the handkerchiefs the silky wide strips of pasta resemble) with rabbit ragù”.

On May 4, Lawson shared a picture of an “almost absurdly magnificent view from the dining room of beautiful Cape Lodge”. While she was there, she ate “luscious chicken liver parfait with a judiciously sharp rhubarb compote”.

“What does any wise person do on arriving in Margaret River?” asks Lawson on Instagram. “Why, go straight for lunch at Cullen Wines, of course! That’s my cure for jet lag and my recipe for deep joy.”

Lawson’s love of Cullen Wines is well-documented. “Some of you may remember my post from last year featuring these same glorious colours. I just revel in the blue of this sky, the green of these vines, and the exuberant red of the sun umbrellas!”

On the menu was a 2019 chardonnay pét-nat from the vineyard. And although Lawson says, “I am not natural wine’s biggest fan when faced with the funky-farmyard stuff, but I resolutely am when it comes to the beautiful, biodynamic bottles that Vanya Cullen makes. [It] was light, elegant, sherbetty but not sharp, and lusciously lovely.”

Following on from the “life-giving gorgeousness of the pét-nat”, Lawson began her meal with “perfect bread with their divine pipian, a hummus-textured spread/dip made of pumpkin seeds, grill-smoky tomatoes and peppers, and a kiss of garlic, lime and coriander”. She then “inhaled the tenderest little scallops with cauliflower and chicken-y juices (sounds odd; tasted heavenly), kohlrabi and nasturtium”.

Her third bite was “the crispy potato and celeriac terrine with wakame and brown rice miso. Now, I’m normally anti-froth-or-foam but this, for all it looks frothy or foamy, was just the most flavour-concentrated airy sauce, and the celeriac and potato, under its cap of cabbage, so meltingly velvety, that I panic about not eating it again.”

Her Sunday lunch was rounded out with “perfectly cooked Rankin cod with charred sweetcorn, XO mussels, snapper sauce and sunrose (these citrussy, succulent little leaves new to me, and a revelation) and the Arkady lamb rump with pumpkin, white polenta and (another first for me) kunzea, a native plant that tastes both fresh and honeyed at the same time.”

Her “pud” included “caramelised apple (from the tree near where we were sitting) and almond cake, with spiced oats and guava ice cream; honey mousse with macadamia, quandong and banana ice cream; and Cambray Blackwood blue cheese (which I’ve fallen in love with) seeded crackers, pear and walnuts”.

She went on to praise chef Ben Day, saying, “I know the descriptions and the presentation might give the impression of rarefied fine dining and, yes, the technique and attention to detail are of the highest quality, but everything just tastes of food, if you know what I mean. Ben Day’s cooking is exquisite, but it doesn’t feel fancy when you eat it, just full of joyous flavour.”

After dining around Perth, she crossed the country, making a beeline for some of Sydney’s best dining rooms. Here’s where she’s been so far, what she ordered and what she thought.

This 24-year-old classic is the restaurant Lawson reckons she’s eaten at “more often than at any other restaurant in Australia”. And she always makes sure it’s her first stop – it’s one of what she calls her “Rules for a Good Life”.

“Walking through the doors after a year away just felt like coming home,” she wrote on Instagram. “I love everything about this place: great people, great mood, great food … behold the beauteous Bombalaska! I don’t expect to eat a better pudding while I’m here, and I don’t need to: I’ll just keep on coming back for this! It’s got a base of hazelnut praline, and beneath the flame-bronzed Italian meringue is mounded pistachio semifreddo and lemon curd. I swooned with each spoonful.

“The delicious steps that led up to this were gratifyingly as follows: olive ascolane, my every-time, on-arrival order, those fat and juicy green olives stuffed, here, with sharp cheese before being breadcrumbed then deep fried; puntarelle, that bitter zig-zaggy chicory tangled with anchovies; Fratelli’s signature scampi spaghettini; and a magnificent pork chop with agretti (Monk’s Beard) and white polenta. Purring with pleasure, and planning when I can come back for more.”

“Roast chook at @seansbondi epitomises the perfect Sydney Sunday for me,” Lawson wrote in another Instagram post. “Much happiness provided too by the exquisite cruditées and fennel chowder with blue claw yabbies that came first, as well as just dreamy dessert of crostoli with pistachio cream, kumquat, quince and persimmon.

“Of course, @seanmoran64 (and everyone who works there) radiating gorgeousness, as ever,” she continued. “And, oh, that blackboard of joy. I’m actually too full up even to write now, which explains why this is a short caption by my standards. And my heart is full, as well.”

Owner Sean Moran summed up our city’s sentiments in a comment: “Sydney loves you Nigella, and so do we. Thank you for always seeing the good in restaurants, especially this salty crusted show.”