Just 30 minutes north of Ulladulla, the Princes Highway winds its way through the idyllic town of Milton. Heritage buildings dating back to the 19th century line the streets, home to small shops and cafes. Here, among the timber-post awnings and the picket fence-lined streets, exists some of the best food on the New South Wales South Coast.
Bar Yuki
The new kid on the block, Bar Yuki has taken Milton by storm. Opened by Ash and Kurt Bailey late last year (and named after their small dog), the bar serves up Japanese inspired food, cocktails, wine and music. Miso pickled carrot, cauliflower kushi-katsu, and a ponzu soba salad join the menu, alongside a perfectly soft and delightfully cute ebi katsu sandwich.
Small Town Provisions
Jo Thomas and Alex Delly are the duo behind some of Milton’s most revered restaurants of the last decade. The husband-and-wife team established a name for themselves after the opening of St Isidore in 2011. The restaurant ranked in the top 100 in Gourmet Traveller’s 2019 restaurant Guide, the same year that it closed. After stints with Small Town Food + Wine, and mouth-watering sandwich shop Delly’s (which recently closed), the couple have settled on Small Town Provisions. The shop is part take-home deli goods, part wine bar. Local produce, such as oysters “harvested down the road”, and international produce like cheese, charcuterie and anchovies can be procured for picnics and platters. Small plates and wines by the glass can be enjoyed in-house.
The Milton Hotel
Built in the 1800s and refurbished in 2019, The Milton Hotel has a bit of history behind it. Not your standard pub fare, the hatted hotel is known for its in-house micro-brewery, Dangerous Ales and wood fire menu items like fire roasted oysters with fermented tomato and pork jowl; prawns with curry butter, tamarind and lime; and bbq pork scotch with fermented honey, cashew and miso.
Milk Haus
On the outskirts of the historic town, Milk Haus sits in a 19th century converted cheese factory. It was established in 2014 as a whole foods canteen by Danielle McKeon. In 2020, couple Nat Taylor and Kitty Stidwill took over the venue after trading the Sydney city life for the relaxed South Coast. With Taylor as head chef and Stidwill as the floor manager, the ethos behind Milk Haus remains intact. Seasonal produce is grown in the on-site garden and composting is taken seriously. The new spring menu features the return of asparagus eggs with preserved lemon whipped ricotta on kraken sourdough, smashed garden peas, turmeric infused olive oil, poached eggs and garden mint (picture above).
NOMAH
The NSW South Coast isn’t renowned for its abundance of Middle Eastern food, but NOMAH is changing that. Owner Hamon Shephard first established NOMAH as a food truck in 2021. After a successful pop up with Shephard’s partner Sky Hession and their friend Jess, the trio found a permanent space and moved in next door to Delly’s. The restaurant is inspired by flavours from the Middle East, with a menu featuring Aleppo chilli baba ghanoush, lamb kofta with labneh, sumac onions and dukkha, and cheeky Turkish delight-filled doughnuts.
