The Good Food Guide to a road trip in Castlemaine

Once better known for galleries, gardens and gold rush history, highly walkable Castlemaine is now also one of Victoria’s most fun places to dine. Thanks to keen diners and tree-changing tastemakers, you can start your day with pastries and coffee on one side of town, and end the night sipping cocktails with a live swing band on the other.

Whether you’re passing through on a road trip up north, or settling in for the weekend, these are some of our favourite Castlemaine spots for a bite or beverage.

Love Shack

You wouldn’t think there’d be any need to create a pub in a gold rush town like Castlemaine, where streets feature many handsome watering holes. Yet Love Shack has sprouted up, a brewery-turned-public bar complete with Australiana prints, sport on TV, timber panelling and swirly carpet. Chef Joel Baylon is a Castlemaine boy who left 20 years ago and shook the pans at fine diner Aru and The Moon wine bar. Now he’s pleasing crowds with gooey scotch eggs and Sunday roasts. From footy tipping to BYO vinyl nights, there’s so much happening here, it’s hard to imagine ever staying in.

26 Hargraves Street, Castlemaine, loveshackbrewingco.beer

Tortoise Espresso

In the centre of Castlemaine, Tortoise Espresso is home to bottomless filter coffee and filled bagels baked fresh every morning, with a lovely stay-a-while room out the back. Grab-and-go pastries are supplied by nearby bakery Geeza and Co, while coffee is roasted locally by Firebean. Tortoise also shares its Hargraves Street space with Table Records, a record store and music bar serving drinks and snacks until late on weekends.

14 Hargraves Street, Castlemaine, tortoiseespresso.com

Superhero

This neighbourhood spot creates bang-on banh mi using ingredients grown in its very own garden. The ethos here is all about minimising waste, so any food scraps or offcuts are composted for the garden. Sandwich fillings are sourced locally from suppliers like Sprout Bakery and Cliffords Meats. It’s not all banh mi, though. Grab bun bowls and fluffy bao stuffed with roasted pork or five spice chicken, plus a small selection of baked goods.

12 Hargraves Street, Castlemaine, superherobanhmi.com

Nira

For daytime pitstops, head to this hole-in-the-wall corner kiosk for Seven Seeds coffee and matcha, with pavement stools and local dogs to pat. Located in the historic Hub building on the corner of Barker and Templeton streets, the central location makes for easy sightseeing and window shopping with a batch brew in hand. Second-hand stores and the Castlemaine Artists’ Market are just a short walk away.

Barker and Templeton streets, Castlemaine, instagram.com/nira.castlemaine

Grafting Cellars

This neighbourhood wine shop and bar on Templeton Street offers simple snacks and light meals from day to night. You’ll find drops from various small-batch vineyards around the Heathcote and Macedon regions, to the Pyrenees and beyond, plus local beers, cider and coffee, all available to take away. It’s open until late on Fridays and Saturdays with street-side seating available in the warmer months.

35 Templeton Street, Castlemaine, graftingcellars.com.au

Johnny Baker

No trip to Castlemaine is complete without a stop at Johnny Baker for a hot pie or a sweet treat. We love the beautifully crisp Danish pastry with roast tomato and whipped honey feta ($8.50). The bakery nails it in two locations, one in town and the other up the hill, behind the quirky Northern Arts Hotel, and both stocked with cakes, pies, tarts and more.

46 Forest Street, Castlemaine; Rear/359 Barker Street, Castlemaine; johnnybaker.com.au

The Mill

This art, food and shopping precinct in an old wool mill is a must-visit. Pop in for supplies from French-style cheesemakers Long Paddock; Oakwood Smallgoods, which makes pâtés, bacon and excellent Macedonian-style kransky sausages; and bean-to-bar chocolatier Cabosse & Feve. Don’t leave town without trying the macadamia praline.

1-9 Walker Street, Castlemaine, millcastlemaine.com.au

Das Kaffeehaus

Found under the chimney at The Mill precinct, this coffee roastery is worth a visit for the atmospheric Austrian-inspired design alone, but you’ll want to stay for the decadent Viennese cakes. Other Austrian dishes might include bigos stew; cheese kransky with kaiser rolls baked locally by Sprout; or pork goulash with mini potato dumplings. A shot of schnapps in your coffee is just short of compulsory.

9 Walker Street, Castlemaine, coffeebasics.com

Shedshaker Brewing

Just inside The Mill, Shedshaker makes beer on site and pours it across 24 taps. A far-reaching food menu includes dips and snacks, pasta, pizza and cheese platters, while a busy roster of live music makes it an exuberant hangout. Just passing through? Pick up a six-pack of canned and bottled lagers, IPAs, stouts and more to enjoy at home.

9 Walker Street, Castlemaine, shedshakerbrewing.com

Boomtown Cellar Bar

A shell of a shed turned into a warm bistro with an adjacent working winery certainly sounds industrial, but the experience here is very much about the human touch. Peruse the one-page menu: one week it may include sky-high focaccia, bright house-made pickles and a couple of pastas; another time there’ll be croquettes containing the eternal comforts of cauliflower cheese. Yet another business that’s part of the bustling Mill, Boomtown feels capable, cheerful and generous.

Shed 10/9 Walker Street, Castlemaine, boomtownwine.com.au

Bar Midland

Few restaurants operate with Midland’s strikingly sustainable ethics. Sourcing solely from Victoria, owners Loudon Cooper and Alexander Marano can’t use sugar, pepper, chocolate or coffee on their tasting menus. But they can mix the most proudly local negroni you’ve ever had, made possible by our state’s thriving drink-makers, who are celebrated on an impressive all-Victorian drinks list that earned the venue Drinks List of the Year in The Age Good Food Guide 2026. Upwards of 80 per cent of the produce is grown in an offsite garden, and if you want to chat about it, they’ll happily oblige.

1/2 Templeton Street, Castlemaine, barmidland.com

Origini

A charming bolthole with chequered tablecloths and a concise menu of northern Italian classics, this family-run eatery has been a Barker Street mainstay for 15 years. It’s now only open on Fridays and Saturdays, but you can still expect the same warm service and home-style dishes such as pasta, meatballs, tasting platters and spezzatino: a mellow braise often made here with lamb. House-made vanilla panna cotta and tiramisu sweeten the deal.

213 Barker Street, Castlemaine, instagram.com/originicastlemaine

Mostyn Street Cellars

Kick off your Castlemaine bar crawl here before adjourning around the corner to Gornelly’s. It’s predominantly a wine bar and bottle shop, but you can still get charcuterie and chippies to line the stomach. Settle in for a glass (or two), or pick up a bottle to take home – perhaps a Beechworth pret-a-rouge or something special imported from northern France.

60 Mostyn Street, Castlemaine, mostynstreetcellars.com

Maurocco Bar

The martinis are icy and the mood is warm at this quirky lounge inside Castlemaine’s Midland Hotel. Head downstairs for cocktails in kitschy, art deco surrounds, where jazz jams are hosted on the first Sunday afternoon of each month and a swing band takes centre stage on the last Saturday night of the month. An old fireplace roars in winter while the lounge spills out to a leafy courtyard garden in the warmer months. For those requiring a place to crash after an evening of daiquiris and dancing, a handful of rooms await upstairs.

4 Templeton Street, Castlemaine, mauroccobar.com.au

New China Restaurant

Sometimes old-school country Chinese is the only meal that will do. New China Restaurant has stunning decor and very good food, including excellent spring rolls. The interiors serve as a time capsule of the 20th century, remaining largely untouched since the restaurant opened over 35 years ago, down to the carpeted floor and patterned wallpaper. A lengthy menu spans Aussie-Chinese classics, plus dishes that take inspiration from across Asia.

319 Barker Street, Castlemaine, 03 5472 3033