Tucked in the quiet coastal town of Pottsville, thirty minutes between the Gold Coast and Byron Bay, Pipit has become one of the most singular dining experiences in Australia’s East coast not to miss. Since opening in 2019, the restaurant has carved out a reputation for boundary-pushing creativity while remaining deeply grounded in locality. 

At its helm is chef and co-founder Ben Devlin, whose 18 years of experience — from the kitchens of Noma in Copenhagen to executive chef at Paper Daisy in Cabarita — have honed a practice that is at once refined and refreshingly elemental. Founded together with his partner Yen Trinh, the two have put Pottsville on the map and ensured Pipit is one of the best in destination-dining at the centre of the Northern Rivers food bowl. 

Working at Noma when it was first named Number 1 Restaurant in the World, Devlin absorbed a philosophy of cooking that privileges seasonality, terroir, and storytelling at Noma for almost a decade in its base of Copenhagen. 

At Pipit, he channels his own vision and those lessons learnt into the Australian context: showcasing the Northern Rivers’ seafood, produce, and coastal landscapes through wood fire, smoke, and flame. Working directly with hand-selected farmers and producers, Devlin knows them all personally, working together with them to ensure diners enjoy the best of the best in the restaurant. 

The finest produce is guided by Devlin’s ‘local sourcing policy’, working primarily with 41 local businesses in a 30 minute drive radius from his home base. Working almost solely with organic and pesticide-free farmers and suppliers, Devlin collaborates with growers such as Palida Anderson and Boon Luck Farms, Jumping Red Ant Farm, Sylva Lining Organics and Buck’s Farm. Outside of this radius, his suppliers remain in the Tweed Shire such as Zentveld’s Coffee and Misty Creek Agroforestry south of Byron. Proudly showing this transparency in a Produce Map given to all diners, it inspires diners also to source their own produce from ethical suppliers at every opportunity making a difference to a more sustainable world.

Pipit is a fine-dining restaurant that resists the stiffness of its category; here, there is warmth, approachability, and an unmistakable sense of community. Menus shift with the seasons, sometimes offered as set courses, sometimes à la carte, always with the surprise of an ingredient you’ve never encountered in quite the same way before. Nothing is wasted, with any excess creates into ferments displayed in the kitchen and innovativly used in dishes.

The dining room is arranged around an open-plan kitchen, encouraging guests to witness the theatre of the grill and the choreography of the team. Using Japanese paper fans to direct the embers on his open grill — a gesture as poetic as it is practical – Devlin’s approach is a reminder of the intimacy with which he approaches fire.

In collaboration with Leia Sherblom of GRIT Ceramics, Pipit’s tableware is entirely custom-made, each piece carrying the imprint of the restaurant’s ethos. 

Some vessels take the exact shape of oyster shells collected by Devlin, others incorporate charcoal and ash from Pipit’s wood-fired grill into their clay bodies. A few even hold fish-bone ash within bone-shaped forms, fusing memory, material, and cooking into a quiet poetry of objects. Eating here is not just about flavour — it is about being surrounded by forms and textures that speak back to the food itself.

What makes Pipit truly unique, however, is the way food, craft, and art are intertwined. Devlin is passionate about Gyotaku, an ancient Japanese printing method once used by fishmongers to record their catch.

In his hands, it becomes both artistic practice and cultural storytelling: precious fish such as Mahi Mahi or squid inked and pressed onto delicate Japanese paper to preserve their fleeting textures. These prints are displayed, taught, and shared in Pipit’s kitchen-art studio, where guests are invited to join in hands-on classes.

For Devlin, Gyotaku is more than aesthetic—it’s a philosophy of respect, a way of making the ephemeral beauty of ingredients last beyond the table.

Over the years, Pipit has been recognised with numerous awards – two hats and countless ‘top’ lists – and rightly so.

Yet perhaps its greatest achievement is less about accolades and more about atmosphere. To dine at Pipit is to be immersed in a conversation between land and sea, chef and flame, plate and canvas. It’s regional dining that feels both deeply local and quietly world-class.

Pipit
Shop 4, 8 Coronation Avenue, 
Pottsville, New South Wales 2489

Images: Champ Creative©
Text: Editorial Director Monique Kawecki