REVIEW
Livi’s bright dining room, in Murwillumbah’s colourful arts precinct about an hour from Byron Bay, is a celebration of textures; the tessellated brick floor and coarse Venetian plaster walls framing leather banquettes and marble tables. It’s an interplay echoed on the plates, where a warm, rough paste of salt cod bathes in olive oil, ready to be scooped up with glass-thin shards of crisp-toasted bread. Ingredients are left to shine without superfluous adornment, like hefty bug tails swimming in vibrant vadouvan butter, and smoky-charred padrón peppers dotted with thick slices of cured garlic. Co-owner siblings Danni (chef) and Nikky (front of house) wilson have returned home after a stretch in Melbourne, where Nikky worked with fellow co-owner/chef Ewen Crawford at tapas institution MoVida, but while there are lingering hints of Spain on plates of paleta Ibérico or Cantabrian anchovies, Livi – like the town in which it sits – feels welcoming to all influences and all visitors.
ABOUT
Bistro Livi
Contemporary
1A/1-3 Brisbane St, Murwillumbah
0499 711 590
Chef Ewen Crawford
Price guide $
Bookings Recommended
Wheelchair access Yes
Open Lunch Sat; Dinner Wed-Sat
This review was written independently for the Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide. The guide’s reviewers visit unannounced and pay their way. To learn more about the process, head over here.
Gourmet Traveller Annual Restaurant Guide
Our guide gives a yearly snapshot of the best restaurants to eat at right now. The best-rated restaurants, as judged by the reviewers’ first-hand experience, form our national guide.
