The Blue Door Bello

The Blue Door Bello Contemporary Australian Sustainable Restaurant. We work with local producers. 7-course tasting menu.
(1)

šŸ‘‹šŸ‘‹šŸ‘‹ hey there to all our new followers!We thought we would take the opportunity to re-introduce ourselves. Particularly ...
09/08/2026

šŸ‘‹šŸ‘‹šŸ‘‹ hey there to all our new followers!

We thought we would take the opportunity to re-introduce ourselves. Particularly for those who have heard we are opening in soon but aren’t too sure about what The Blue Door dining experience is! Make sure you swipe to the end to get the whole story! šŸ‘‰šŸ‘‰šŸ‘‰ā¤µļø

Firstly, I’m Angelica! I’m usually the one behind these little Insta posts. I met Dylan Cashman back in 2020 (in between lockdowns). I’m in the business and he is a and we realised we didn’t take ourselves or life too seriously but we shared an obsession with real food and hospitality!

When Dylan asked me whether we could re-open The Blue Door in Surry Hills back in 2021, of course I said yes (as you do when you think you will never travel or leave your house again 🤣)

Whilst it wasn’t easy, we built a Farm- to- Table dining experience in Sydney and we stuck to our vision of a weekly changing menu that focused on whole, regeneratively farmed animals and no-till vegetables. We never compromised on our integrity & we were overwhelmed by the full dining rooms each week.

What impressed us most was our dining room was usually full of international guests who just wanted to taste ā€œreal Australian foodā€ and ā€œdrink local wineā€ but we were one of the only places in Sydney that could offer that.

Swipe swipe šŸ‘‰šŸ‘‰

The other thing that made our concept unique is we had visited every farmer and fished with each fisherman (here is Dylan Cashman fishing with Nautical Wholesale Seafood) and he even went up to Far North Qld to fish with the award winning chris bolton when we first opened. Chris was our only non-nsw producer.

Swipe swipe šŸ‘‰šŸ‘‰

We also ensured each of our dishes were FULL of . Why? Fibre is super important 🤣 and having way too much protein can sometimes have you leaving a meal feeling sluggish but we wanted people finishing their 7 courses and leaving feeling amazing!

We, as well as our dog Otto has visited MANY vegetable farms across !

Swipe swipe šŸ‘‰šŸ‘‰šŸ‘‰

We also make everything in house!

Dylan Cashman’s sourdough mother is over 10 years old now and she thrives on a non-gmo wheat from North

The Lease is Signed! We’ve got a lot to do before September 18th! Staff are being hired, farms are being visited, our ta...
04/08/2026

The Lease is Signed! We’ve got a lot to do before September 18th! Staff are being hired, farms are being visited, our tables are being made, the paintings for the walls are being painted… things are happening…

Now we just need guests! Our bookings are officially Live! Head to thebluedoorbello.com.au to read about hat we do and to book your table!

Over the next couple of weeks we will share little reasons why we do what we do and choose not to do certain things. We hope to follow along for the journey and come to experience The Blue Door on the stunning Mid-North Coast of NSW!

(Also, sorry to everyone in Sydney who got excited and booked today thinking we had reopened our Surry hills location!)

WOW! We have been OVERWHELMED by the welcome we have received to Bellingen… One question we’ve been asked a lot is ā€œwhat...
27/07/2026

WOW! We have been OVERWHELMED by the welcome we have received to Bellingen…

One question we’ve been asked a lot is ā€œwhat food are you doing?ā€

The Blue Door has been built across 3 iterations with the intention of ā€œproduce is the kingā€. Marco Pierre White always said, ā€œMother Nature is the true artist, our job is to allow her to shineā€ and that’s what we do.

We will be continuing with our 7 course tasting menu showcasing very local producers. The reason is 3 fold.
1) it allows us to use what’s been in the ground that week. If something isn’t available, we don’t pressure farmers to force produce for us. Seasonal means weekly or fortnightly vegetables to us. Eat food at its peak.
2) we are able to buy whole animals and work them. This helps the actual protein farmers as they have guarantee income when processing their animals.

The final reason is it limits anxiety around dining. Even if there is something you are scared to eat, it’s only going to be one or two bites and it might surprise you! Always trust a chef who is obsessed with flavour over ā€œprettyā€ with the menu!

We will share more about this as the weeks go on! We look forward to finding our passionate team and our local farmers over the coming weeks!

We will also be opening bookings in the next week!

For those that want to dine with us all the time, we will be launching a small wine bar menu the same venue. So you can come for a quick burger and wine after work or some housemade charcuterie and negroni.. whatever! It’ll be a little locals secret… shhh 🤫

We’ve made it to our new home in    ! After some sleepless nights and too much time unpacking boxes, we are settling in!...
19/07/2026

We’ve made it to our new home in !

After some sleepless nights and too much time unpacking boxes, we are settling in!

We’ve had so many people ask ā€œwhy Bello?ā€

It’s simple really, Dylan Cashman grew up in Crescent Head, only 1 hour away and he did his apprenticeship in Bangalow, only 3 hours away and it’s where he learnt to trust nature and adapt his style of cooking around it.

After 5 years in Sydney, it was time to come closer to the farmers, closer to the source and when we visited Bellingen exactly 2 years ago, we both saw this region being in our future somehow.

As fate would have it, the last 6 months of 2025 saw the closure of several of our key farmers at The Blue Door Surry Hills (or unable to access produce from some of our farmers…) and our lease coming to an end in Sydney, we visited the region again at Christmas and the area just felt like home.

We had the charming and helpful Warren Weick Real Estate find us a house that we loved and whilst it was a wildly long settlement, we made it!

We are aiming to open The Blue Door by 18th September. If you are really serious about hospitality, we would love to interview you! If you are a local farm who is doing all the right things but feels like you ate going unnoticed, please reach out! The next 6 weeks, we will be visiting plenty of farms and getting the team just right and we can’t wait to open!!

Are you passionate about Hospitality, keen to work with Local producers and looking for a tree change? We are currently ...
06/07/2026

Are you passionate about Hospitality, keen to work with Local producers and looking for a tree change?

We are currently seeking expressions of interest for staff looking to take the next step in their career with The Blue Door Bellingen.

This will be the final evolution of Chef Dylan Cashman’s vision for a restaurant that really connects guests and staff back to their food.

If you are passionate about championing local, The Blue Door is for you. We will be working with the farmers, growers, fishermen and artisans within our local community who shape our food system. The food we serve will be sourced from within 100km of our restaurant with the rest coming from greater NSW when we must. You will get to know these people personally and have the chance to tell their stories to add value to our guests and to highlight these great people.

The Blue Door is all about true hospitality and collaboration! This isn’t the place for people who just want to ā€œwork a sectionā€. Everything will be made in house as well as butchering whole, regenerative animals and coming up with new menus weekly. We want to train a new generation of chefs who are excited to learn how to make everything rather than pushing ā€œgoā€ on an ordering system.

We are seeking both Front & Back of House staff (chefs of every level, bar staff/sommeliers, restaurant managers etc) who are keen to be part of a team that does their best every service, no excuses.

Whilst we work hard, The Blue Door offers a good work / life balance, a job to be proud of and the chance to learn all aspects of running and being a part of a restaurant.

We’ll be opening mid-September so please reach out if you are interested in living in the hinterland of the mid north coast of NSW cooking, serving, pouring exceptional NSW produce.

Please email [email protected] and we will get back to you!

Not going to lie… this is happening faster than we expected it to… but we just couldn’t wait anymore! We miss talking to...
22/06/2026

Not going to lie… this is happening faster than we expected it to… but we just couldn’t wait anymore! We miss talking to farmers, greeting guests and sharing stories!

This time though, we aren’t bound by the size of the venue! We have space to do some really special things! This will be a restaurant for locals and tourists alike…

We will be opening in a country town and all produce will be sourced from regenerative farms within 100km of the restaurant! Everything will be made in house and we aim to inspire a generation of cooks and diners. We want to offer true hospitality, effortless service and shape people’s special occasions.

For where and when… keep following our socials!

[The Blue Doors of Europe & the UK] We aren’t going to lie, we were feeling quite nostalgic while we were away. Firstly,...
26/04/2026

[The Blue Doors of Europe & the UK] We aren’t going to lie, we were feeling quite nostalgic while we were away. Firstly, so many pretty blue doors and secondly, the amount of amazing food we ate made us so damn happy!

What was the one theme across all the food we ate? All the cuisine?

LOCAL produce.

Who would’ve thought?

The other thing we noticed? The smaller the venue, the better the food. Why do we constantly get pushed with the ā€œbigger is betterā€ rhetoric?

It all definitely got us thinking about what’s next….
We are thinking smaller…
We are thinking a book…
We are thinking pop ups…

Keep following for more!

Out of office
13/04/2026

Out of office

Cheers to The Blue Doors closing team!  .decruz .zd   A bag of misfits that seem to gel remarkably well in the heat of s...
29/03/2026

Cheers to The Blue Doors closing team!
.decruz .zd

A bag of misfits that seem to gel remarkably well in the heat of service. They endured ā€˜s annoying dad jokes and inappropriate humour and created a dining experience that was so unique for Sydney.

ā€œWhy didn’t you announce you were closing?ā€

Well, we feel like we did… but when we were going to do a press release, a number of other fine/finer dining venues (Quay, Oncore, Arthur, Ursulas) started announcing they were closing and the last thing we wanted is for people to start saying ā€œfine dining is dyingā€.

This restaurant has been full with huge waitlist for 3 years straight. We’ve had insanely good reviews and we’ve worked our asses off to create a unique dining experience for our guests from across the globe.

Closing isn’t a financial decision for us, in fact we are shooting ourselves in the foot by closing. Closing for us is a supply chain issue and it’s a story for another post!

It’s bittersweet for us. Thank you to everyone who has worked so hard for us, thank you to everyone who celebrated special occasions with us and thank you to everyone that challenged us to get better every week.

Cheers to all of you!

[Why it’s important for a Chef to travel]It’s only through travel that you can expand your palate. Not only the what but...
21/03/2026

[Why it’s important for a Chef to travel]
It’s only through travel that you can expand your palate. Not only the what but the why behind certain foods and dishes. What makes something so classic, simple and delicious? Having the ā€œAussie versionā€ of something doesn’t really give you a solid understanding of dishes. (Also, usually the answer is most countries will just stick to what’s local rather than flying stuff all over the world… but that’s another story for another time)

Some food experiences are expected. Like having in with local, Spanish ingredients, sitting on the water, pretty classic but still exceptional.

Then some food experiences hit you different. Like sitting in a in and eating Chicken Rendang and thinking ā€œdamn, that’s newā€ whilst trying to analyse every ingredient that has gone into that rendang sauce to bring it home and test it for yourself. This is something that will stay with you and you are continually searching and travelling for more of these wow moments!

When we started The Blue Door, we always said there will be no rules, just make yummy food so yes, this week we served Fried chicken rendang with lime dressed zucchini and damn, it was tasty! Definitely the crowd favourite!

We also did a ā€œriceless paellaā€ using the drumsticks from these awesome Summerlad x Bress chickens and some chorizo made from Lauren’s Pasture Raised Pigs. Very meaty and delicious.

Then we surprised some people with a Radish salad from . 4 different types of radishes, zhoug made from the radish tops, ricotta and falafel crumb. Some would say it’s inspired by middle eastern food too!

Food is all about memory. Get out there and eat differently, challenge your thinking and try and push to find the flavours you discovered while you travelled!

Address

Cnr Church & Hyde Street
Bellingen, NSW
2454

Opening Hours

Thursday 5:30pm - 11pm
Friday 5:30pm - 11pm
Saturday 5:30pm - 11pm

Telephone

+61417909635

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Blue Door Bello posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to The Blue Door Bello:

Shortcuts

Share

Category