Gluten free Noosa, Sunshine Coast
A coeliac guide to eating your way through Noosa’s cafes and restaurants.
Hi there! I recently visited Noosa and can confirm it’s a great spot for those with coeliac disease and general gluten intolerances. Not only is there an abundance of delicious cafes and restaurants, I found all the staff to be quite coeliac aware.
See below for my recommendations on where to eat.
As with any place you go, please be sure to ask your own questions about coeliac safety to ensure you can be looked after.
Written 25 January 2025
Gluten free cafes and restaurants in Noosa
Aromas has a fantastic menu with a bunch of snacks, salads and mains that are either gluten free by default or have a gluten free option. They are comfortable catering for coeliacs and have a dedicated fryer for gluten free items. We ordered the following:
Fried haloumi with honey and walnuts
Oysters with balsamic pearls and lemon
Grilled chorizo with hummus
Maravista bite: zucchini, coconut ricotta, cassava
It’s got a beautiful outdoor seating area too and is generally just a fun vibe. I highly recommend stopping by here.
Aromas
Image from @sailsbeachnoosa
Sails is a beautiful restaurant overlooking Noosa beach. As you might expect for such a location, it’s a higher end experience and the pricing reflects that. But, if you’re keen to splurge, this place is delicious and very happy to cater for coeliacs. The waitstaff spoke to me about each item on the menu and showed me the allergen chart, talking me through my safe options. There was also quite a range of safe options available to me which always feels like a treat. We ordered:
Sashimi plate
Crispy skin barramundi
Wagyu steak with roasted sides
All bloody delicious and well worth the spend.
Sails
VanillaFood has a seasonal menu with a focus on wholefoods and is completely delicious. I’ll warn you, it is pricier than your typical cafe but everything is either sourced locally or baked in house. There is a range of gluten free items to choose from, including the kind of stuff we usually miss out on: waffles, house based focaccia, GF sourdough. I ordered:
Chai latte
Buckwheat waffle with berries and maple syrup. This one comes with coconut ice cream but I opted not to include it.
My only critique is that I found the portions to be a little small for the price they incurred but I really couldn’t fault the quality. I think it’s well worth a stop but if you’re watching your budget, check out the prices online first.
VanillaFood
This is a brewery but I went for the food. This place is really coeliac aware; the menu is clearly labelled, staff are knowledgeable and so happy to cater for it too. There was a range of items that could be made gluten free and it was all delicious - I think this was one of my favourite stops on the trip. I also found the portion sizes to be really generous. I can’t actually remember the price point…which is usually a good thing. We ordered:
Chips with chipotle sauce
Buffalo cauliflower with blue cheese sauce
Wagyu beef gyoza (this was just the filling, they had to remove the wrapper to make it GF but it was still delightful)
Gluten free apple cider
No crumbs, no notes, just bloody excellent.
Heads of Noosa
If there’s anywhere you go for dinner, make it here. About 80% of the menu is gluten free and they’ve got coeliac aware staff - a real winning combo. It’s also got a beautiful vibe with both indoor and outdoor seating, dim lights and a general vibrancy that makes it impossible not to have a good time. We ordered:
Kingfish sashimi
Garlic chive miang (I have been and will be thinking about this for a long time)
Crispy cashew chicken (coeliacs never get crispy anythinggggg, this was so exciting!!)
I’ve checked their latest menu online and sadly, I can no longer see the crispy cashew chicken, however I’m sure it’s been replaced with something just as delicious. They also had a very fun cocktail menu. I highly recommend dinner here.
Bang Bang
This place isn’t unique to Noosa, there’s a few of them around, but I thought it was worth including because gelato is a mandatory part of any summer holiday. They’ve got gluten free cones that are actually delicious and don’t crumble in your hand, a huge range of gluten free gelato and when I told them I was coeliac, they took special care to avoid cross contamination with tools etc. We loooove to see it.
Royal Copenhagen
When in Noosa, one must visit the markets. I can only eat so much in one morning so instead of buying heaps, I just made a list of all the stalls I found with gluten free foods on offer. Given I didn’t eat at a lot of these myself, please be sure to do your own coeliac checks. Gluten free stalls I saw:
Tapioca
Banana Bread King
Alegria Vegana
Cake by Ayaka
La Petite Crepe
Big Sin Poutine
I’m sure there’s lots more! Well worth a visit on a Sunday morning.
Noosa markets, GF edition
Near Noosa, worth the drive
If you’re getting a car from the airport and driving to Noosa, here are some easy spots that are well worth the visit.
Happy Dough Doughnuts, Maroochydoore
These are doughnuts that taste like actual doughnuts…I don’t need to tell you how exciting that is. We ordered:
Original glazed (think Krispy Kreme vibes)
Strawberry iced doughnut
Caramilk biscuit doughnut
Hot cinnamon doughnut
Obviously, it was heaven. If you, like me, don’t live nearby, these doughnuts will haunt you forever in the best way possible.
I nearly missed my flight home for this and I’d do it all again. Ugh, this is another one that hurts because there aren’t any chains near where I live. From memory, it’s like 5 minutes from the airport so definitely work this into your itinerary. I got just a chunky steak pie and it was everything you could want; flaky pastry, chunky beef, smooth gravy. They’ve also got a bunch of GF sweet things like custard tarts, slices and more. I’m salivating again.
Oh and they sell normal pies too! So it’s a great stop if you’re travelling with non-gf folk too. You can feel really safe here as they’re Coeliac Australia accredited so even with the non-gf food, you don’t need to be concerned about cross contamination.
Beefy’s Pies, Maroochydoore
We stopped by here on our way to Australia Zoo and it is the cutest cafe with such a cool vibe, delicious coffee and a heap of gluten free foods. Almost all of the menu is either gluten free by default or has a gluten free option. I ordered a buckwheat crepe with fresh lemon, sugar and chantilly cream. An absolute classic that I thoroughly enjoyed. For those who want something a bit more exciting, here’s a few of the gluten free items currently listed on their menu:
Carrot and walnut cake
A range of sweet and savoury crepes
Prawn rice cakes
Mediterranean bowl
Velo Project, Mooloolaba
It feels odd to talk about Australia Zoo and only spend time on the gluten free foods BUT for coeliacs, this is as exciting as the animals. They actually have coeliac safe food here and it’s decent! No need to starve your way through the day or pre-pack a sad lunch on crumbly bread. Australia Zoo had a different queue in the cafe for those with dietary requirements. When you get there, you just tell them that you’re coeliac and they talk you through what’s available on the menu and answer any questions you have about cross contamination etc. They had hot chips, burgers and even some cakes. I ended up ordering hot chips and ate them with aioli - delicious!