A Roaming Dinner Is Coming to Bathurst's Hidden Laneways This November
Three restaurants, three courses and one night wandering through the historic heart of Bathurst.
Foodies, there’s a brand new reason to plan a weekend in Bathurst this November, and it’s only just getting started.
Running across Friday 13 and Saturday 14 November 2026, The Wandering Table is a new immersive food and wine experience that will see diners move between three Bathurst restaurants over the course of one evening. The night will weave together the very best of Bathurst food, Wiradjuri culture, local history and storytelling, helping those in attendance explore the heritage streets and lesser-known corners of the city between courses.
Bathurst after dark is filled with narrative, wine and culture - so mark those calendars!
The Details
What: The Wandering Table – Heritage & Laneways
Where: Bathurst, NSW
When: Friday 13 & Saturday 14 November 2026
Friday: Stories After Dark – Norma Joan, Firewater & The George
Saturday: The Gathering – El Guapo Cantina, DeJorja & The Hub
Includes: Three-course roaming dinner, regional beverages, Wiradjuri cultural storytelling, local storytelling and immersive experiences
Good to know: Places are strictly limited - so get booking here!
What’s On Friday: Stories After Dark
If atmospheric laneways, good food and local history sound like your kind of night, we'd book the Friday event. Stories After Dark takes over Bathurst's historic centre on Friday 13 November, beginning in Kings Parade with a Welcome to Country, Smoking Ceremony and Wiradjuri storytelling. Guests will then be divided into three small groups before setting off through the city.
Over the course of the evening, every group will visit three legendary Bathurst restaurants: Norma Joan → Firewater → The George
You'll enjoy one course at each restaurant, accompanied by a premium drink from regional producers including Winburndale Wines, Bathurst Grange Distillery and Vale Creek, while local storytellers share some of the colourful characters, forgotten moments and lesser-known stories that have shaped Bathurst.
The Local Compass pick: Choose Friday if you're looking for the more intimate and atmospheric of the two evenings – particularly if you love discovering the history behind the places you're visiting.
What’s On Saturday: The Gathering
Saturday night turns things up a notch.
Taking place on 14 November 2026, The Gathering moves the roaming dinner to Bathurst's Keppel Street precinct where music, energy and bold flavours become the central focus. The evening begins outside Bathurst Regional Art Gallery with a Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony before diners split into groups to begin their exploration
This time, the three restaurants are: El Guapo Cantina → DeJorja → The Hub
Each group will visit all three venues for a different course and beverage including wines from Winburndale Wines, Rock Forest Vineyard and Renzaglia Wines and be treated to live music and an enriching atmosphere of immersive storytelling.
The Local Compass pick: We'd choose Saturday for a girls' weekend or trip with friends. It should be the livelier of the two nights, with plenty happening between courses rather than a traditional sit-down dinner.
So, Which Night Should You Book?
It really comes down to what kind of Bathurst food and wine experience you're after!
Book Friday for heritage, storytelling and a more intimate wander through Bathurst's historic centre.
Book Saturday for music, atmosphere, bold flavours and a more energetic night around Keppel Street.
And if you're particularly keen? Don’t limit yourself, experience both! The two evenings are deliberately designed to show different sides of Bathurst after dark, they are most definitely not carbon copies of each other.
Tickets can be purchased here.
What Is BX After Dark?
The Wandering Table is actually only the beginning.
It's the first experience in BX After Dark, a new year-long program designed to bring Bathurst's streets, heritage buildings, restaurants and creative spaces to life after sunset through food, music, culture and storytelling.
Bathurst & Backroads is the region’s storytelling platform, connecting visitors with the experiences, events and moments that make every trip to the region memorable. And if you’re a Bathurst local business owner? There is an event submission page we highly encourage you go check out! If you have an event that you think visitors would travel for, the Team want to hear about it.
As of right now, three major experiences have been announced:
13–14 November 2026 – Heritage & Laneways: The Wandering Table
The roaming dinner through Bathurst's historic centre.
11–14 February 2027 – Where the World Comes to Celebrate
An international food, music and performance program in the CBD coinciding with the Bathurst 12 Hour at Mount Panorama.
15 May 2027 – Harvest After Dark
A Central West harvest celebration bringing together regional producers, seasonal food and local drinks in an immersive feast curated by chef world-renowned chef Matt Moran.
We'll be keeping a particularly close eye on that last one if we were you!
Planning a Weekend in Bathurst?
The Wandering Table gives you a pretty good excuse to turn a dinner event into an entire weekend in Bathurst.
Around three hours from Sydney, Bathurst is an ideal food-focused Central West escape: arrive on Friday or Saturday, spend the afternoon exploring town, check into your accommodation and leave the evening free for The Wandering Table.
Here are our Bathurst weekend suggestions:
Where to Stay
Bishop's Court Estate – Best for a boutique stay. A beautiful heritage option close to the centre of Bathurst that will make it easy to wander the laneways before making your way home.
Lawson's Estate – Best for a country escape. Around 15 minutes from town (so not too far!) this historic farm has a collection of restored accommodation ranging from an intimate cottage for two to larger quarters and the Homestead if you’re travelling with a big group.
Rydges Mount Panorama Bathurst – Best for Mount Panorama. Stay right on Conrod Straight if you want to incorporate Bathurst's most famous landmark into the weekend. This is an accomodation that does what it says on the tin.
Where to Go for Breakfast
The Hub Espresso Bar & Eatery – Best for brunch. One of Bathurst's best-established breakfast spots, right in the Keppel Street precinct; it continues to sit among the city's most loved cafés.
Moubar Vintage – Best for coffee. A tiny vine-covered courtyard coffee window serving Single O – ideal if you want something quick before exploring.
Porters Cafe – Best for a classic café breakfast. A longstanding William Street option and an easy central location.
Where to Go for Lunch
Church Bar – Best for a courtyard lunch. A great option for a relaxed, open-air lunch; woodfired pizzas, drinks and a leafy garden setting. Great if there are kids in your party.
Bootleg Dining – Best for something special. A more polished William Street restaurant and a good pick if food is going to be one of the main events of the weekend.
Reckless Brewing Co. – Best for a casual lunch. A multi-award-winning brewery, taproom and restaurant in central Bathurst – go here when you want a relaxed local beer and hearty meal.
What to Do
Outside of your nighttime explorations, go check out Bathurst's heritage centre before visiting the Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum. It's housed in a historic former school building and gives you something genuinely different to do between breakfast and lunch. If cars are more your thing, swap it for the National Motor Racing Museum at Mount Panorama.
FAQs
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The Wandering Table will take place across Friday 13 and Saturday 14 November 2026 as the first event in the new BX After Dark program.
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Friday night's Stories After Dark will visit Norma Joan, Firewater and The George, while Saturday's The Gathering will move between El Guapo Cantina, DeJorja and The Hub.
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Both nights include a roaming three-course dinner across three venues, a premium regional beverage with each course, Wiradjuri cultural storytelling, local storytelling and specially transformed venues.
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No. Friday is designed as a more intimate, heritage-focused experience through Bathurst's historic heart, while Saturday has a livelier atmosphere centred around Keppel Street, with music, movement and bold flavours.
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Following The Wandering Table in November 2026, BX After Dark will continue with Where the World Comes to Celebrate during the Bathurst 12 Hour in February 2027 and Harvest After Dark, a regional harvest feast curated by Matt Moran, in May 2027.
Hey you! Don’t forget to finish your planning…
Review our top things to do, best places to eat or keep researching your perfect place to stay below.
Do you own a business, host an Air BnB or run an event that you think would be perfect for The Local Compass?
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