Bella Ma'

Woolgoolga's Italian offering keeps its ambitions where they belong, on the plate. Run by a Sicilian chef, the kitchen trades in honest, unfussy cooking: the kind of pasta, seasonal plates and Mediterranean staples that do not need theatrics to hold their own. The room is deliberately laid-back, a short walk from the sand, and the fully licensed list is there to sit alongside the food rather than upstage it. It opens for dinner Wednesday through Saturday from five, and with a small dining space, booking ahead is the sensible move on a weekend. There is a refreshing lack of chain-restaurant gloss here; you get the sense the food is meant to speak for itself, which in a beach town full of easy options is its own kind of statement. A calm, grown-up spot for an evening meal.