Dubbo's Best Barbecue Spots Along the River
The Macquarie River parkland provides public barbecue facilities that transform a butcher's purchase and a supermarket salad into an outdoor dining experience overlooking the river that no restaurant interior — however pleasant its décor, however accomplished its kitchen — can match for the simple reason that the view from the riverside barbecue table includes water, sky, pelicans, cockatoos, and the sunset light that Dubbo's dry inland atmosphere produces with an intensity that makes every evening meal feel like a special occasion rather than a routine dinner.
The barbecues are free, maintained by the local council, and available on a first-come basis at multiple locations along the river corridor. The hot plates heat to cooking temperature within minutes, the sheltered tables provide shade and seating for groups of varying sizes, and the adjacent bins and cleaning facilities support the barbecue etiquette that ensures the facilities remain available and pleasant for the next user. The recipe that the barbecue best supports is the simplest one: scotch fillet or lamb cutlets from the Dubbo butcher, a bag of pre-mixed salad from the supermarket, bread rolls, and a cold drink. Cook the meat on the hot plate with the salt-and-pepper simplicity that quality ingredients demand and that elaborate seasoning would obscure. Assemble the salad. Eat overlooking the river as the pelicans cruise past with the composed authority that large waterbirds universally display and the cockatoos conduct their evening performance in the canopy above at volumes that make conversation an exercise in competitive amplitude.
Total cost for two: $30-$40 for the butcher's steak, the salad, and the drinks. The equivalent restaurant experience: $80-$120 without the river view, without the cockatoo performance, and without the satisfaction of having assembled the meal yourself from ingredients sourced locally that afternoon. The barbecue spots are busiest on weekends when families and social groups claim the best locations by mid-afternoon. Midweek evenings provide the best availability and the quietest atmosphere — the ideal conditions for the couples barbecue that combines the best Dubbo ingredients with the best Dubbo view.