Play Hard
28th Aug 2025
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Where to eat like a local in Newcastle

Googling ‘where do the locals eat?’ in a new city will only get you so far

I know because when I moved from Canada to Newcastle over three years ago, it got me nowhere. No matter how I typed the question, I always ended up scrolling through repeats of the same places that I’d already seen or on an article from 2008…

And Tik Tok didn’t help either. Believe it or not, some of the truly best places to eat (especially in the North East) don’t necessarily have a great social media presence.

But I was determined to find the best eats and now I’m going to give you all my tips or how to find the local hot spots in any new city.

TAKE RESEARCH WALKS

I’d recommend this to anyone who has just moved to somewhere new! Think of a research walk as a hot girl walk with a side of location scouting. It’s your chance to take a turn down a street you always skip, stop to read the menu posted in the window of a cute restaurant and see some things that you wouldn’t normally pay attention to during your normal day to day.

This is how I accidentally discovered Blackfriars, tucked a few streets off the main drag with outdoor seating and delicious food, I almost literally stumbled across it.

Here’s a few more that caught my eye on my research walks:

Kaltur CHECK IT OUT

El Torero CHECK IT OUT

PHO Restaurant Newcastle CHECK IT OUT

Pinocchio CHECK IT OUT

TAKE TO INSTAGRAM

As much as Instagram likes to think it knows us, it’s never as accurate as I need it to be. It basically took my algorithm three years to realize I’d moved cities. Instead of waiting around, head to your explore page and type in a few key words of things you want to be shown, like ‘restaurants in Newcastle’ or ‘pop ups in the North East’. Now you’re primed to be targeted with the kind of ads you WANT to see.

As soon as I did this my feed was full of cool new events, which is how I heard about Soku Kitchen, The Lockup and Long Friday.

Over the next few months more just kept popping up:

Soku Kitchen CHECK IT OUT

The Lockup CHECK IT OUT

Long Friday CHECK IT OUT

Souffle Baby CHECK IT OUT

Babucho CHECK IT OUT

Little Lobo CHECK IT OUT

ASK ANYONE AND EVERYONE

Word of mouth is always the best way to hear about what’s what, but when you’ve just moved somewhere new and don’t have an inner circle yet, there’s only so many people to give you advice. Which is how I ended up getting recommendations from the baristas at coffee shops and the cute girls working at shops I liked. The general rule I have for this is that if you’re already at a great spot, it’s very likely they’re going to know more!

If I never asked – even through, yes, it’s a bit nerve wracking – I never would have ended up eating at The French Quarter, or Miso, or Kiln.

Or…

The French Quarter CHECK IT OUT

Miso CHECK IT OUT

Kiln CHECK IT OUT

St. Sushi CHECK IT OUT

Ngon CHECK IT OUT

The Small Canteen CHECK IT OUT

FOLLOW THE LOCALS

As soon as I found a few influencers and bloggers from Newcastle who were regularly sharing new spots, I could take note of my favourites. Each time I’d hear about a new place, I’d add it to a guide on my apple maps. Before I knew it, the list was long and I was the one giving out recommendations to new people I’d meet.

Here are a few of my favourites that everyone on Insta is talking about: