Light Years

Light Years is the chef-driven pan-Asian institution on Lawson Street. Opened in 2014 in the Byron Bay CBD. And is the village's most reliable shared-plate dining room. The restaurant occupies a converted CBD shopfront with hand-carved native-timber walls, a long marble counter at the front, and seventy-two covers across two rooms.

The cuisine is pan-Asian. Drawing on Vietnamese, Thai, Cantonese, Japanese and Malaysian traditions with strong Northern Rivers sourcing. Signatures include the famous 'Light Years pho'. A Vietnamese-inspired Northern Rivers beef pho; a Cantonese-style Pacific-coast steamed snapper; a Thai-style Bangalow-pork salad with green-papaya; a hand-rolled Japanese-tempura with Pacific shellfish; the famous 'matcha cheesecake' for the dessert course.

The wine list runs to 200 references with deep mainland-Australian smallholder coverage and a respectable sake section. The cocktail bar runs a serious aperitif programme.

The room runs at high volume on weekend nights. Service is family-run.

Light Years is the birthday-night room in Byron Bay. The pan-Asian shared-plate format works for any group, the CBD location is convenient, and the kitchen runs at a friendly mid-tier register. Book the long table at the back for a group of six.