Bustard Town

Bustard Town is a wood-fired pizza bar and troppo garden eatery on Nuttall Place, just off Knuckey Street in the Darwin CBD, built around a plant-filled, open-air tropical garden. Dogs are welcome in that outdoor garden seating on a leash, which makes this the easy CBD dinner option when you have the dog along in the Top End heat.

The dog setup

Dogs join you in the alfresco garden and outdoor areas, kept on a lead and beside your table, with the climate-controlled indoor space and band room off limits. The garden canopy gives real shade, but the tropics do the rest: pick an evening visit, keep water in front of your dog the whole time and bring a collapsible bowl to be safe. Staff are relaxed about dogs, and the crowd skews casual.

The menu and the vibe

Handmade-dough wood-fired pizzas are the headline, rated among the CBD's best, with small plates and vegan and vegetarian options alongside craft cocktails and local beers on tap. Half-price pizzas run on Thursday evenings, and live music takes over the indoor room regularly. Service runs mornings early in the week, then evenings Thursday through Saturday; Sunday is closed, so plan the dog-friendly dinner around those nights.

Getting there and parking

Find the laneway entrance off Knuckey Street in the city centre, with free and paid street parking around the surrounding blocks and the venue wheelchair accessible.

Before dinner, walk the clifftop paths through Darwin City's Bicentennial Park a few minutes away, where City of Darwin rules keep dogs on a leash along the Esplanade. If the garden is packed, Fiddlers Irish Pub offers another dog-tolerant outdoor option nearby, and Wharf One covers the waterfront end of town.

After sunset is the comfortable slot for you both; early weeknights stay quiet while Saturday nights run loud and late. More options are on the Northern Territory restaurants index.