New menu raises bar
Top food found in Backyard
ONE of Cairns’ flashest hotels is bringing a taste of good old Aussie nostalgia to the city’s waterfront.
The Backyard opens at 4pm this afternoon and Shangri-la, The Marina, Cairns executive chef Aaron Habgood says the Far North’s newest bar has a menu which represents the modern Australian table.
“I’ve got a lot of big flavours in there, there is no actual theme to the bar,” he said.
“We have got big Portuguese flavours, a bit of Japanese, it’s the best of Australian produce at the moment.
“We wanted to rebrand properly almost as a standalone and away from the Shangri-la umbrella. We wanted to be something absolutely different to North Bar and Kitchen.
“Instead of a bar and a restaurant, we are a bar that serves really, really good food.”
In a nod to the way the country has embraced multicultural food, Mr Habgood will operate Cairns’ only bagel bar at The Backyard, using baked goods flown in from the New York Bagel Company. The bagels will also be served as part of the breakfast offering.
“We used to do the $20 hotel buffet breakfast but now it is al a carte. Shangri-la is the only hotel that does a la carte breakfast so it’s going to be very different to other hotels in Cairns,” he said.
“The reason for the change is because the cafe culture in Australia is so huge we are just meeting the demand of the market. We will have seven savoury and two sweet bagel options as well as it being served with your eggs.”
From cocktails named The Whipper Snipper to desserts, the new venue is on theme.
“We’ve got pavlova, banoffee pie, custard tart, all those favourites we had in the backyard,” Mr Habgood said.