DINING OUT ON NEW RULES
There will be a testing of the sparkling waters this weekend when restaurants are allowed to throw open their doors to diners. Dundee’s on the Waterfront co-owner and executive chef James Wort (left) is ready to welcome patrons under new restrictions.
RESTAURANTS across Cairns are preparing to swing open their doors and welcome back customers for a new-look dining experience.
Dining in at restaurants, pubs, clubs, RSLs and cafes will be allowed from Saturday, but for a maximum of 10 patrons at one time as part of a gradual reopening.
Social distancing rules and restrictions will also need to be adhered to.
Dundee’s Waterfront Dining is one Cairns restaurant that will reopen for lunch and dinner from Saturday.
Manager Jacob Low said the team was looking forward to having diners back in the restaurant.
Bookings are essential to help manage restrictions set by the Queensland Government.
“Bookings are required otherwise people are going to be very disappointed when they come,” Mr Low said.
“At this stage we’re opening seven days a week.
“We’ll have sitting times and sitting blocks … one hour lots for lunch and an hour and a half for dinner.”
Dining aboard the Prawn Star seafood trawler will also reopen in Cairns from Saturday.
Bookings are available on the hour, every hour, from 11am to 9pm. There will be a 50 minute maximum per booking in place.
Villa Romana Cairns will also reopen from 7am on Saturday and Salt House will welcome diners from 12pm for two hour sittings throughout the whole day.
Australian Culinary Federation Cairns president Brian Down said his biggest concern with the easing of dining restrictions was the potential for another spike in COVID-19 cases.
He said another forced closure would be detrimental for the hospitality industry.
“My concern is if a lot of places open up and then there’s a breakout again, we get locked down again,” he said.
“You’ve got all these people coming off JobKeeper, you’ve got all these people going back to work, people spending money to reopen, and then they get shut down again.
“A lot of the places are going to be cautious I think.”
Mr Down said the 10-person limit was also going to be a challenge, with the restriction not financially viable for many bigger businesses.
“It’s going to be quite hard for some of the bigger restaurants, maybe for some of the smaller ones where it’s just the owner/operator would be OK,” he said.
“There’s also consideration for some of the larger ones that possibly have space where they could allocate maybe four parts of their dining room for 10 customers.”