DELIGHT IN WORLD FLAVOURS
WhenI was a child my mum, who with my dad had emigrated to Australia from England in the 1950s, watched as many TV shows, either British or about Brits, as were on the box, presumably because they reminded her of home.
One of these that I remember well was about a British chef named Graham Kerr, who was known as the Galloping Gourmet, as he’d travelled all over the world to the finest restaurants around the globe.
Last week I met a Townsville chef who could well go by the same title, as he’s worked in a myriad of restaurants in places across Australasia and Asia.
Yanni Diacomanolis – also known as Johnny Diacos – was also a first generation Aussie whose parents came to Australia in the 1950s from Greece, settling in Brisbane.
Yanni’s mother and aunts were good cooks, and as a boy he learned about food from them, helping out with various tasks in the kitchen.
At 17 he started working at the Greek Community Centre in Brisbane, which catered for functions of up to 1000 people. He worked in the kitchen, the bar and front of house, learning from the ground up.
When Brisbane hosted Expo in 1988, Yanni took a job with a Canadian company that specialized in catering for big events. Again, he slipped between the front and back of house, learning ‘more in six months than any cooking school could teach’, he says.
Over the years since then he has worked in or run restaurants everywhere from Dunk Island to Margaret River, Cairns to Tasmania, Longreach to Mudgee and, when the travel bug took him even further afield, in Thailand, Cambodia, Japan and New Zealand.
Eventually Yanni yearned to be back in the tropics, and he has been at Seagulls Resort since December last year.
The restaurant had been closed for two years before that, but new owners Redhill Hospitality have been gradually renovating the resort and decided it was time to re-open the kitchen.
Yanni’s extensive experience in different cuisines is reflected in the menu.
There are of course Greek and other Mediterranean dishes, such as chargrilled octopus, sousoukakia (Greek meatballs), pastas and risottos.
Then there’s a taste of Asia in dishes such as duck spring rolls with dipping sauce, and pork belly bites with ginger and chilli jam.
Mains include crispy skin barramundi, vegetarian eggplant stack, and a curry of the day, plus from the grill, local Aussie grass-fed steaks, Mediterranean spiced lamb cutlets, and chargrilled marinated chicken.
There are also garden fresh salads including – of course – Greek salads.
The restaurant is proving popular with groups, whether in-house guests or locals.
Yanni has also put together function menus, and inquiries for special occasions like weddings, birthdays and so on have started coming in.
At present the restaurant is opening Tuesday-saturday, but Yanni plans to take on more chefs in the kitchen and the menu will evolve… it should be one to watch.
Yanni’s extensive experience in different cuisines is reflected in the menu.
Seagulls Resort is at 74 The Esplanade, Belgian Gardens (enter via Primrose St, between Ryan St and Marshall St), Phone 4721 3111. The restaurant is open for Breakfast and Dinner, Tuesday to Saturday.