RAY OF LIGHT
Home to pristine beaches, rugged hinterland and a thriving food scene, Queensland’s Sunshine Coast has the essential ingredients for a memorable getaway, writes FIONA DONNELLY.
Home to pristine beaches, rugged hinterland and a thriving food scene, the Sunshine Coast has all the ingredients for a memorable getaway.
There are citrus notes of makrut lime, a trace of mushroomy umami-ness and a suggestion of fish sauce in the mix. But I’m not slurping noodles. I’m sitting outside Moonstruck, a modern café and gin bar on Noosa’s Hastings Street, nosing a quirky gin distilled a mere ten minutes away. It arrives perkily accessorised with local lime and a sprig of Vietnamese mint.
A pho-channelling spirit might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s indicative of how the food and drinks scene is maturing at this upscale coastal destination – becoming more fun, and increasingly confident about backing itself.
For years Queensland’s Sunshine Coast has proved a fertile launchpad for a throng of clever producers and growers – particularly Noosa Shire – a UNESCO biosphere just two hours’ drive north of Brisbane.
It’s also succeeded in getting dining right, enjoying impressive bragging rights, particularly for such a tourist-centric region.
Classic venues such as breezy riverfront destination Rickys River Bar and Restaurant at Noosa Sound and neighbouring Wood Fire Grill and Locale, a handsome Italian on Hastings Street, all continue to win fans, fuelled in part by organic bounty from owner Ogilvie Group’s 250-hectare hinterland Maravista Farm.
Sails Restaurant, overlooking a stunning sweep of Noosa Main Beach, is another long-term champion of produce that hasn’t had to travel far, while television chef Peter Kuruvita’s airy Noosa Beach House at Sofitel Noosa is a day-long attraction, not least for Kuruvita’s deft use of the region’s seafood.
But more recently, a clutch of independent breweries, coffee roasters, distilleries, and assorted small, detail-driven, owner-operated venues have started bubbling up, ensuring visitors have more diversity to enjoy.
It’s a tasty mix and one that Gourmet Traveller’s
Best New Talent 2020, chef Alanna Sapwell, relishes. She’s a Sunshine Coast native who grew up “in the bush” between Gympie and Noosa. In July, she found herself pulled back to Noosa to open Esmay, a threemonth pop-up at the former riverfront home of contemporary Japanese restaurant, Wasabi.
“I did my apprenticeship here [in Noosa] with David Rayner 10 years ago – so it really feels like I’m coming home,” says Sapwell, who credits Rayner, former chefowner of Noosaville’s Thomas Corner and River House, with instilling her keen appreciation for great produce.
It’s Sapwell’s drive for precision and excellence that marked her out during her tenure at Arc,
Brisbane, and aided the success of Esmay, where dishes are punctuated with interesting features like Geraldton wax buds and begonia stalks, coral tooth fungi from Montville’s Mountaintop Mushrooms and pristine fish snapped up from a local who drops anchor at the Noosa Sound jetty with his catch.
“I haven’t had much time to eat out – but we did venture to Boiling Pot Brewing and everything we tasted – like the Pilot Guava Sour and the Survival Ale – was standout,” Sapwell says. “It was the same
at Land & Sea – the Fortune Noosa Gin was so delicious you could sip it all afternoon.”
Moonstruck’s co-owner, Boy Driessen, is a Dutch expat, and he and partner co-owner Mell Thompson moved up to the coast from Byron Bay five years ago. They’ve noticed significant changes in that time, particularly on the drinks’ scene. “There’s been a huge creative input there – we’ve got three really impressive breweries now, and several distilleries. We looked at a lot of places before Noosa, but the lifestyle and the work-life balance here is as good as it can be.”
There’s plenty to keep you on the coast, but to truly taste the region you’ll need hit the road.
Boiling Pot Brewing Co and Land & Sea Brewery, with its site-sharing Noosa distillery, all sit just 10 minutes’ drive from Hastings Street but their location feels a world away, in an industrial estate that’s also home to independent brewer, Heads of Noosa. Locals have started referring to it as the “Beermuda Triangle” – and with good reason.
At Noosa Junction, a once humdrum shopping area, transformation is afoot, with characterful venues like the Turkish-leaning Telephone Call from Istanbul, beer and burger specialist Ze Pickle and modern Asian venues Light Years and Mr. Drifter, deepening the destination’s appeal
Further south, the coastal high-rise urban centres of Mooloolaba and Maroochydore now have more to offer than namesake Mooloolaba prawns and famous MSC-certified tuna from Walker Seafoods. Trawling the glorious hinterland brings its own rewards.