Culinary Crossroads at Cairns

1999

The culinary road from Melbourne to Cairns is a long one. But there we were, Tiberio Donnini and I, both former Melbourne restaurateurs, sitting under the north Queensland sun on the pier at Cairns. Back in Lygon Street when Tiberio’s family had the Universita Coffee Lounge, our conversations would last as long as a short black. Even if you had two, which you need sometimes early in the day, you’d drink them down fast standing at the bar.

The pace of life is very different in Cairns where Tiberio now runs Donnini’s Ciao Italia, is a partner in Pesci and has management input into many of the Food Court outlets at the Pier.

Tiberio actually sat still, talking, outside Pesci, for an hour. As a restaurateur and pasta maker in Melbourne’s Donnini’s he’d always be racing to serve the next customer.

But we had important business to discuss, we had to find out where to eat. Our mission to discover the best eating and drinking places in Cairns and beyond.

‘Who wants to eat in paradise?’ is the message you get on arriving in north Queensland. As you blink against the dazzle of the sun, sit and stare at the blue expanse of water; wander the beaches or retreat into the cool mountain greenery; restaurants assume a low priority.

Many of the restaurants in Cairns and the popular resorts nearby, don’t open until sunset. Seems like a great life style to restaurateurs from down south.

But if you aren’t in the pool or out in a boat and need sustenance at noon, in Cairns there’s some good Japanese eating to be found at Kamome on the first floor of The Conservatory which has good value lunch specials as well as a large a la carte menu, with some very interesting dishes.

Yama on Spence Street has $5-6 lunch trays in a very simple setting which is popular with local office workers.

If you are an indoors art lover, the Cairns Regional Art Gallery has regularly changing exhibitons in a handsome historic building, at the corner of Spence and Abbot Sts, and an outdoor cafe Perottas which is a good spot for a light meal or just a coffee. It is open lunch and dinner daily.

You have to wait till 5.30pm to eat state of the art schnitzels at Franz’s Schnitzelhaus, 39 Shields Street. A modern large room with some outdoor seating, an impeccably clean display kitchen which pan-fries schnitzels to order, a choice of potatoes, fries or traditional spaetzle with a huge salad bar to serve yourself from. The schnitzels and other traditional German dishes would challenge the hungriest of beach goers. And there are music nights featuring a local group, The Sauerkrauts.

The Schnitzelhaus is a newcomer to this block of Shields Street which has a number of Italian restaurants, amongst them, is la Fettucina for a lively night time atmosphere and uncomplicated pasta dishes.

Then, close by, the pride of the city, the Red Ochre Grill managed by chef Craig Squire and James Fielke. The Red Ochre business was started in Adelaide by Andrew Fielke (James’ brother) with Craig as chef but the Cairns Red Ochre Grill is independent of all other Red Ochre operations. In Cairns, Craig still uses the bush tucker ingredients made famous by the Red Ochre name but in a more restrained way. His cooking uses many other flavours such as mussels cooked with tomato, olives and anchovies served on spaghetti. A dish any Italian would be proud of.

It is served in a light airy room set on the corner of Shields and Spence Sts. There’s books and magazine racks, interesting aboriginal art and a fish tank to look at whilst your meal is being prepared. The food here is excellent and cooked to order, so some things take time. Craig sources produce from all round Australia and finds it hard to maintain prices which the locals won’t grumble about.

Whereas at Port Douglas, which relies almost entirely on tourist trade, not only are there are heaps of restaurants in the area but they seem able to sustain higher prices than in Cairns.

At Nautilus, Hilary Clinton’s choice for the meal she and Bill had during the American President’s Australian visit, you will spend more than $50 for a meal. It’s a stunning setting, a world of its own lit entirely by candles, within a jungle of trees and the sounds of the night, a blissfully music free environment. Not so, at The Vue just across the road, up the hill. The view deserves its name with an unobstructed panorama of the ocean but with too loud background music.

You get a very different view from On the Inlet, with the trawlers pulling up right in front of the timber decking built out over the water of Dickson Inlet. You can see the fish being unloaded and processed as you eat. It’s a fish shop and restaurant with take away fish and chips or sit down fancy meals. The sunset special of a bucket of freshly cooked prawns or of oysters on the shell with a glass of wine or beer for $10 is unbeatable value.

In the centre of Port Douglas on Macrossan Street, there are two good Thai restaurants, Star of Siam and Royal Orchid.

Nearby is Salsa which maintains a short but very reasonably priced menu with daily blackboard specials. The mood is cool, the barman practises his bottle throwing in tune to the music but the food comes quickly, is well presented with a good balance of flavours.

You can eat in the cafe or bar area or outside on the pavement. It’s a lot easier these days to have a snack or just chill out over a drink in cafes in Queensland. Previously the licensing laws required food to be consumed with alcohol served in a restaurant or cafe. Now you can order just a drink within a certain area of licensed premises. However wine buffs won’t find great selections on the wine lists but as there is an excellent bottle shop in Macrossan Street set up by John Smith, a former Melbourne restaurateur, now owner of the Central Hotel, it is worth checking if you can BYO a bottle to the restaurant you choose. Amongst his recommendations was Il Pescatore at the Mirage Country Club, the ‘Brunch for the Birds’ at the Rainforest Habitat, Portofinos in Macrossan Street and Ilios which serves modern Mediterranean food with a Greek emphasis, and of course – in true Greek fashion, is open evenings only.

Back in Cairns, Fettas at 70 Abbott Street, is a fun place for very traditional Greek food, music and dancing. The Zorba tape gets played about 9.15pm, if you don’t like dancing with strangers or the noise of smashing plates, leave early.

For Indian fare, local gourmets recommend the Tandoori Oven at 628 Shields Street and the place for a drink is Mondo Cafe Bar and Grill waterside at the Hilton.

For pizza, you do have to go and say ciao to the Donnini’s at The Pier. They bake a fine crisp dough with just the right amount of topping at Ciao Italia and, as you would expect given the family heritage, coffee is very good.

Coming from Melbourne we thought Tiberio might get nostalgic about Chinese food (Melbourne’s Chinatown and eastern suburbs have many fine chinese restaurants) and sure enough one of his favourite eating places in Cairns is Cafe China. And, not surprisingly, we learn that owner Harry Sou is also from Melbourne where he worked at Bamboo House. The cafe has a large Cantonese menu prepared by Hong Kong trained chefs, plus a sushi and noodle bar. When we visited it was located on the first floor of The Pier complex but is moving to Rydges Plaza on the corner of Spence and Grafton Streets at the beginning of November.

Also, see andrew Corrigan on Queensland wine regions.