Leonie Palmer
Co-owner, Ricki Ricardo's, Noosa Wharf

July 1997

As Leonie describes it “there’s quite a business set in Noosa... real estate, tourism related, media, advertising arts etc. Those people do eat out, that’s their life force. So the cafe society is here in that sense and the dining is here, year round.” She gave an interesting round up of the places to eat in Noosa.

“The new kid on the block is Gary Skelton (ex The Edge, Sydney) at Season in Hastings St., someone from out of town who has still chosen to take this place on. A lot of restaurateurs fear Noosa because they can’t quite understand where it comes together”. We found excellent pizza, salads and pasta in this simple, unpretentious BYO.

At Sunshine Beach is Soleil, opened nearly three years ago by Patrick Landelle. “ He has tried to marry the sunshine of the Mediterranean as he sees it with this environment. He is a trained chef, the flavours are a good blend - French Tunisian with a good technical hand.” Leonie also talked about the more classical and formal, Artis, which she says is a very good restaurant. She also recommends two Thai influenced places, Chilli Jam and The Spirit House. “Another cute little place called Filligans, that’s very much more the Queensland attitude, food is good, very simple with a delightfully fresh approach.”

She seems to relish being back in her “village”. It was 1993 when Leonie and Steve came to Melbourne for a change of scene. They operated the restaurant at Rockmans Regency for a year and then took about 2 years off to write the Noosa Cook Book, a beautifully produced and informative guide to “Australia’s favourite resort”.

But the Noosa village is, for Leonie, still “very Victorian, that’s still the hot wire. I mean we can do something up here and in Melbourne they’ll know about it. “The ties are very strong . . Melbourne people feel comfortable because that history is here and then climatically (of course) it gives them something they don’t have.”

So Leonie Palmer and Steve Fisher are back in the restaurant harness and loving it. “We realise that when we left (Noosa) we really hadn’t finished. I would hope to think that this (Ricky Ricardo’s) is the establishment, this is it.”