The 1970s was a feast for fine dining on the Sunshine Coast as it moved from a staple of fish and chips at the beginning of the decade to filet mignon at its close.
And by the 1980s, the restaurant business was really cooking.
The title of the “first quality restaurant” must go to the Boolarong, which the enigmatic Englishwoman Betsan Coats (pictured) opened in 1957.
It stood alone during the 1960s as an exotic and sophisticated restaurant-motel, “a delightfully decorated, gay place”.
At the beginning of the 1970s, choices for dining out were limited, even though people were invited to “breakaway” in their new Torana.
Local “where to eat” listings suggested Caprice on the Esplanade at Mooloolaba which specialised in seafood, and Cotton Tree Inn’s Nautilus Room for a-la-carte lunch and dinner during the week and “a fabulous smorgasbord” on Sundays.
Audine’s Restaurant in Bulcock St, Caloundra, had an a-la-carte menu until 9pm, and the offer to bring your favourite wines and not pay corkage.
Nettleton’s Restaurant on Buderim Mountain suggested trying “vintage wines from our renowned cellar” and menus “arranged to suit your requirements”.
Bryan’s Bistro opened below Hayne and Perren Pharmacy in Currie St, Nambour, in March 1970, promising the “finest a la carte menu on the Sunshine Coast” with “soft lighting, sweet music and smooth décor”.
It advertised that “for the connoisseur it’s a delight to ponder upon” and the gourmet needed to go no further.
These were the times when Thai and Indian were unheard of and even Italian cuisine was still in the future.
Menus were typically prawn cocktails, carpetbag steak and surf’n’turf accompanied by Liebfraumilch Blue Nun hock, Nuit St George Burgundy, Chianti Melini and Mateus Rose, followed by Vandermint, Sabra and Pasha liqueurs.
When the 11-storey Maroochy Sands opened as the Coast’s first high-rise in 1971, the groundfloor became a large Chinese restaurant. Peter Sun catered for large groups and with live music, the place was always packed.
The problem had been the Queensland liquor laws, which had restricted licences for restaurants to just two establishments a year but once relaxed, the revolution began, with the late John Douglas, “JD”, leading the charge.
He introduced the Coast to fine dining and dominated the restaurant scene for decades. Aged 77 when he died in August, Douglas was tall and lean, and known for a characteristic cough and the small towel draped over his shoulder as he kept watch over the patrons who consistently packed his restaurants – Fronds, Smuggler’s Cove, Checkers, Charades, Hernando’s Hideaway, the Galleon … one after another he took the restaurant scene to new heights.
Alfie’s Restaurant on Aerodrome Rd moved it up a notch when it offered sorbet to cleanse the palate between courses.
In 1977, Yule Rust, an ex-Navy American who had been living in New Mexico, arrived at Sixth Avenue, Cotton Tree and opened what was to become an institution.
Rusty’s Mexican Restaurant was so popular among locals that Rusty would close over the lucrative Christmas period and take his holidays like his clientele, saying he wasn’t there for the tourist trade.
Furnishings were rudimentary yet authentic, the menu never changed –neither did the staff – and patrons would line up to get in, year in and year out for at least 25 years.
Although the original diners arrived to a haze of smoke, Rusty’s would become the first restaurant on the Sunshine Coast to ban smoking.
(One regular recalls the night Rusty invited a group to stay on for a tequila on the house, then later said he was off and to shut the door on their way out).
In early 1979, the first, and only, floating restaurant opened on the Maroochy River near Chambers Island.
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A former dredge mounted on a barge which had pumped sand from the river until 1975, was converted into a seafood restaurant and opened as the Barge-Inn River Restaurant.
The name was changed to the Rusty Pelican and then operated as the Pelican Queen until 1986 when it was destroyed by fire. It was never rebuilt.
Pisces Seafood Restaurant at Alexandra Headland and Signatures on the riverfront near Cornmeal Creek and the Coral Restaurant in the Rolling Surf motel at Kings Beach, entered the market and tempted the crowds.
Further north, there was the Shingle Chalet at Peregian, the Red Bull steakhouse and the Attic at Noosa, although Barry’s Bistro, later Barry’s on the Beach, in Hastings St could claim to be Noosa’s first “good” restaurant although a few years later Annabelle’s raised the bar even higher.
Also in Hastings St was Chez Fred, the first French restaurant in Noosa, opened by German Fred Kohler. Opposite, Luke Turschwell had Belmondo’s, which introduced locals to couscous.
Gavin’s Place on the corner of what would become Noosa Junction, was cheap and cheerful for locals who couldn’t afford to dine on steak and seafood at Barry’s.
And it was all up from there as we entered the ‘80s.
And now, half a century later, the Sunshine Coast has too many restaurants to mention. They feature in gourmet guides around the nation and Hastings Street is nationally recognised as a fine dining destination.
This flashback is brought to you by veteran Sunshine Coast journalist and history writer Dot Whittington, also the editor of Your Time Magazine.
