Noosa’s hidden food and drink gems
Noosa is undergoing a culinary resurgence but the new hotspots – and places to shelter from the weekend rain – including a pizzeria, breweries and distilleries are tucked away in unexpected locations.
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Before us is the Ruby Tuesday pizza, topped with prosciutto, marinated kohlrabi root, roasted red onion, hickory-smoked macadamias, broccoli sprouts, Meredith Goat’s cheese and fior di latte mozzarella that has us thinking less about any potential Rolling Stones connection and more about when we’ll be able to order it again.
An inspired creation by Naples-born, surfing chef Gianluca Donzelli – fandom wasn’t behind the title, he just thought of the idea on a Tuesday and there were some red components – and it’s just one of the inventive pizzas with supple, char-bubbled bases being turned out on the site of the old Pizza Hut in Noosa Junction.
All that’s left of the chain outlet are the memories, as the Somedays Pizza owners, Nathan Ramsay and Shane Newton, remade it this year as a laid-back eatery with a minimalist, bare-concrete floor fit-out, a giant dome of an oven hunched up the back, a smart Italian-Australian wine list with a low-intervention edge, with vinyl albums lined up on the bar ready to spin a mood.
This is just one of the many businesses putting life into the northern Sunshine Coast tourist enclave’s hospitality scene.
Noosa Junction, previously better known as a low-key shopping strip, is pumping. It’s now also home to relative newcomer, Pucca, a breezy, plant-enhanced space where Michelin-trained chef Neale White dishes up superior, southern Indian-inspired dishes such as aromatic Keralan fish and prawn curries and hot, flaky parathas and there’s a drinks line-up that includes a commendable array of gins.
And on Friday nights, as when we visited, the trees are wrapped in fairy lights, and courtesy of the local traders’ group, a number of guitar-strumming musicians are dotted along Sunshine Beach Road between a growing array of generally cheaper eats such as Ze Pickle and Lightyears. There’s also an outbreak of low-key bars such as Telephone Call from Istanbul, which is cheek-by-jowl with laid-back Eddie Cheebas, and the teeming Village Bicycle around the corner.
While the array of dining options is growing, so too is quality, with Somedays pizzas the equal of any around. Donzelli arrived in the beach haven via his most recent gig as a consultant to the pizza operation at Felons at Howard Smith Wharves and prior to that, running Stefano Manfredi’s Pizzaperta Kitchen in Sydney.
His craft is assisted by his penchant for quality ingredients, organic Kialla flour from Toowoomba (some white, some wholemeal) and cheeses from Brisbane’s artisan supplier Casa Motta. Beyond the Ruby Tuesday, try the Gambero topped with Mooloolaba prawns, or All the Cheese, with various varieties of Woombye’s finest with walnuts, cress and local honeycomb.
Or take your time and begin with the chef’s take on garlic bread, a puffball of two-day fermented pizza dough, it rises like crazy unburdened by toppings, and comes with a creamy garlic and dill dipping sauce.
Also don’t dismiss dessert, the tiramisu and panna cotta are terrific.
Elsewhere, despite the impact of COVID, there’s action beyond the restaurant staples such as Peter Kuravita’s Noosa Beach House and Season in Hastings Street and Ricky’s on Noosa Sound.
When top-rung Japanese Wasabi diner closed its doors after 17 years earlier this year, along came Esmay, a three-month pop-up by Alannah Sapwell, who grew up locally and last year dazzled at the helm of the now defunct Arc at Brisbane’s Howard Smith Wharves. This week, Winston, another pop-up by former Spicers head chef Cameron Matthews, is starting a similar stint. Sunshine Beach powerhouse Sum Yung Guys is also decamping, buying their own premises in Noosaville and making the move by Easter. But not all developments on the hospitality scene are on the plate, with the drinks sector also thriving.
About 10 minutes away from Noosa Heads, the Noosaville industrial estate is home to Heads of Noosa brewing company, Boiling Pot Brewing Co and Land & Sea Brewery, also home to the Fortune distillery All have food and drink on offer adjacent to the onsite brewing spaces.
Heads of Noosa Brewing Company, which I recently encountered via its fresh and inviting Japanese Lager on tap at the newly revamped Sunshine Beach Surf Club, has a point of difference in that it focuses on brewing lager. On a recent Saturday, with a musician strumming away, an Oktoberfest food theme and a gentle breeze blowing across the deck at
The Taproom, a tasting paddle unearthed the tropical notes of Summer Dusk Lager which won gold at last year’s Australian International Beer Awards, a 5.8 per cent alcohol, deeply flavoured Bock Lager and a refreshing 3.5 per cent lager which still had plenty of body.
Their new non-alcoholic hop water is also appealing. The beers are brewed by brothers Lance and Craig Masterton, who played the stockmarket and brewed as a hobby in Brisbane’s Chermside before heading north and opening last year in Rene Street. The menu runs to tender calamari, pulled pork sliders, fried buffalo cauliflower and burgers, and when we were there, German sausages and pretzels, all dished up by very pleasant staff.
At nearby Land & Sea, Noosa’s first craft brewery, there’s a welcoming atmosphere which manages to juggle all comers. On arrival, we pass a buck’s party on their way out, the groom in de rigueur pink tutu, as families and groups spread around the inviting premises that is also home to the Fortune Distillery, with a repertoire including gins such as the Noosa with hibiscus and mango notes and the Sum Yung Guys, which involves a little fish sauce. There’s a fruity theme with the 6.5 per cent Juice Box IPA, mango and mixed berry sours and a dolce and banana cocktail on tap. The menu is expansive and lunch might be 12-hour slow-roasted lamb shoulder sandwiches or loaded fries with Mexican bean and beer cheese sauce.
Boiling Pot, which opened at the end of last year and is named for a feature in Noosa National Park, boasts an outdoor area beneath a tree festooned with paper lanterns.
About half an hour away in the small hinterland town of Pomona, overlooked by the 439m Mt Cooroora, local Robin Yates, whose passion for spirits dates back to his uni days when he used to distil drops in the back of the chemistry lab, now experiments with gin blends and native botanicals at Pomona Distilling Co. Sample Pomona dry gin or perhaps blue pea flower gin, along with cocktails, beers, wines and spirits in this attractively renovated shopfront with outdoor seating and loads of nooks and crannies. Grazing could include duck pancakes or brisket baos.
Back in Noosa Heads, excellent digs await at Netanya Noosa, right on Hastings Street, separated only from the sands of Laguna Bay by the boardwalk that leads to Noosa National Park. Beachside there’s a large pool, and room types range from one-bedroom studio apartments through to three-bedroom villas.
Rooms are compact and comfortable, with the beds at the back of the units to encourage sleeping in, each has a balcony, and some have a rooftop deck.
A fridge and hotplates allow for self-catering, with Providore on Hastings in the lobby selling local and artisan products, alcohol, as well as Little Cove Coffee, pastries, salads and sandwiches.
Restaurants a few steps away include beachfront Sails and Locale across the road, while Rococo Noosa just up the way has cheerful staff serving hearty food in an optimal spot for people watching.
The writer was a guest of Visit Noosa
BOOK IT NOW
EAT
Somedays Pizza
Sunshine Beach Road, Noosa Heads
somedayspizza.com.au
DRINK
Heads of Noosa
85 Rene St, Noosaville
headsofnoosa.com.au
Land & Sea
19 Venture Drive, Noosaville
landandseabrewery.com
Boiling Pot Brewing Co
130A Eumundi Noosa Rd, Noosaville
boilingpotbrewingco.com.au
Pomona Distilling Company
18 Reserve St, Pomona
pomonadistilling.com.au
STAY
Netanya Noosa Beachfront Resort
From $399 for a one-bedroom unit.
netanyanoosa.com.au
visitnoosa.com.au
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