‘Not your usual bowls club fare’: New Noosa venue worth the detour
The food and drinks at this hinterland venue north of Brisbane are far from anything you’d usually expect from a Queensland bowlo.
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A DIY sushi roll – a wedge of seared salmon crowned with sesame seeds and finely sliced spring onion lying on purple-hued rice and a strip of nori – is a delicate surprise of a starter at the bowls club in Cooroy.
The venue, with its verdant green in the small hinterland town about 30 minutes from Noosa, has recently been rebranded as Crackerjack, and, public service announcement, this is very obviously not your usual bowls club fare.
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The appealing, Asian-inspired menu reads like it’s been created by a seasoned operator and it has, with the accomplished Jake Pregnall, who has been head chef at Rick Shores on the Gold Coast and Honto in Fortitude Valley, the executive chef here.
The town’s bowls club opened in 1944, became a “bowlspub” in recent times under the branding of Sunshine Coast craft beer outfit Your Mates, and then at the end of last year, morphed into Crackerjack.
Inspired by the 2002 movie of the same name starring Mick Molloy, the refurbished venue has a community feel with a kids’ playground on one side and the bowls green on the other, with a stack of Your Mates brews on tap.
Outdoor tables populate either side of the airconditioned clubhouse with a casual, carpeted dining area (including signs to the “dunnies”), a bar and a pool table overlooked by a framed photo of Molloy in bowls garb, and a slightly more formal dining room dubbed Banquet House, with a quirky display of lawn bowls memorabilia.
We’re greeted by a friendly staffer and seated at our pre-booked dog friendly table overlooking the greens. The operation is very casual, with drinks and food ordered at the bar and there’s an adjacent table laden with water and glasses, cutlery, serviettes and plates, but food is delivered to the table and dishes are cleared.
The salmon hand roll ($7) is on the snacks list with the likes of oysters or kingfish sashimi with green nahm jim, while small plates include pork and kimchi gyoza, cheeseburger spring rolls, salt and pepper tofu, chicken karaage and our choices of prawn toast ($15) and a bug taco ($18).
A good-sized, thick slice of toast is covered with prawn and sesame, a hot and crunchy delight with yuzu mayo for dipping, while the taco goes next level with the bug beer battered and the “taco” actually a roti flatbread. It’s a lot and might not get the Heart Foundation tick of approval but it’s undeniably delicious.
Large plates run to 500g sticky Asian pork ribs with apple hoisin, hot ‘n’ sour salad and coconut rice, a 300g sirloin with teriyaki glaze, and a charcoal whole baby snapper, with green curry, fried rice and burnt lemon ($36). We shared the snapper and while the flesh was slightly overcooked, the curry sauce was lovely, the flavours punchy and fresh. Takeaway is available so we also order a 12-hour braised beef short rib with massaman curry, kipfler potatoes and jasmine rice to try later and the chunks of meat are tender, the sauce slightly sweet and deeply flavoured and there’s coconut cream for drizzling and herbs and nuts for sprinkling
The food is all well priced but the banquets at $55 and $75 a person seem very good value, as do the Monday to Friday two-course set lunches and the bottomless banquet.
In addition to the Your Mates beer (tasting paddles and limited releases as well those on tap) is an Australian wine list of eight reds and eight whites from $9 a glass/$43 a bottle and a page of cocktails from a pink dragon margi to a queen bee (vodka, bubble tea and fresh fruit).
On a boiling hot Sunday lunch time we’d had enough to eat but desserts are either milk caramel tart with chocolate ganache, butterscotch and peanuts, or grilled peach, peach tea granita and sweet wakame (both $12).
Fun, chilled and with food that’s a cut above, Crackerjack is worth a detour next time you’re at the coast.
Crackerjack
5 Opal St, Cooroy
crackerjackcooroy.com
Open
Mon-Sun 11.30am-8.30pm
Must try
Charcoal whole baby snapper
Verdict
Food
Service
Ambience
Value
Overall
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