The must-visit restaurant on your next Queensland holiday

A chef from one of Australia’s most high-profile Asian restaurants has brought his talent in the kitchen to a more exotic location.

It’s Carnivale weekend in Port Douglas, the annual festival replete with a street parade, fireworks, food, music and family events, most on the beach or parkland overlooking the gleaming, rainforest-fringed waters of the Coral Sea.

We’re at Jungle Fowl on Wharf St, in early before the spectacular Queensland Symphony Orchestra performance in the park across the road, and soon realise what’s on our plates is as much a feast for the senses as what’s going on around town.

A selection of dishes from Jungle Fowl in Port Douglas. Picture: Chrissie Cosgrove

The restaurant, which opened mid 2022 in the tourist mecca 66km north of Cairns, is the work of chef Ben Wallace (whose CV includes three years as sous chef at Melbourne’s Longrain) and front of house manager Rachael Boon, who also worked in Melbourne but grew up in Port Douglas where her family owned Thai restaurants, including one on the site of what is now Jungle Fowl.

Boon’s talents extend to tending a large garden at Oak Beach, about 10 minutes to the south of Port Douglas, which provides much of the fresh produce for the restaurant and painting the eatery’s interior with bright orange, green and blue murals depicting tigers, figures and plants to create an appealing, playful vibe.

The dining room at Jungle Fowl. Picture: Chrissie Cosgrove

Tables set with copper cutlery and small tin cups for water spill outside to line the street. Wallace, too, showcases his skills more widely, such as a delicious. Month Out collaboration with former colleague sAme sAme head chef Arte Assavakavinvong in Brisbane last month.

Jungle Fowl’s menu is described as modern Thai, with a couple of other dishes from broader Southeast Asia thrown into the mix.

Jungle Fowl sits along Wharf St in Port Douglas. Picture: Chrissie Cosgrove

The hungry and the indecisive will love the six-course banquet ($83pp), otherwise, “smalls” a selection of snacks and entree-sized meals comprises dishes such as beef brisket stuffed bao buns, lightly cured coral trout with local honey and ginger or wagyu beef skewers with satay and cucumber relish.

We opt for glossy betel leaves topped with a prawn, coconut, peanut and pomelo mix with hints of herbs and chilli (three for $25.50), which proves to be a fine start, showcasing perfectly fresh ingredients and a deft hand in the kitchen to balance the flavours.

Prawn betel leaf at Jungle Fowl. Picture: Chrissie Cosgrove

Spiced blue swimmer crab toast (three for $27) arrives as fingers of crunchy bread topped with the crab enhanced by a hint of curry and sprinkled with prawn citrus salt. Thai street food ($22.50) turns out to be house-made rice crackers piled with a fragrant peanut, coconut and chilli relish.

Crab toast at Jungle Fowl. Picture: Chrissie Cosgrove

Larger share dishes include chilled squid salad, pork belly with sticky caramel and coriander, local tiger prawn noodles, and a strong veg game of red curry of pumpkin (duck can be added), barbecued wombok and eggplant or Asian greens in a mushroom broth.

But we choose rendang of short rib beef ($42.70), which proves irresistible, the meat ridiculously tender and teamed with potatoes from Tolga on the Atherton Tableland, the lot coated in a terrific, aromatic, coconut-enhanced sauce that thrills the tastebuds with its myriad notes but doesn’t resort to heavy handedness. Scattered over the top are strands of toasted and fresh coconut and slivers of kaffir lime leaf.

Kung pao chicken from Jungle Fowl. Picture: Chrissie Cosgrove

Kung pao chicken ($38.50) packs some heat with sichuan pepper while not going overboard, with spring onion and peanuts adding textural interest.

Dining early means it’s happy hour and a Thai mojito in a tall glass with lashings of mint and kaffir lime ($12/$23 after 6pm) is a perfect scene setter, one of 10 creative cocktails, while a 17-strong global wine list from chablis to McLaren Vale grenache is supplemented by beers including Singha and Great Northern.

Desserts are a caramelised pineapple panna cotta ($21) that’s pleasant but a bit muted after the earlier culinary pyrotechnics, and peanut, chocolate and coconut “lamington” fudge ($15).

With its fine, inventive take on favourites, tropically attuned drinks list, vigilant, knowledgeable service and mood-lifting decor, Jungle Fowl is flying high, a must if you are lucky enough to be in town.

Jungle Fowl

2/28 Wharf St, Port Douglas

0438 055 038

junglefowl.com.au

Must try

Beef rendang

Verdict – Scores out of 5

Food 4

Service 4

Ambience 4

Value 4

Overall 4