Netflix movie Romance on the Menu filmed in Brisbane suburb of Shorncliffe
A new romantic comedy released on Netflix this week was meant to be set in the United States before a simple Google search and a little local hospitality landed the film crew in the coastal Brisbane suburb of Shorncliffe.
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It was a simple Google search and a friendly local couple that landed Netflix movie Romance on the Menu in the coastal Brisbane suburb of Shorncliffe.
The romantic comedy, which was released on Netflix in Australia and New Zealand on Thursday, was originally scripted to be set in the United States before first-time director Rosie Lourde pushed for it to switch to Australia.
Romance on the Menu follows a New York restaurateur, played by Canadian actor Cindy Busby, who inherits her aunt’s cafe in Lemon Myrtle Cove, Australia, and begins falling for a local chef, played by Wonderland’s Tim Ross.
So Lourde took to Google last year to find the perfect pier for the film’s fictional seaside town.
“I Googled ‘Beautiful piers in Queensland’ and Shorncliffe came up and it blew my mind,” Lourde said. “I sent it to (producer) Steve (Jaggi)…. And just showed them pictures of the pier.
“I jumped on a plane, got in a car and drove around. The pier and all those gorgeous Queenslander houses, the beautiful park and trees, it just spoke that we needed to film it there.”
Lourde got her way and Romance on the Menu was filmed on location around Brisbane late last year.
She spotted a beautiful Queenslander home adjacent to the park’s café and “barrelled” up the owner as she walked out the front door, who instantly agreed to let them film in her home.
The homeowners then introduced Lourde to the team at the Queensland Cruising Yacht Club nearby, where they ended up filming important scenes.
“That’s not the sentiment you’d get in Sydney,” Lourde said.
“I was so chuffed by everyone’s generosity.”
The Corella restaurant in Woolloongabba doubled as New York for the film while the café they filmed at was The Hamptons in Hendra, which has since closed.
“I just want people to be able to take a breath, it’s such intense times for so many different reasons that are all compounding,” Lourde said.
“It’s a movie set in a simpler time.
Lourde said Ross, who lives in Queensland, was the standout on set, having landed the role over another actor after sending in a last minute photo while helping his father renovate.
“He sent a photo of him halfway up a ladder holding a drill. I took it into Steve and said ‘this is our guy’,” she laughed.
