Bistro C is packed to the rafters but does not take the fabulous location for granted

IT’S the Noosa restaurant that's remarkable for its longevity and is known for its safe, consistent cuisine with broad appeal. And it is always packed to the rafters.

Where has everyone gone from Noosa Beach?

We crest Noosa Hill to find Laguna Bay a placid lake, the sky Omo-packet blue with a couple of puffs of white cloud hovering above the horizon, the beach almost deserted.

Where is everyone, we wonder, has forecast rain cleared the decks?

The real reason no one much is about, we discover, is that almost the entire population of the northern Sunshine Coast town is lunching in Bistro C.

This 140-seat restaurant, wonderfully located smack-bang in the middle of the boardwalk fronting Main Beach, is filled to its freshly painted rafters with a buzzing crowd, including a multi-age celebration lunch at a long table adorned with flowers, tourists, families in shorts, an older group in linen and, next to us, a young man awkwardly meeting his potential in-laws with his girlfriend.

Spinach and Shiitake Dumplings with Miso burnt butter, sesame broccoli and snow peas at Bistro C in Noosa. Photo: Lachie Millard

The interior was looking sprightly after the bistro closed for a couple of weeks towards the end of July for a freshen-up and styling tweak, emerging last month like new.

We booked a week ahead and scored a table against the sliding front doors, while a cluster of hardier souls, including a couple with a dog, braved the breeze and sat on the small deck separated only by the boardwalk from the beach.

The bistro is remarkable for its longevity – owner Lorri Banks opened the place in 1992, with the same chef, Dayle Merlo, almost since the beginning. It’s known not for innovation but safe, consistent cuisine with broad appeal and a bustling vibe across three meals a day, seven days a week.

Experience would dismiss any establishment with views this spectacular as being unlikely to feel the need to deliver much in the way of cracking food.

However, we started with a shared plate of spinach and shiitake dumplings ($21), which were bathed in a miso burnt butter and scattered with sesame broccoli and snow peas. It was a fresh and enticing beginning.

Cardamom and Tamarind Glazed Confit Duck with kumera mash, oyster sauce greens and sticky mandarin at Bistro C Noosa. Photo Lachie Millard

The wine list is reasonably extensive with an Australian focus (nothing from Queensland, though) but with several French contenders thrown in for good measure.

What is outstanding is the selection of more than 50 wines by the glass, which is perfect for the style of venue.

I made an excellent beer discovery, too, when I agreed to share a bright and citrusy Black Hops Pale Ale brewed in Burleigh Heads.

The food arrived in good time despite the crowd: two cider-battered fish fillets with a thicket of salad leaves enlivened with capers, red onion, celery and dill, a small hillock of gribiche and a pile of very good, crisp outside, floury-inside chips ($28), and duck leg with a “cake” of kway teow noodles, wok-cooked greens, mandarin, ginger and star anise ($33), which was fine.

Best of the lineup we sampled was the crab spaghettini ($37), with confit chilli, garlic, cherry tomatoes, capers, shallots, spinach caught in the tangle of pasta, and a couple of king prawns perched jauntily on top.

Mango Cremeaux trifle with poached peach, passionfruit jelly and sorbet with crystallised pistachios at Bistro C in Noosa. Photo Lachie Millard

We shared a trifle ($15), a large glass filled with not quite enough sponge, mango cremeaux, poached peach and passionfruit jelly, topped with a scoop of sorbet and a scattering of crystallised pistachios.

Goat’s curd and caramelised white chocolate cheesecake with clementine sorbet also sounded good.

Bistro C deals well with its daily deluge of diners keen to have pole position to enjoy the stunning views of Laguna Bay.

Its food isn’t reinventing the wheel but it more than meets its brief.

Al fresco diners at Bistro C on Noosa Main Beach. Photo Lachie Millard

BISTRO C

49 Hastings St

Noosa Heads

BOOK

Bookings (apart from breakfast) Ph [phone]

bistroc.com.au

OPEN Seven days, 7.30am until late

MUST TRY Crab spaghettini

THE VERDICT

Food 7

Ambience 9

Service 7

Value 8

OVERALL 7.5/10