Restaurant review: Perfect spot for budding romances

A COMBINATION of good food, a 140-year-old house and a lush location at the entrance to a forest park continues to make this a southeast Queensland romantic hotspot.

Alison Walsh

2 min read

October 18, 2018 - 6:00PM

The octopus at Harry's on Buderim. Picture: Megan Slade/AAP

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THE last time I was at Harry’s on Buderim was for a wedding more than 20 years ago.

On a recent visit on a mid-week night there was further matrimonial action in an inside room, with My Heart Will Go on and other romantic standards seeping through the timber walls to our location on the restaurant’s veranda.

The combination of a 136-year-old house and a lush location overlooking lawn at the entrance to Buderim Forest Park appears to have continued to make it a Sunshine Coast romantic hotspot.

The now-restaurant was built in 1882 by Harry Board, a cedar cutter and carpenter and coffee grower, as his home in a different position in Buderim and moved to its current location in the 1990s.

Harry's on Buderim has a lush rainforest setting. Picture: Megan Slade/AAP

New owners took over the fine diner in January: chef Stuart Bell, who had been at the two-hatted winery restaurant Ten Minutes by Tractor on the Mornington Peninsula for a decade and his wife Lisa, his sister Sharon and brother-in-law Neale Rivett.

The beautiful forest surrounds make it optimal perhaps as a lunchtime destination but lights strung across the entrance provide a attractive welcome for guests arriving after dark. On a cool, rainy night we were protected from the elements by roll-down canvas, which while practical, is not especially ambient and a completely different experience to that diners would have at other times.

The menu is traditionally formatted with six entrees and six mains and with a complimentary amuse bouche and pre-dessert palate cleanser included. Tender, charred, slow-cooked octopus with crispy mussels, borlotti beans and gremolata ($25) and tortellini of rabbit with roast loin, parsnip puree, sautéed mushrooms, compressed apple and mustard grain vinaigrette ($26) are a fine beginning, with the rabbit so generously sized that I thought the main course I’d ordered would be superfluous to requirements.

The drinks list takes a welcome local slant, kicking off with a range of beer from Sunshine Coast Brewery in nearby Kunda Park, Sunshine Coast ciders made in Woombye from Granite Belt apples and a couple of pale ales from Bargara Brewing Company in Bundaberg (the regional vibe dispelled somewhat by both the coastal town and the city 270km to the north being misspelt).

The strawberry mousse at Harry’s on Buderim. Picture: Megan Slade/AAP

Following on is a good list of Australian and New Zealand wines, each with a couple of lines of description to aid selection, although our wines by the glass were delivered pre-poured.

Service is very friendly and enthusiastic and the courses are well paced. One downside was the bathrooms, which were in need of a good sweep.

Barramundi ($38) is slightly overcooked but the skin was beautifully crisp and enhanced by leek puree, charred leeks, slow-roasted tomatoes and encircled by drizzles of basil emulsion. Roasted duck breast is perfectly pink and teamed with celeriac, chestnuts, native riberries and duck jus ($38).

Desserts are up there in pricing but they are really large enough for two people. Mandarin cake with mandarin cremeaux is scattered with fresh raspberries and luscious raspberry and crème fraiche ice-cream ($18). Our other choice was single-handedly trying to solve the strawberry crisis with an appealing combination of strawberry mousse and fresh strawberries contrasting texturally with a wedge of crisp kataifi pastry and red finger lime ice cream ($18).

This is generous fare in the traditional mould, forged by classical technique from quality produce in a setting designed to charm.