Rice Boi ‘the second’ set to open after Christmas

A “naughty” new restaurant modelled off the “fast and furious” Rice Boi is weeks away from opening on the Sunshine Coast.

A ‘second’ version of the popular Rice Boi is coming to the Maroochydore CBD after Christmas 2020. Pictured is Rice Boi employee Josefine Skarstrom.

A “naughty” new restaurant modelled off the “fast and furious” Rice Boi is weeks away from opening on the Sunshine Coast.

The brainchild of Mooloolaba’s Rice Boi, Tony Kelly, will unveil Giddy Geisha in the Maroochydore CBD by January.

Mr Kelly said Giddy Geisha was “quintessentially a second Rice Boi” with the same Asian street food style, minus the name.

“The foundations, the DNA of it is very much Rice Boi, but with a few tweaks,” Mr Kelly said.

“I really do feel pretty strongly that it will be a cracker.”

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Tony Kelly and Dirk Long at Rice Boi Mooloolaba, which has proved a mega hit with Sunshine Coast diners. Picture: John McCutcheon

Named after Rice Boi’s most popular cocktail, Giddy Geisha will have a different menu to its parent restaurant and a different array of drinks.

Its location is next door to Market Bistro, another of Mr Kelly’s establishments, at the Foundation Place building in the new CBD.

“This will be fast and furious, like Rice Boi, and no reservations so you will have to line up,” he said.

“Nothing will be over $24.

“We will do group bookings but as far as we’re concerned, we are here to feed the locals.”

Mr Kelly said Rice Boi had been so popular in its two years of trade he said it would be a “crying shame” to turn it into a chain or franchise.

In the build-up to Christmas of 2019, the restaurant was attracting more than 5000 people through its doors per week.

“Rice Boi is a very unique product, we just want to leave it alone,” he said.

“In many ways the Sunshine Coast owns it, not us.

“I’ve worked in restaurants that are copy and pastes and you lose identity by doing that.

“It’s cool. It’s a bit naughty, tongue in cheek.

“We did think about calling it Rice Girl, very much so, but Giddy Geisha has its own identity that’s for sure.”

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