Townsville dining: Restaurant openings and closures in 2019
This year has been tough for restaurants, cafes and delis in Townsville. There have however been plenty of culinary success stories, while giants in the industry were forced to shut. Here’s our top 10 list of openings and closures this year.
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THIS year has been tough for restaurants, cafes and delis in Townsville.
There have however been plenty of culinary success stories, particularly by entrepreneurial locals, while giants in the industry were forced to shut their doors.
Otto’s Fresh Food Market was a prime example of this, with the Townsville favourite opening a new grocer, restaurant and bar in flood-ravaged Idalia and a third outpost at James Cook University this year.
The new venture at The Precinct shopping centre and JCU complemented the successful first store at the Warrina complex in Currajong.
Otto’s Fresh Food Market owner Don Steel the stores were “getting busier and busier every week”, particularly in the lead up to Christmas.
He said the new bar and restaurant in Idalia added new chapters to the grocer experience.
“On Fridays we’ve started with a cheese and wine evening, with local musicians, which locals are really enjoying,” he said.
The opening at The Precinct in September came in the wake of the February monsoonal floods which devastated the area.
Mr Peel said The Precinct had since bounced back to life with more businesses opening, including The Candy Wrapper lolly store and gift shop Moe and Me.
About two months after opening in the Precinct, Otto’s opened its third site at JCU.
While smaller than its other two stores, Mr Peel said the Bakehaus outlet was the perfect fit, filling the void left by the closure of Jamaica Blue.
“The uni originally called us because they we worried they couldn’t get their morning coffee,” Mr Peel said.
“We just got a licence there, so we are hoping on doing wine, beers and cheese platters there next year.”
OPENINGS
BalaBite
Traditional Israeli cuisine arrived in Townsville with the opening of BalaBite in May, a street food inspired cafe in North Ward.
Described as a “mosaic of flavours”, owner Avi Cohen said his food was made with love to take diners on a journey of Jewish history.
“It’s a story of a journey of flavour,” Mr Cohen said.
“Five hundred years ago when they ran away from Spain they went north and south and picked up all the flavour from all of Europe.
“Seventy years ago, when Israel established, all this flavour came into one little, little place and it’s an unbelievable mix of everything.”
Bakehouse on Eyre
Opening on New Year’s Eve, Bakehouse on Eyre was targeted by thieves the day before.
Despite an intruder severely damaging a door, stealing cash and a laptop, owners Franziska Niedermaier and Vanessa McKinnon thankfully persisted with the opening of the bakery.
Ms McKinnon said the cafe would have a strong dessert theme while also serving breakfast, lunch and coffee.
“It will also be convenient for people to grab-and-go and then in the evenings you can come and have a cheese board because we’ll be opening in the evening on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights,” she said.
“We will be doing cakes and gelato but we will also have some really delicious savoury options for breakfast and lunch.”
Sushi Kiyo
The opening of Sushi Kiyo at Central Village in January was the second business venture for owner Graham Ryu.
Mr Ryu opened a Sushi Paradise takeaway store at Willow Shopping Centre in November 2018 but saw the CBD restaurant as a flagship option.
He said the stadium and new Australian Taxation Office being built nearby drew him to the Flinders St site.
At Sushi Kiyo you can order from a menu or grab a dish from the sushi train.
Mr Ryu said he was thinking of adding an outdoor barbecue option, allowing customers to cook their own yakitori — Japanese skewered chicken — over charcoal.
Real Burger Co
A Townsville burger favourite expanded with the opening of a new store at North Shore and took to the open road with a food truck.
Real Burger Co, made famous for its Australia Day special of a burger sandwiched between two pies, opened its second store in August.
Owner Bridget Contarino said the North Shore expansion had been a long time coming.
“We have a lot of people who say they travel miles to come to eat our burgers so it seemed like a natural kind of move,” Mrs Contarino said.
“I think it’s because we emphasise on fresh and supporting local. Everything is prepped fresh on site and we really listen to customers’ feedback.
IMC Steak House
One of Townsville’s most popular restaurants bucked the trend of closures and expanded its business.
The old Pizza Hut restaurant on Hervey Range Rd transformed to house a second IMC Steak House.
Owner Jon van Grinsven said the original IMC restaurant on Palmer St took a while to get going but it had traded “quite strongly” for the past year.
Mr van Grinsven’s property company already owned the old Pizza Hut restaurant so the decision to move there was easy.
“We had an empty building and we thought that we’d be our best tenant with the most chance of success so we’re going to give it a go and see what happens,” he said.
The expansion of IMC, which featured prominently in Townsville Bulletin’s Best of Townsville series for best steak.
Grill’d
Another successful eatery to open a second store was Grill’d.
The popular burger chain opened its second Townsville store at Fairfield Central in April.
Owner Paul Fitzgerald said the opening had been “a long time coming”.
Born and bred in Townsville, Mr Fitzgerald’s family have run pubs across the city for three generations and has run Grill’d in Palmer St for the past five years.
“This restaurant is the newest in the chain at number 139 and it’s great they put faith in a local guy who’s involved in the community and understand the nuances that go with the different market up here in North Queensland,” he said.
Shop Six Pasta Bar
Shop Six Pasta Bar officially opened its doors on The Strand early in December, offering Townsville a new outlet for Italian food in a modern atmosphere.
Owner Calvin Bromham said a visit to the new restaurant would be a new experience for the customer.
“It is not your traditional pasta bar, it has a more modern take on contemporary Italian food,” he said.
“The centrepiece in our kitchen is our pasta maker because we make all our own pasta in-house.”
Mr Bromham said he would encourage his customers to take advantage of the location and enjoy takeaway pasta on the waterfront.
“We are on The Strand and that is the best seating venue to eat some food and I hope people go over there and sit in its beauty,” he said.
Tiny Mountain Brewery
THE Townsville craft beer scene was redefined with the grand opening of craft brewery Tiny Mountain on Palmer St.
Tiny Mountain head brewer David Mullins said the preparations for the opening had been a “phenomenal effort”.
“It is amazing how far we have come from basically an empty shed about three months ago and here we are, basically a finished outlet,” he said.
“It is such an exciting venue and if people don’t come here for the beer they should come here for the venue itself, it just looks amazing.”
Mr Mullins said Tiny Mountain took its name from Castle Hill and he was looking forward “to growing the craft beer passion in the people of Townsville”.
Taco Bell
CUSTOMERS lined up outside Townsville’s Taco Bell 15 hours before the doors first opened.
Sarah Keith and Matthew Loder slept in their car to be front in line for the store’s grand opening in November.
Ms Keith and Mr Loder were given the honour of cutting the ribbon for the launch of the fast-food chain in Townsville for their
“It was a bit uncomfortable laying in the boot of a car, we reversed it up here (in front of the store) and slept in it,” she said.
“I had my cousin bring us some deep fried food last night and we came prepared with blankets.”
Taking the first few bites of their nachos, Ms Keith said the food was worth the hype.
“Best way to start the day I reckon,” she said.
Closures
Malt
Award-winning restaurant Malt closed its doors in June.
Fortunately it was only for the chance for The Brewery to reinvent its restaurant, with the opening of Smokehouse.
Smokehouse manager Ben Palka said the new restaurant promised to give patrons a new culinary experience.
“We’re focusing on the smoked meat side of things, and the community is very interested in variety,” he said.
The new Smokehouse menu includes slow hickory smoked brisket, apple smoked pulled pork and grain fed eye fillets, and dessert features apple and rhubarb spring rolls and lemon cheesecake with whipped cream and strawberries.
Jamaica Blue
Jamaica Blue had been a popular go-to for James Cook University students since opening a few years ago, but in July it closed without warning.
Students looking to get their morning caffeine hit were greeted with a sign that simply said: “Due to unforeseen circumstances we will be closed till further notice”.
The official page for the store on the Jamaica Blue website has been taken down and its phone number has been disconnected.
A James Cook University spokeswoman said there was an alternative option in place for students to get their coffee hit.
“JCU has arranged for Otto’s to temporarily set up their pop up food van at the Clinical Practice Building, which has been doing a brisk trade all morning,” she said.
Christo’s Deli
Owner of Betty Blue and The Lemon Tart, Chris Christensen, said it was tough closing Christo’s Deli at The Precinct.
“For us the decision to close was a sad one but it’s much better that we can remain operating (the cafe),” he said.
“They were complimentary, they worked together.
“(Now) with the slowing of the economy I will be focusing on the one aspect.”
Mr Christensen said the floods at the start of the month played a role in the deli closure after a six day power outage forced him to throw away all of his wholesale stock from the fridges and freezers.
However, it was the “quietening down of the economy over the last three years” which posed the biggest hurdle.
McDonald’s
FAST food giant McDonald’ shut its food hall outlet at CastleTown Shoppingworld in August.
It was one of several closures at the shopping centre with Just Wing It and Healthy Habits closing the month after.
McDonald’s franchisee Alison Wood said it was sad for the business, having traded at the centre for 12 years, and for CastleTown.
Ms Wood said the retail business was “really hard” in a city with too many shops.
“We haven’t got a big enough population to sustain the number of retail stores in this town. There are too many Woolworths and too many Coles and not enough people are going to the big shopping centres any more,” Ms Wood said.
Sizzler
Townsville’s Sizzler restaurant at The Lakes closed in May to make way for the new Taco Bell, to the disappointment of many.
Jennie Pountney was one of many sharing her sadness at the restaurant’s closure — a Townsville staple for three decades.
“It’s an end of an era,” she said.
“Sizzler gets booked out for Christmas and Mother’s Day. Can’t imagine going to Taco Bell for those events.
“Our family has always gone to Sizzler for events so it’s sentimental with parents now passed away.”
Sizzler occupied its tenancy since 1989.
Zizzi’s
A POPULAR CBD Italian family favourite was listed for sale six months after it closed its doors.
The space which once housed Zizzi’s Italian Bar and Grill on Flinders Street has been listed for sale for $800,000.
The business itself is also listed for sale via Beyond 2000.
An advertisement listed in February described it as an “urgent sale” with the business going for $110,000 walk-in walkout.
It said the restaurant ceased trading on February 5 with the owner “urgently requiring knee surgery with a long recuperation period”.
Rock Paper Scissors
THE owners of the Rock Paper Scissors group closed a number of stores across the region to reaffirm their desire to make The Strand their flagship eatery.
Franchise agreements with Rock Paper Scissors stores at The Strand, Kirwan and Vincent were all terminated on December 21, owner Tanya Gilchrist said in January.
The Ingham store, which was previously Hermit Park, closed after its lease ended. The Stockland store had closed for unrelated reasons.
“It’s sad that this is how it ended, because it was a great local success story,” Ms Bragg said. “Townsville should have been, and were, really proud of what we put forward to the world.”
The first store opened in Bushland Beach in 2010.
Cat’s Meow
THE once popular cafe Cat’s Meow closed its doors weeks after the floods but it never reopened.
The reason for the closure was stated as “due to end of lease”.
In a post on their Facebook page on February 10, the cafe owners urged customers to support local businesses in the wake of the flood disaster.
“Most of our local small businesses have done it very tough in recent times,” the post read.
“They have stuck in there to support this community. The floods are just another (very big) challenge to overcome, and small business needs community support to come through.”
Townsville couple David and Sonia Caisley opened the Cat’s Meow in October 2014.
Originally published as Townsville dining: Restaurant openings and closures in 2019