Dine Fine, Palm Beach: Incredible story behind popular takeaway

The owner of a renowned Gold Coast restaurant is preparing to close its doors for the final time after a remarkable career that saw him cook for celebrities including Edith Piaf, the Rolling Stones and Elizabeth Taylor. FULL DETAILS >>>

THE owner of a renowned Palm Beach takeaway is preparing to close its doors for the final time after a career that saw him cook for celebrities including Edith Piaf, the Rolling Stones and Elizabeth Taylor.

Dine Fine at the Palm Gardens Shopping Centre on Mawarra St will close on Sunday November 28, dismaying locals who described the news as “gut wrenching” and “the end of an era”.

Hennie Silleman and Henderika Silleman at their Dine Fine restaurant in Palm Beach. Picture: Richard Gosling.

It will also mark the final chapter in the storied career of owner Hennie Silleman, who started with a restaurant and party boat in his native Holland and worked as a chef at five-star hotels in Europe, meeting some of the biggest names in showbiz along the way.

“I worked in the early days in the Hilton in Amsterdam so you got Edith Piaf, you got Fats Domino, you got John Lennon and Yoko Ono when I worked there,” Mr Silleman said

“If you work in four or five star hotels you come across these people all the time.

“I shook Fats Domino’s hand. He came up and he said thanks for the food, for his lunch.”

Mr Silleman was less impressed by the Rolling Stones, who he encountered in 1964 when working in Belgium.

“They had food fights and stuff like that,” he said. “They damaged a whole floor of the hotel.”

Mr Silleman and wife Henderika moved to New Zealand in 1981, where he came to prominence after winning a lamb competition, going on to cook for the All Blacks and working on food development with Air New Zealand.

“He was really renowned in New Zealand,” daughter Monique said. “Any type of chef in the 80s and 90s would really know dad’s name. He still gets the accolades.”

Among those who heard about his cooking was opera singer Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.

“He named a dish after her, a lamb dish, and he won awards with that,” Monique said. “She heard about it and came to Taupo to eat it.”

Dine Fine owner Hennie Silleman with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa in the 1980s.

Mr and Mrs Silleman came to the Gold Coast in 2001, following their grown-up children who had already made the move across The Ditch.

The idea to open a fish and chip shop came when Mr Silleman, by then in his mid-50s, heard about the turnover at another nearby takeaway.

“Monique was living in Palm Beach so we came to Palm Beach and had a look around,” Mr Silleman said.

“That little shop was a coffee shop and it was for sale, next door was a bottle shop, there was good car parking and there was not a lot around here so we thought, let’s start a fish and chip shop.”

After a few weeks the business took off as word spread among locals. It has been busy ever since.

Especially popular are Dine Fine’s Dutch croquettes - a much-loved snack in the Netherlands made by breading and deep frying a creamy meat mixture.

“We’ve had people coming from all over to get them,” said Monique, who in recent years took over running the restaurant.

“We’ve had them come from Brisbane just to get the croquettes. And the regulars from Melbourne who come and stay at the camping ground every year, they used to come in every year just to get the croquettes.

“It’s a very long process to make them. You put the meat stock on the night before. Overnight the meat stews, falls apart, they you drain it and strain it – it’s a long time to make.”

A memento from Hennie Silleman’s career as a chef on the wall at Dine Fine in Palm Beach.

Over the years Dine Fine built up a loyal following of regulars, some of whom have been coming to the restaurant their entire lives.

“We had a customer who put their baby on the weighing scale, and he’s 18 years old now and still coming in,” Mr Silleman said.

“We’ve also had wonderful staff. We couldn’t have done it without our staff – they have been like family.

“Palm Beach has been very good to us. We count ourselves very lucky.”

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