Sails Beach Restaurant

PROFILED BY DE GROOTS MEDIA

Noosa is my spiritual haven. I go there to feel better within myself. In reality, I go there to completely veg-out. I switch off my mobile for 20 hours a day – I sleep in, I eat well, I sit on the beach for as long as I can but each afternoon, between 4 and 5 o’clock I take off for my spiritual sojourn through The Noosa National Park. This is a combination of an amble, stroll, walk and jog.

Starting along the beach, my journey continues up and down several hills and that’s even before I get to the park. And every evening, just as I’m about to embark on my wilderness leg, I get to gaze up at the strategically located Sails Restaurant. And, night after night, I admire the fact that they are booked out with yet another wedding. What a great business this must be – but how tough for those of us “under-fed” tourists looking for variety in our gastronomic adventure in Noosa.

It was our last night in Noosa and as I looked up from my walk, I noticed there was no wedding to be seen anywhere near Sails. As I struggled, for the very last time, to complete my 90 minute regime, I made the momentous decision to go there for dinner.

What arrogance I displayed, expecting a booking only hours before. But as I picked up the phone, my positivity seemed to blossom through. Rejection? No, for once my chutzpah and politeness paid off, not only did we get a table for two but we got the best table for two in the restaurant. Directly at the front and and in the centre, complete with a cool breeze and a view.

I have to say, as the culmination of our “fine-dining” for the week, our night at Sails left us with a delicious taste in our mouths. Sails is brilliant. We started with a salad of roasted beetroot with spoonfuls of creamy goats curd, zucchini flowers and chunky capers. Obviously not enough kilojoules or us in this exceedingly healthy salad, which we shared, so we garnished our salad with a freshly-baked pizza with black olives, roasted garlic, parmesan and rosemary. A great variety of textures, colours, flavours and it did the job in stimulating an over-exposed and jaded palate. Main courses were likewise – very interesting. It read well – but so often, the poetic licence used to write up menus disappoints as the story unfolds. But rather than following down this familiar path, Sails chose to take a different turn. My king prawns in a green papaya curry topped with toasted coconut just hit the spot. The curry was flavoursome, spicy and generous. Barb enjoyed her Balmain Bug tails with a creamy skordalia and a butter bean and cherry tomato salad.

But there comes a time when enough is enough and by now we had definitely had enough. No more food, no more choices to make – sometimes the thought of a toasted cheese and vegemite sandwich is mesmerising. But then again, I look forward to visiting Noosa again in the not too distant future.

Michael Fischer