places to eat on the Sunshine Coast

Jimmy’s Catering – Coffee – Eats

Ok, let’s get one thing straight before we go any further – you don’t come to Jimmy’s for the beachside location or the outlook – the view is pretty much of the carpark and Nicklin Way. You come for the coffee and the food – and don’t even notice the carpark or Nicklin Way.

Still with me?

Good.

Jimmy’s has become our go-to place for brekky after the markets every Saturday morning. We’re addicted to the brekky sliders – at $5 each they’re fabulous value. With bacon, a perfectly cooked fried egg, tomato jam, cheddar and kewpie mayo – is it just me or does everything taste better with kewpie mayo? – they’re also seriously yummy. More importantly, they’re the perfect size for brekky when you know that you’ve got the makings of a hunger busting grazing platter in the market bags in the car.

It’s not just sliders though. We’ve also tried the breakfast wrap (bacon, egg, pesto, spinach, hash brown, onion jam, bbq sauce $8), the breakfast burger (the breakfast slider made large $10) and the breakfast tacos. You get two, and each one has triple smoked bacon, house beans, fried egg, sriracha, shaved parmesan and guacamole. It’s a lot of eating for $12. My tip? Buy one serve of these, and two brekky sliders and share.

New to the menu is this yellow curry poached chicken omelette ($16). My photo was crap – way too many shades of beige – so I’ve borrowed this one from @foodonthecoast via Instagram. I could have had an entire bowl with some roti to dip in that curry sauce.

Of course, there’s the usual eggs – benny, your way, with whatever – and it wouldn’t be a Sunshine Coast breakfast joint without an acai or pitaya bowl or a smashed avo – Jimmy’s avo is served with dukkah and kimchi.

And that’s just breakfast…Jimmy’s also does brunch/lunch – and holds a four-course dinner event monthly based on a single ingredient. When we go, I’ll tell you all about it.

Where?

179 Nicklin Way, Warana

When?

Monday – Friday 6am – 2pm
Saturday 6am – 12 noon

Vegetarian/ Gluten free options?

Yes

Price? $

Below $20

More info?

You’ll find them in the usual social media places: Instagram, Facebook, website.

Sum Yung Guys

The other day on and anyways I wrote a bit about what I don’t like about Masterchef. If you’re interested, you can read the post here, but spoiler alert, it’s all about the unrealistic dessert challenges and fancy equipment.

I mentioned that what I loved about the show was how it’s still all about the food and not about the bitchiness we see in other so-called reality programs. What I didn’t say is that another reason that I keep watching – aside from the sheer joy of Gary’s appetite when confronted with something simply fabulous – is the strike rate Masterchef has of contestants that are working in the industry long after the cameras stop rolling. I think I read somewhere that it’s about 70something%…but don’t quote me on it.

One of the moments that epitomised everything I love about Masterchef was in last years grand final when the eventual winner, Elena, took the time to help her mate (and runner-up) Matt Sinclair finish his dish. No spoiler alerts – you’ve had a year to catch up on it…

Where am I going with this? Matt – and some of his mates – has recently opened a new restaurant on Sunshine Beach and, another spoiler alert, it’s an absolute winner.

The fit-out gives you a hint of what’s to come in the food and flavour stakes –street art-ish murals mixed with snippets of pure Asia.

The food is the same – Asian influenced but with a twist that’s so clever you wonder how it can even be a twist.

Designed to share, the menu is divided up into small plates, medium plates and large plates. The two of us argued and negotiated with each other before deciding on three small plates, one large plate and a som tum or green papaya salad. Although time consuming, that was the easy part – what to choose from a menu where we wanted to try everything was the difficult bit.

We spent way too long saying things like ‘I really want to try the snapper, so if I give in on the satay today, we can have that next time?’ and things like, ‘but I really want to give those Korean wings a go and Oh My God, how good does the beef cheeks smell?’ and things like, ‘who else can we bring next time so we can try more?’

Eventually we decided on:

Pork and prawn dumplings, black vinegar and crispy chilli- and good dumplings they were
Gangnam style beef tartare, fried egg mayo, crispy potato – easily the best dish of the day
Cured swordfish, nam jim, coconut and kaffir lime – my 2nd favourite dish
Satay ½ chicken, house made roasted peanut sauce – OMG that sauce!
Spicy green papaya salad Spicy Green Papaya Salad, dried shrimp, peanuts, tamarind – hunny’s 2nd favourite

There’s a good mix of gluten free and dairy free options and enough choices to keep the vegetarian in your life happy.

As for desserts? These are kept simple – just two choices:

Deep fried ice cream , miso caramel and coffee
Chocolate mousse, mandarin, black sesame crisps

We chose the latter and this dessert avoider asked for a spoon to share it.

The verdict? As if you have to ask! Outstanding. We’ve booked already to come again later in the month and also for when we have Kiwi guests at Christmas…so many more opportunities to try dishes – next time I’m definitely getting the snapper…just saying.

You’ll find Sum Yung Guys at Sunshine Beach, just before Noosa – and you’ll need to book. Want more info? You’ll find it here.

Brouhaha Brewery

Brouhaha

noun

A noisy and overexcited reaction or response to something…

Synchronicity

noun

The simultaneous occurrence of events which appear significantly related but have no discernible causal connection.

It was synchronicity that led us to lunch at Brouhaha Brewery. Synchronicity and instagram. You see, it was a few days before Mother’s Day and my husband had uncharacteristically failed to organise a venue for lunch. Which translates to he realised that Mother’s Day was on Sunday, hadn’t booked anywhere, had no idea where to book, so threw his hands up in the air and said, ‘well, I don’t know where you want to go!’

As it happened, I’d been scrolling through instagram and just happened to see a post from Brouhaha. ‘Here,’ I said. ‘Let’s try here.’ Synchronicity.

So we did.

Mother’s Day is rarely a good day to try a new place out. The menu is usually cut down, the service staff are run ragged, and every last available inch of space is occupied. And yes, that was the case with Brouhaha too – but it was Mother’s Day – and we ate early enough that the roast was fresh and good (a real Sunday roast with proper yorkies, perfectly cooked veg and fresh horseradish…yes, fresh – not out of a jar).

Plus, the service was still good…and the pork scratchings with beer mustard dip worth the trip alone.

‘We’ll come back another day,’ we promised ourselves. ‘When it’s not Mother’s Day and the full menu is available.’

That someday was today. With beer loving friends in town, it was the perfect excuse to revisit Brouhaha. This time around we took our time, chose the beer for the paddle, and sat outside on the deck.

The verdict? I think we’ll need to come back again some time to make really sure that it’s worth coming back 🙂

You’ll find Brouhaha Brewery in Coral Street, Maleny. Booking is recommended and, the best bit, there’s plenty of parking. If you’re after more information, you can find it on the website. Oh, and there’s even an open fire for those cold, wintry, Sunshine Coast days…

The Velo Project

I don’t know about you, but if I’m going out for breakfast I want something a little, well, different to what I’d get at home – and I say that acknowledging that my husband makes a flipping good brekky and an even better avo smash. I don’t want overpriced avo smash, or, worse, overpriced avo smash that’s been smeared rather than piled onto the bread. Speaking of which, I don’t want overpriced, smeared avo smash on badly toasted, ordinary bread. Nor do I want my eggs rubbery, the decor sterile or the menu boring.

No, when I have breakfast out, I want breakfast the way that it’s intended to be: somewhere a tad quirky, served with a sunny smile-up, and a menu that has you considering your options. It’s even better in a place that only locals know about. See how I just slipped that in? Even though we’re still officially summer people, we will be locals in just a few weeks…

Anyways, The Velo Project is all that with a side of vintage and fabulous coffee.

There’s a lot to look at here – something in every corner. If you can drag your view away from the bits and pieces, the menu – presented in vintage encyclopaedias – is worth consideration over a cup of excellent caffeine presented in the type of china I’m trying to get rid of at the moment.

‘See,’ my husband said, ‘vintage china is really in at the moment.’

‘Perhaps, but do we need that much of it?’

‘We threw out the souvenir teaspoons, didn’t we?’

The thing about vintage china and nik-naks is that they look great in a semi-industrial space (this used to be an old mechanics/ garage) in a place where nothing matches, nothing is trying to match, and everything (including the menu) feels young and vital. In any other circumstance, it just looks old. Here it works.

As for the food? I somehow managed to resist the urge to try the eggs benny (next time – although with four different varieties, I could try a different one each visit) and went instead for the avo smash – as did Ms T. Served on good ciabatta, the avo is mixed with fresh red onion, roasted garlic, corn, lemon juice and piled high with fresh herbs – I suspect from the garden out the back. At $17 it’s a little pricier than some, but kept us going through a harrowing morning of real estate agents and open homes.

Hubby went for house made toasted banana, macadamia and date bread served with mascarpone and orange cardamon syrup ($10.50). It looked beautiful and tasted even better than that.

This place gets super busy on weekends, but there are some tables out the back too – where the herb garden is. The menu is also jam-packed with smoothies, enough varieties of coffees and teas to make even a Melbourne-ite proud (turmeric, ginger & honey brewed on coconut milk or dandelion latte anyone?) and plenty of options for the too young to drink coffee crew.

The Velo Project is located off the Esplanade, a few streets behind Mooloolaba Beach at 19 Careela St. It’s open 7am-3pm 7 days a week and is well worth seeking out…