Spice up your life at a Sunshine Coast gourmet festival

Some like it hot. 

Those who like their food spicy can head to Spicers Tamarind Retreat outside Maleny next month to sample food from some of the Sunshine Coast's top Asian restaurants. 

The Sunshine Coast Asian Food Festival on Saturday, August 5, is now part of the Curated Plate 2023 event and will feature live music, chilled drinks, market stalls and masterclasses. 

Visitors will be able to sample street-food style dishes from the Spirit House restaurant, as well as local favourites Sum Yung Guys and Rice Boi, and the Retreat’s own Tamarind Restaurant. 

“For all of these chefs, it’s an opportunity to put a spotlight on the amazing produce we get to use every day, and show off our skills for more people in an afternoon than we’d usually see in a week,” says Tamarind head chef Daniel Jarrett. 

There will be craft beer from Moffat Beach Brewing Co, cocktails from Sunshine and Sons Cocktail Bar, wines from Brockenchack Wines (a locally owned Barossa Valley winery), as well as Champagne by the glass and bottle from the prestige House of Taittinger.

Return buses will be run to Spicers Tamarind Retreat from Brisbane, Noosa, Caloundra and Mooloolaba, delivering guests 15 minutes before the festival opens at 1pm, and departing at 5pm. A park-and-ride shuttle will also run between Spicers and the Maleny Historical Society throughout the day.

Tom Hitchcock, head chef of Spirit House in Yandina is a big fan of the Sunshine Coast Asian Food Festival. 

“Asian cuisine has a big part of my background, and I want to showcase our local produce in Spirit House style," he says. "It will be interesting to see what all these chefs, who specialise in different Asian cuisines, come up with.”

He and his team will be offering a prawn roll made with Mooloolaba king prawn meat in barbecue-toasted Taiwanese milk buns, covered with a slaw of cabbage, kaffir lime, shallots, spring onion, Vietnamese mint and Thai basil, with a green nam jim dressing of local Green Valley finger lime, mayonnaise and chervil.

Chef Jarrett and his team will be offering Chinese-style BBQ pork ribs made with local honey: coated in a Hoi Sin and five spice-flavoured sauce (above). 

The Sunshine Coast Asian Food Festival is part of The Curated Plate, a 10-day celebration of the region’s produce, producers and chefs. 

Spicers has an accommodation offer for two nights from August 4-6 and event tickets are available through Humantix or Spicers Tamarind Retreat Sunshine Coast Asian Food Festival. 

See https://spicersretreats.com/sunshine-coast-asian-food-festival-2023/

Defying the odds: a special dining experience

Miss Mi has a couple of obvious strikes against it. 

First, it is a restaurant in a hotel. A combination which only rarely produces stellar food. 

Secondly, it serves an adventurous pan-Asian menu. And it is a fact that restaurants offering several different cuisines on one menu rarely manage to get any of them right.

Miss Mi, however, is an exception to many rules. 

From the Philippines to Myanmar, Vietnam to Sri Lanka, be prepared for a culinary journey around Asia that hits a lot of high spots. 

Which probably explains why the majority of diners are actually Asian residents of Melbourne rather than hotel guests. 

This is a restaurant in a hotel; not a hotel restaurant. 

It is located in the Movenpick Hotel on Spencer Street, just across the road from Southern Cross Station. The hotel itself will merit another story next week. 

Here is the website blurb: “Dynamic yet intimate, Miss Mi merges the exotic with the familiar. Here, time-honoured Asian techniques, ingredients and flavours are paired with modern methods as our team takes you on a culinary journey to the heart of Asia.” 

I ordered a couple of dishes but the chef knew I was in house so kept sending out samples for me to taste. A light dinner turned into a feast. A most agreeable feast. 

There is an open kitchen so you can keep an eye on proceedings as the kitchen cast of many nations gets to work.

On the evidence of my meal, Miss Mi merited the Good Food hat it was awarded within weeks of opening. 

Some of the star starters of a very tasty show: delightfully crispy and flavoursome Vietnamese-style chicken ribs with nuoc mam; an intriguing plantain and banana dish and dangerously moreish Hong Kong prawn toast with chives.

Mains standouts include wild kingfish kinilaw, a Filipino take on ceviche, and the excellent Burmese goat curry with lemon verbena from Myanmar (below).

The only dish that did not hit the mark for me; Sulawesi-style lamb ribs that were far too fatty for my taste.

There is a solid wine list with offerings from the likes of Longview and Helen’s Hill by the glass.

A nice casual vibe and smart service. Highly recommended.

Miss Mi is open for dinner Tuesday to Saturday from 6pm. Open for lunch from May 4, Wednesday to Friday from 12pm to 2.30pm. https://missmimelbourne.com.au 

Note: Accor Plus members enjoy 50% off their food bill.