Margie Fraser - Taste for Courier Mail QLD

Taste.com.au

Lap up a little Noosa style riverside at Rickys. Margie Fraser reports.

The obvious time to dine at Rickys River Bar + Restaurant is lunchtime. With the Noosa River practically lapping at your toes, sitting in this ultra-chic version of a boatshed feels as sybaritic as cruising in some of the sleek watercraft in view.

Across the broad passage of river, the opposite bank looks almost untouched by civilisation, with huge flaky paperbarks dripping and dipping into the water. When all the sunlit gorgeousness is plunged into darkness in the evening, well, Rickys is no disappointment either.

A recent makeover speaks of its owner's serious design credentials, but what I admire most is just how cleverly it negotiates the line – in both food and setting – between beachy casualness and fine elegance. It's the perfect encapsulation of Noosa style.

We dine at night, aware of the water just beyond us when boats disgorge their passengers at the restaurant jetty.

Waiters are as breezy and relaxed as the all-white setting, with that crucial layer of efficiency, control and observation that keeps everything well-timed and seamlessly smooth.

Part of the whole dining-well-but-casually scenario sensibly incorporates lots of stylish nibbles. There's a great list of tapas that we do our best to cover.

Anchovy-stuffed olives, crumbed and fried and served with aioli are nice palate teasers. Little scallop tartlets follow, the pan-seared scallops sitting on a mousse-textured cushion of pink taramasalata and wakame. Flying fish roe is their crowning glory. The tarts instantly become firm favourites until the next tasting, when we immediately, disloyally, jump ship in favour of the salt cod croquettes with saffron aioli.

There seems to be a theme developing in our choices of salty, fried things. Who ever said tapas was for the health-conscious?

The platters of delectables are delivered a la high-tea service, on three-tier contraptions that can barely fit on the table. Despite being a little unwieldy for staff to manoeuvre into position, the towers of treats add a touch of spectacle and give prime views of, and access to, the offerings.

Goat cheese beignets are little white spheres with a fine skin, served in spoons in a puddle of onion jam.

We forgo the chicken and almond cigars served with eggplant jam and the freshly shucked oysters with lemongrass sorbet. We opt instead for pork belly with pear, delightfully subtle pickled fennel and a mixed herb salad. And that's before we get a hold on entrees.

There's a nice, briny emphasis to the entree list, with Noosa River Smokehouse salmon featuring in two guises.

The spanner crab with chilli, garlic and lemon is delicious. A meatier entree of slow-braised rabbit with mushroom ragout is equally unctuous and superb.

The wine list is extensive and impressive. A French emphasis has me in unknown territory, but I've strategically invited my French-wine-loving friend along. For all I know he may have the map of the clos of Burgundy tattooed on his body. And it's certainly imprinted on his brain, after many stints in the region.

The strategy pays off: our 2007 Leflaive white is amazing and a 1999 red from the breakaway vineyards of Mme Leroy is a special treat.

The price tags range from the more democratic $20+ mark to a hefty $2500. A decent list of half bottles puts some of the more expensive wines within reach, but by-theglass options are much more limited.

Mains are simpler, bistro-style fare, which is welcome after the varied landscape of tastes in the previous courses.

In keeping with the tenor of sampling, we order tasting plates for dessert to cover the lot. We feel like spoilt children who want it all and get it. It's the right policy to adopt here.