Petra Friesers review - Weekender

Weekender - Courier Mail

I had been looking forward to visiting Ricky's River Bar and Restaurant for some time.

With their recent refurbishment and the promise of a new look and menu, there was no need for any further prompting.

Part of the stellar dining precinct at Quamby Place in Noosa Heads, and boasting magical views of the river, locations don't get much better than Ricky's. Access can be by ferry, or any other variety of water vessel ... I'm thinking maybe a dreamboat or gondola would be a pretty cool, dramatic entrance.

We were greeted with an exuberant "Welcome to Ricky's" as a sweeping hand encouraged us to appreciate the pristine new surroundings. Particularly striking was a sensational lighting feature above the main dining area. While it was a definite improvement, the eye inevitably wanders out to the spectacular water views, which could never be improved on.

Sensibly, we began with San Pellegrino sparkling water ($9 a bottle), but quickly got carried away once we spotted the cocktail list.

I took all of a moment to settle on the Lemon Meringue Martini ($15) while my dining buddy opted for the Ricky's Fizz ($15). Mine was definitely a wow - essentially a liquid lemon meringue that really did taste like the name suggested. It would have been quite easy for me just to sit back, nibble on tapas and sip cocktails. The Ricky's Fizz was also nice, without the same oomph.

I went over the menu time and time again. There were tough decisions to make and I swayed from one choice to another.

Rather than entrees, we decided to share tapas and went with the salt cod croquettes ($14), chicken almond cigars ($12) and scallop taramosalata wakame tartlets ($13).

My favourite was the tartlets, which were divine. Light and crisp, they were filled with a rather tasty taramosalata and topped with wakame, a beautifully sweet scallop and a dollop of flying fish roe. Delicious.

The cigars sat on some lovely minted yoghurt with a small mound of eggplant jam, which was also very nice, but I felt the croquettes could have had a little more salt cod in them. However, I loved the accompanying saffron aioli perhaps a little too much. Fingers come in very handy sometimes.

I was really torn over my choice of main. I loved the idea of the wood roasted whole baby trout, but feared I might not have quite enough room left so instead opted for one of the entree choices. My crispy polenta with slow braised rabbit ($24) was just exquisite; perfect cold weather food. Succulently tender shreds of rabbit were piled on to the polenta with a wild mushroom ragu and confit shallots, all of which were sublime. This was a meal where I really enjoyed every mouthful.

My dining buddy also enjoyed his choice, the squid ink fettuccine ($39). The sauce was a combination of beautifully cooked seafood in a garlic, chilli and tomato base and, while the overall taste of the dish was actually very nice, we agreed the amount of garlic was a little overwhelming. Delicious, but probably not very conducive to socialising afterwards.

We also enjoyed a lovely South Australian rose grenache (2010 S.C. Pannell Arido), which was not intended to match our meal but satisfied a spur of the moment whim.

Alas, there was no room for dessert, which always kills me. The Turkish delight bread and butter pudding almost got me, but I feared a dessert induced coma may have ensued.

As you would expect, the service was exemplary. My only regret was that it was not a little warmer so I could sit outside and watch the water world go by as we dined.

I will certainly be back for the baby trout. And next time around I will save room for dessert.