DINE LIKE A PRESIDENT IN PORT DOUGLAS —
Bill Clinton has great taste in restaurants - or got great advice when he visited Port Douglas a few years back. On a recent trip there I visited two of the places where the former US President has dined, and he certainly didn't get it wrong.
First stop, for lunch, was Salsa Bar & Grill (07/4099 4922; www.salsa-port-douglas.com.au), on the corner of Wharf and Warner Streets. Housed in a lovely old Queenslander with wrap-around verandas and a large open courtyard, complete with waterfall, it has terrific food, great value prices, and lively, fun service.
They're open for brunch, lunch, or dinner, you can choose between the simple fare such as gnocchi, Caesar salad or fantastic spring rolls, or mouth-watering delights such as sand crab pannacotta, or panfried Atlantic salmon with pickled ginger, coriander mash and green papaya salad. For dessert, don't go past the buttermilk and almond nougat pannacotta or the chocolate cointreau soufflé.
For dinner, we headed to Nautilus (07/4099 5330; www.nautilus-restaurant.com.au.) - you can enter from either Macrossan St or Murphy St. You're surrounded by palm trees and on a clear night the stars shine above you. And with such a clever seating plan and high-backed chairs you're completely private from the other diners.
Nautilus has been keeping the locals happy since 1953, and it's easy to see why. Local produce and seafood are central to the menu, which serves such delights as whole coral trout deep fried, served with lotus root and bean shoot salad, sweet chilli sauce, and steamed rice or yellow-fin tuna poached in broth with tofu, Vietnamese mint, coriander, chilli and Nori tempura oysters.
Make sure you book at both restaurants.
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