By Crispin Hull

LAST week was the first time for some weeks that Louise and I have taken SV Biringari on the Wednesday sail at the Port Douglas Yacht Club. (Work, high winds and trips south have got in the way.)

Wow. What a difference a new chef, new kitchen and new way of doing things makes.

We’d been to lunch there the previous Friday and were mightily impressed. It must be the best lunch secret in town because for such a good lunch at such a good price there were not many there.

I’m not a big salad eater. Not many blokes are. But the calamari salad (shared for entrée) was first rate. Plenty of fresh herbs and an interesting addition of bits of fruit complemented the calamari to a tee.

The Nanoguy for mains was superb. I hate it when restaurants overcook fish and it goes dry. Fish can be difficult. It goes from raw to over-cooked in no time. It is fine to serve meat rare so the inside is raw, but not fish. Also, if under-cooked, it is harder to send fish back for a recook than meat because fish does not hold heat as well and so goes cold more quickly.

The salad again was complex. Someone has obviously taken some effort and experimentation to make the salads interesting. With the fish came unpeeled grilled baby potatoes. A good touch even for diehard ‘fish-n-chips’ people.

We haven’t had a chance to go to dinner yet, but have had several reliable reports of excellent food and wine prices that do not have you calling for a mortgage broker.

But now to Wednesday night. Wednesday at the Yachtie is hugely popular. People love something for nothing and the prospect of a free sail drags the tourists in like iron filings to a magnet. It means Wednesday night is running at treble capacity.

A la carte or a blackboard menu in those circumstances is not going to work. So new chef Rick Preen does a $22-a-head smorgasbord.

No more long queuing, choosing from the blackboard menu and the interminable wait to be served.

Smorgasbords can be risky – food sitting in trays too long, less choice, danger of overcooking in the trays etc. But Rick does this superbly. Bright green, crisp vegetables. Whole salmon done to a tee. A good Asian fish dish. Well spiced chicken. And big ribs for the ‘feed-the-man-meat” types. Chips so that everyone is catered for. A good range of condiments and other bits and pieces. And, again, good salad.

Better still, he does a quick turnover of smaller trays so food does not sit out too long.

I hope they can keep it up. That will be very likely if more people get to know what a gem it is, especially in that location overlooking the yachts and Dickson Inlet.

I should mention Club Commodore Todd Malone who applied his considerable food and catering experience to head the committee, which worked through 2015 to renew the kitchen and hire the new restaurateurs.

A good show for the town all round.