The Long Apron

With jacarandas, ficus and magnolias forming arbours off the terrace, there's more than an echo of provincial France here. Chef Cameron Matthews' menu is at once grounded and experimental but always presented with an understanding of both technique and flavour and with a sharp eye on the area's bounteous seasonal produce. Mooloolaba spanner crab, Yarra Valley salmon caviar and slow-roasted baby beet have been marinated, rolled in hay ash then dehydrated, served with buttermilk foam and mash and a tangle of chervil and dill stems. Glasshouse snails braised with Pernod, fennel and star anise, morcilla (blood sausage), dried pea powder and chef's take on vichyssoise, are whimsical and artfully plated for greater impact. Let the polished but friendly staff talk you into a dessert - a Maleny guernsey milk sherbet - formed from myriad components of mint sponge, gel, panna cotta and truffles coated in cocoa and silver powder and sweet pickled green rhubarb - is pure cheffy genius, and inspires a momentary silence of appreciation at the table.