Sumptuous feasts in the House of Sunshine

By JOHN ARMSTRONG

Maybe it was Des Hinch's fried olives filled with pecorino cheese and rolled in almond meal.

Or perhaps Urkel, his pug dog. Or the wild kangaroos which emerged at twilight to feed in the paddocks at the end of the road.

They were each distracting enough to keep two-year-old Tim entertained and provide his parents with a relaxing respite before the imminent arrival of our second child.

After bailing out of Melbourne's corporate rat-race more than a year ago, Hinch and his partner, Paul Danda, snapped up the then-half-finished resort tucked away in south Queensland's sub-tropical Noosa Valley and renamed it Villa Alba: House of Sunshine.

The welcoming 3ha property has four very private villas, reached down palm-lined pathways and overlooking a natural amphitheatre fringed with bush and a hillside citrus orchard.

The villas flank the sandstone-lined swimming pool and main building, with its comfortable lounge and long verandah.

We could have dined in town but on the late winter's Saturday night we were in residence, Hinch stoked up a brazier and a large gas heater and we ate outside.

Hinch, who ran two Melbourne restaurants, served up a sumptuous antipasto of milk-infused polenta topped with reggiana parmesan, grilled red capsicums, prosciutto, goats cheese and duck breast rolled into a sausage with char sui.

That was followed by a main of grilled Flathead fillets coated in crushed macadamia nuts and topped with a Ponzu sauce of mackerel, seaweed, sesame seed, soy, fish sauce, ginger and coriander.

We floated back to our villa, diving under the hand-ironed cotton sheets into a deep sleep, before waking to another sparkling Noosa morning with the help of a noisy kookaburra (aptly nicknamed the "stockman's alarm clock") and Tim's unceasing cries to see Des' pooch and more "tangaroos."

For a lazy lunch in Noosa, Hinch recommends Ricky Ricardo's Bar and Grill on Noosa Wharf. Try a selection of their tapas.


Links


House of Sunshine