What Queensland's seafood calendar means for your plate
Our menu moves with the trawlers, not the printer. Priya and Marco explain what lands in each season, why the board sometimes says the bay is quiet, and how to read a menu that changes four times a year on purpose.
The board, naming the boat
The calendar, honestly kept
Queensland's seafood calendar isn't a marketing device — it's the weather. Moreton Bay bugs run strongest from late spring through autumn; Hervey Bay scallops are a winter argument; tiger prawns peak when the water's warm enough to make them careless. The menu moves because the boats move, and the board names the boat because the kitchen thinks you should know who caught dinner.
The honest part is what happens when the boats come back light. The board says so — 'bay quiet, reef snapper tonight' — and the kitchen cooks what actually arrived. That sentence costs us more in printing than any marketing campaign, and it's the reason regulars read the board before they read the menu.
Reading a menu that moves
Ask what came off the boats — the floor team answers with a boat name, not a shrug. Order the bug dish in the warm months and the scallops in the cold ones; the snapper runs most of the year but eats best when the board says reef. If you're booking for a table with strong opinions, tell us when you reserve — the kitchen plans the market run around the headcount.
If the board ever says 'imported', you're reading a different restaurant.
— Marco Vitelli, to a supplier who suggested otherwise
The seafood grill nights on Thursdays exist because of this calendar: one night a week where the whole feast is whatever the water did best that week, cooked over ironbark and shared across the table. It's the menu's argument in its most concentrated form.
How to order from a moving menu
The seafood grill nights on Thursdays are the calendar in its most concentrated form — one night a week where the whole feast is whatever the water did best that week, cooked over ironbark and shared across the table. Four courses, $89, and the board names the boat before the first plate lands.
If you're booking for a table with strong opinions, tell us when you reserve — the kitchen plans the market run around the headcount, and the board will still name the boat. That's the entire deal: a menu that moves with the water and tells you so.
The short version
Bugs run warm months, scallops run cold — the menu moves with the water temperature, not the marketing calendar.
The board names the boat because provenance is part of the dish, not a garnish.
When the bay is quiet, the board says so — and the kitchen cooks what actually arrived.
Tell us the table's preferences when booking; the market run adapts to the headcount.
Keep reading the house
The full catalogue with prices lives on the price page; every dish is on the menu; the story of the house is on about.
Reader questions
Asked about this piece
Different species, different seasons — bugs and prawns run warm months, scallops run winter, reef fish run most of the year. The honest answer is that the calendar is weekly, which is why our board changes with it.
Because the boats do. A menu that changes four times a year is a menu that lies four times a year; ours is rewritten when the market run changes, which is usually the same week.
Whatever the board named this morning. If you want the standing answer: the bugs in garlic bisque butter, in the warm months, eaten on the terrace within sight of the grill.
The kitchen maps every allergy course by course — fin fish, shellfish and the combinations, prepared on separate boards. Note it on the booking and the pass handles it before you sit.
Enough reading
The board reads better at the door.
Thursday seafood nights cook whatever the water did best that week — four shared courses off the coals, $89 a guest. Tell us your Thursday; the kitchen will know the boats.