Trevor Pepys reviews Eclipse Noosa
On a beautiful midweek spring afternoon, Trev was thinking about the yacht club for a brisk lunch with a business acquaintance, but as he pedalled along Gympie Terrace, the gleaming sun-drenched whiteness of the little terrace at Eclipse caught his eye, and on a whim, he dismounted, removed his bicycle clips and claimed a table.
Having discovered the delights of Eclipse soon after its opening early this year, to be honest Trev made a bit of a pig of himself, returning several times to enjoy front of house Aaron’s warm welcome and corny patter while the aromas of his dad Peter Roussos’s Med-influenced concoctions floated tantalisingly from the kitchen. But it had been a while, and Trev discovered Aaron had gone walkabout to be replaced by the younger, but equally welcoming Lachlan, who fetched him a chilled Peroni ($9) while Trev phoned his lunch-mate to notify the venue change.
It being a longish way from Tewantin to Noosaville, Trev had demolished another Peroni, heard Lach’s life story and decided on the prawn and Halloumi entrée ($22) before the mate arrived, at which point disaster struck. Said mate drinks only top shelf vodka mixed with ginger beer (don’t ask), and Eclipse had neither. Well, to be fair, they had a few things that would suffice for a Belvedere or a Grey Goose, but ginger beer not.
With a convenience store just a couple of doors away, young Lach should have put the customer first. Trev was thinking that the late, great Edi Brunetti would have run from Boreen Point to Tewantin under similar circumstances, but since Lach has the makings of a fine maître d’ otherwise, Trev let it slide, and the mate suffered with vodka and dry ginger ale ($8).
In fact he suffered through three of them, to Trev’s modest couple of glasses of Fattori Pinot Grigio ($10.50), mollifying his disappointment by ordering a medium eye fillet steak with prosciutto ($38.50). This was new to Trev, who had previously stuck to the plentiful seafood choices at Eclipse, but when it came, it looked pretty damn good, so sharing rights were quickly negotiated. We’d requested everything together, but arriving just ahead of my entree and the mate’s main was the complimentary crusty loaf with garlic butter, a nice touch that Trev had forgotten.
Peter’s seafood starters are as good as anywhere in town, and that hadn’t changed since Trev’s last visit, with a generous portion of grilled prawns served on grilled Halloumi, with a drizzle of pesto, sumac and a lemon wedge. The steak was medallions of eye fillet char-grilled, wrapped with prosciutto, served on garlic mash potato, topped with rosemary jus. And it was bloody delicious.
The verdict: Peter Roussos has run restaurants all over the country, and his experience, coupled with the Greek/Med family influence, is the telling factor. Eclipse doesn’t try to outsmart itself, it just continues to present simple, elegant dishes that are perfect for a Noosa riverside repast. Trev salutes.
Eclipse Noosa, 253 Gympie Terrace, Noosaville. Phone 5470 2305.
