Trevor Pepys reviews Pucca Bar and Restaurant
As regular readers will well know, Trevor generally gets his jollies from the north of the subcontinent rather than the south, preferring to roam the cities of the Upper Ganges and explore the wilds of Rajasthan with cobbers like Captain Reggie Singh, the leopard hunter and a pukka sahib if ever there was one, sipping gin cocktails at sunset by the campfire and ripping into chunks of fresh, gamey meat served by a dozen or more servant boys in white jodhpurs and brocaded waistcoats.
But, the cuisine of the south is not without merit, and Trevor recalled a recent Goan fish curry at the excellent Copper Kitchen just a few doors down as he stepped out of the afternoon sunlight and waited for a table for an early sitting at Pucca, a newish joint that has been winning praise for its post-Covid Monday night DJ parties rather than its food, but any place that styles itself as “a culinary experience inspired by southern coastal India, the spice ghats of Kerala and its Euro-Indian heritage” is worth a bash, if only to see if reality matches hype.
It being Be Kind To The Missus Thursday, Trev dragged the moon-booted (don’t ask, another drunken tumble) significant other to a corner spot on the terrace with a pleasant view of the wheels of commerce spinning along Sunshine Beach Road, and surveyed the menu over a couple of glasses of the Italian house prosecco ($12). The choices were many and varied, but the Pepys pair decided to stick to a selection from the street food and entrees sections.
On the street food list “Dad’s Puchkas” sounded inviting, but a neighbouring diner pushed her bowl aside, pronouncing them tasteless, so we opted for sharing the Mooloolaba prawn samosas with cucumber raita ($16) and the spiced lamb curry puffs with tomato kasundi ($14). Both of these were generous serves, with the prawn samosas taking the first honours of the evening for texture, taste and presentation. Come on Trev, I hear you say, it’s hard to bugger up a samosa, but people do, and these didn’t.
What was needed, however, was something to wash down the flakes, and mindful that the award wage for restaurant reviewers remains at slightly less than baby-sitter rates, Trev ordered the cheapest wine on the menu by about $25, the 500ml carafe of house rose ($34), taking the precaution of asking the polite young gentleman taking our order if it was light in colour and dry of taste, and indeed, may we see the bottle from whence it would come?
“Better I bring you a taste first,” he said, and did, and Trev looked, swilled and drank it down with no immediate ill effect. But it was a grower, as chateau cardboards often are, and with every glass the furry lining of the mouth and the heartburn increased. Thursday nights are free BYO at Pucca, Trevor later learnt, and he would have been far better off bringing a $6 litre bottle of quaffable Baily and Baily from Dan’s, and next time he will.
Next came the baked half shell scallops, with balachaung, bamboo and spring onion ($22) and buffalo tartare with chilly chutney, coconut relish, picked onion and pappadum ($20). Two bullseyes here, so to speak – the scallops lightly done and just delicious, the tartare a melt-in-the-mouth sensation, the best Trev had encountered since the bistros of Paris, minus the side of chips which would have made it perfect.
We thought about some house-made sorbets to finish off, but Pucca was filling up fast now and we didn’t want to sit waiting with the now-empty carafe a pink-stained memory we’d prefer to forget. We decided to save that for another time.
The verdict: A little bit try-hard in some respects, Pucca is a pleasant place for a feed, bright and airy with good, attentive staff, and on the evidence of this brief sortie, they are definitely getting it right in the kitchen.
Pucca Bar and Restaurant, 19 Sunshine Beach Road, Noosa Junction, phone 5613 3202
