"This club was built for fun"

Here goes with another rudimentary restaurant review. I'm not really all that good at them. I thought about doing fish and chips because that's what I had to eat, but then thought I would leave it to the end of my stay because I'm bound to have some more later in the week.

The title of this post is from a rather endearing sign in the rather endearing Yachty - the restaurant/bar of the Port Douglas Yacht Club.

We have been here before on both of our previous trips to Port Douglas. We keep coming back because it's such a lovely experience. The location is worth a million dollars - on the inlet below the marina. There are million dollar boats anchored beside your table and beyond as far as you can see, and you can also see some day trip boats coming home if you get there at the right time. It's a yacht club after all, but not a posh one. If there is such a thing you could almost say it't the working man's yacht club, in spite of the aforesaid very expensive boats nearby. But the building is homespun and open to the elements - well not the rain - most of it is properly roofed and the rest has large sails. But there are no windows. It's all slightly rickety and outside there are bits of boats, and massive surfboards, and boats up on blocks. Ropes and nets and all manner of stuff that goes on boats. This is not a white tablecloth, silver service yacht club. And anyone can come and eat here. And lots of them seem to be locals. You don't even have to sign in as you do at the Tin Shed - the Services Club further along the inlet. We are going there another night.

It's interesting really isn't it? The yacht clubs you see elsewhere tend to be snooty affairs bu the boats outside are not nearly as expensive as the ones you see here. Thesis a photograph I took last year which I think gives a bit of an idea about the boats.

There's a limited but quite interesting menu - at least as interesting as bel cibo really though in a rather more workaday way. And you order at the counter, get your booze from the bar and pay as you go. Like pub food I suppose. But my breadcrumb coated Spanish mackerel with chips, salad and tartare sauce was just yummy. It even looked good.

I almost kept the bit of pretend newspaper on the plate as a souvenir, but stopped myself in time. As you can see it is a generous portion and it was really nice. I believe David's salad was good too. But he eyed somebody else's pork ribs with Bbq sauce somewhat enviously.

And we indulged in dessert too. A very chocolatey, soft, warm and unctuous chocolate brownie for David and a coconut/mango cheesecake with coconut ice-cream for me. Perhaps we shouldn't have dessert tomorrow. Maybe a starter instead. I can feel the kilos going on daily. I'm going to regret all this when I get home.

The yacht club is not very pricey and it's kid friendly. We fondly remember coming here with our grandchildren when they were very young. They made friends with some other kids and ran around on the grass next to the inlet after they had finished eating. It was all rather magical.