Few restaurants in Brisbane can boast iconic status but Manly Boathouse gets there on two counts. One, it’s a stunning white dining room with views of the boats moored in the marina as well as Moreton Bay. Lunch (or dinner) here can’t help but be an occasion. Two, you don’t have to be Daddy Warbucks to have an ace seafood experience here, but can line up for fish and chips in the casual outdoor Patio section and eat your catch at the tables under big umbrellas. You still get to look at the ocean (albeit framed by cars in the carpark) and your food is coming straight from the same kitchen that’s servicing the indoor diners.
When Time Out visits the outdoor part, a basic crumbed or battered cod is $11 and, let’s speak plainly, huge. Grilled snapper is a reasonable $16. Half a dozen fat calamari rings ($8) are panko crumbed and tender, nothing like the chewy, overcooked tyres you might be imagining. Prawn cutlets are $3 a pop, as are fried-and battered sea scallops. (Relax, old schoolers – the potato variety are also available.) Got the bug? A cold quartered Moreton Bay bug is just $20, and you can feast on fresh oysters and prawns too if that’s your desire.
There’s a lengthy queue to order from the Fish & Chippery on weekend lunchtime, but once we’ve ordered we don’t have to wait long for the reassuring tones of the beeper. Our fry up comes wrapped in paper, with a cardboard annex for the snapper, so you can take the lot away and eat it on the esplanade if you prefer.
This side of the building also has a café, patisserie and gelato bar, meaning you can also stop on your morning or afternoon walk and get a refresher.
Occupying the site of the former Wilson’s Boathouse, the restaurant is owned and run by the Kays, masterminds of Reef Seafood and Sushi in Newstead. Their kitchen is run by chef Braden White, and his extensive seafood menu is augmented by Rangers Valley Wagyu, barbecue lamb loin and roast pork cutlets. A lavish set menu is just $80pp; the wine list is extensive and there are about a dozen beers on tap.