Next cab off the rank with my Table 52 cards is Lime and Pepper Restaurant at Peppers Beach Club and Spa, Palm Cove. MS and I decided to head out there for lunch since lunch is kind of our thing to do. In hindsight going to Lime and Pepper for lunch probably wasn’t the best idea… More about that later. Set amongst the Paperbarks and with comfy cushions to sit on Lime and Pepper is a pretty swish restaurant right across the road from the beach at Palm Cove. Being one of two couples in the whole place we took our pick of places to sit and sat at one of the side tables with the cushions, ordered a glass of Kapura Marlborough Savignon Blanc and perused the Lunch Menu. My first impression of the Lunch Menu… Disappointing. The Lunch Menu was very basic with options like Salads, Wraps and Fish and Chips (boring). In fact it was so basic that we almost decided to leave and come back for dinner. The only thing stopping us was the fact that we had driven all the way from the city to come out here for lunch and it’s the age old story of ‘well we are here now so we might as well’.

Out of the 11 or so choices on the Lunch Menu I really couldn’t pick anything that I particularly wanted to eat so I ordered the burger. Yes. I ordered a hamburger at a fine dining restaurant. I’m ashamed and upset at myself but I really felt that I had no choice. I ordered the Grilled Beef Burger with Tomato Chutney, Vintage Cheddar, Caramelised Onion and Beer Battered Potato Chips for AU$20. MS, also confused as to what to order, decided to go with the Crispy Pork Belly Baguette with Homemade Korean Kimchi, Lemon Scented Mayonnaise and Mixed Greens for AU$18. An odd choice for him considering that he doesn’t like spice (apparently spicy ‘isn’t a taste’ according to him). I let him run with it hoping that he would be pleasantly surprised with a bit of tang in his baguette. We also ordered an entree of Salt and Pepper Squid with Shaved Vegetable Salad, Lychee, Chilli and Tahitian Lime Dressing for AU$18 to share between us.

It probably took about half an hour for our dishes to arrive even though we were one of two occupied tables. We ordered them all at once instead of the entree before the mains. Not sure what the chef was doing in the kitchen… Maybe trying to operate the can opener on the tin of lychees considering that lychees are no longer in season. Hey, sometimes I have trouble operating my can opener (I blame the fact that I am left handed). Still it didn’t bother us too much because it was nice sitting at our table on the cushions enjoying our glass of wine and looking out towards the beach. The servings were as I was expecting – lunch time and expensive restaurant serves. Certainly not a size that is going to fill you up, well for the baguette and the Salt and Pepper Squid anyway. The Salt and Pepper Squid was really delish especially the bed of Asian inspired salad that it was served on. MS and I ate every last morsel of it, even the suspected canned lychees were yummy and the waitress ensured me that they only serve Australian seafood at Lime and Pepper.

Salt and Pepper Squid with Shaved Vegetable Salad, Lychee, Chiili and Tahitian Lime Dressing (AU$18)

The pork belly on MS’ baguette wasn’t exactly crispy, it was cold and had obviously just been pulled out of the fridge and put on a roll before being brought out to our table. Despite the cold pork and the spicy Kimchi MS did enjoy his meal albeit a little small for a big hungry man.

Crispy Pork Belly Baguette with Homemade Korean Kimchi, Lemon Scented Mayonnaise and Mixed Greens (AU$18)

My Grilled Beef Burger had a lot to live up to after my yummy burger experience at Grill’d earlier in the week. I have to say it wasn’t a very nice burger. Some cheeses just weren’t meant to be melted onto burger buns and this so called ‘vintage cheddar’ was one of those cheeses. It was really oily and overpowering (yeah I know vintage cheddar is supposed to be overpowering) and just didn’t belong on my Grilled Beef Burger. There is not much more that I can say about it other than I didn’t enjoy it. It was just a very plain, boring and expensive cheesy burger.

Grilled Beef Burger with Tomato Chutney, Vintage Cheddar, Caramelised Onion and Beer Battered Potato Chips (AU$20)

We did enjoy our lunch at Lime and Pepper but more for the fact that it was such a nice restaurant to dine at rather than because the food was delicious. Our main meals were a little bit disappointing, mine more so than MS’. The service was quite good and the waitress was very friendly and seemed to know the menu front to back as well as whether or not their seafood was imported (most wait staff have to go to the kitchen and ask). Upon paying we perused the dinner menu and saw that it sounded much more shall we say ‘edible’ than the lunch menu. I just think that we would have enjoyed our meal much more if we had gone to Lime and Pepper for dinner rather than lunch, a concept that has taken me a few attempts to understand (I’m sure many of you are already clued into it). Using your Table 52 card at some of the listed restaurants for lunch is a waste because they are more worthwhile going to for dinner. You are going to have to be the one that determines the whole lunch/dinner thing but Lime and Pepper is definitely one of those ‘Dinner’ restaurants. Seems I learnt my lesson the hard way, again.

Lime and Pepper

123 Williams Esplanade, Palm Cove QLD 4870

Ph: (07) 4059 9200

Opening Hours: 7 days, Breakfast 6.30am – 10.30am, Lunch 12pm – 3pm, Dinner 6pm – 9.30pm

Website: www.peppers.com.au/beach-club-spa/