The Spirit House has a new bar.
When visitors enter the Spirit House, they arrive in a world that could easily be Thailand, perhaps Ubud – but is, in fact, still very much in Australia, less than 15 minutes from Coolum Beach.
Developed out of an almost denuded cattle farm, Peter and Helen Brierty first began their project in the early 1990s, developing large hydroponic ponds, planting exotic trees and plants and then two years later, in 1995, opening a restaurant and following that with a cooking school that is one of the best in Australia.
Fast forward to 2017 and the next chapter is unveiled as The Spirit House has built a new stand-alone bar and a private dining room with its own dedicated kitchen, private chef and waiter.
For those looking for a truly luxe experience, the dining room seats up to 24 people and is entirely separate to the main restaurant. It overlooks the Bali Courtyard which provides a stunning backdrop and break-out area for guests.
The luxe private dining room.
As for the bar, it has been designed with the inspiration of some of Bangkok’s finest by infusing spirits/syrups in-house and offering visitors a setting and taste sensation they cannot get anywhere else on the Sunshine Coast. While sipping on cocktails, executive chef Tom Swapp, has created a menu made up of ‘hawker style’ bar food snacks which will set the palate soaring.
Enjoy ‘hawker style’ bar food snacks which will set the palate soaring.
Capitalising on their years in the hospitality business, and combining the love of Asian cuisine, Peter and Helen decided to open a small garden centre with a cafe focused on modern Asian food.
“We purchased a five acre paddock in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, hired a landscape gardener to create a tropical garden, employed a chef who understood that awesome balance of sweet, sour, spicy, salty Asian flavors, added a couple of part time waiters, and in 1995, threw open the gates to Spirit House. Wonderful. Now sit back, relax and enjoy retirement.
“And enjoy it we have - except that this small Spirit House ‘hobby’ has gradually evolved into a large tourism food business, a great example of being in the right place, at the right time with the right idea,” said Helen.
Spirit House now encompasses a 100 seat restaurant, a ‘hands-on’ cooking school, a venue for weddings and corporate events, chef-guided food tours to Thailand, and publishes best-selling recipe books (see some the recipes here) plus the latest expansion of a brand new bar and stand-alone dining room. With a staff of 50, Spirit House also spawned a separate food manufacturing factory which is a major supply chain partner to national agrifood businesses.