Food, inspiration, art as well as style – all to the backdrop of the roaring ocean; that’s what to expect at Halcyon House’s restaurant Paper Daisy, just timid of the QLD border on Australia’s east coast.

Halcyon home was when little more than a shoddy surfers’ motel on the doorstep of Cabarita beach 20 minutes south of the Queensland border. only 4 beaches short of Coolangatta as well as the Gold Coast, this was the ideal area to hole up as well as wait on the swell.

Now, however, because 2015, this beautifully transformed shop hotel has something totally different to offer.

As we pulled as much as its bit cars and truck park, we were promptly taken back to the immaculate Parker hotel in palm Springs, California, with its now-famous lobby wall.

On the beach side (apart from the beach itself of course) shades of palm Springs are right here too, this time around the Ace Motel with the styling of the pool as well as balconies. A mix of cool yet advanced – a truly difficult line to pull off – is the name of the game here.

That feeling of simple ’50s beachside motels, California days, Florida Keys… it’s all here, beautifully brought back to its former glory as well as beyond. definitely the halcyon days of this hotel.

Owners (and sisters) Siobhan as well as Elisha Bickle have done a exceptional task preserving the traditional ‘50s aesthetic of the location without any type of of the chintz. as well as at the exact same time keeping your rate of interest the whole time you’re here. Halcyon home is one of those locations where the much more you look, the much more you see.

To cement this concept, the two women have made each of the 21 spaces right here different, so each time you stay at Halcyon House, you never understand what to expect.

Paper Daisy Restaurant

Part of the hotel – as well as still extremely much in keeping with the beachside palm Springs style – is the award-winning restaurant Paper Daisy.

The intent right here is best according to the hotel: to stand apart from the crowd. as well as from the moment you walk in, you can tell it’s working.

The restaurant is adjacent to the pool as well as bar – a big space with walls covered in fascinating pictures, shelves cleverly embellished with objects as well eclectic to be accidental.

Perfect colour themes, stylish yet quirky illumination as well as fine-tuned touches of flare that sit beautifully with the restaurant’s proximity to the beach… it’s a superbly developed space.

And lots of pineapples of course!

As for the approachable menu, you understand you’re in for some surprises even as you struggle to select from the generous variety of tasty sounding dishes.

For lunch, you can select between 2 to 3 programs as well as all mains include sides. You likewise get an amuse bouche (though see our notes at the bottom on this) as well as a choice of fantastic bread with unusual kefir butter, as well as macadamia as well as wattle seed spread.

To start

For entrée, Mrs romance had the prawns, which were delicious. served in a crisp rice crumb as well as wonderful chilli sauce similar to the stuff you get with Vietnamese summertime rolls. The rest of the meal was a bit underwhelming though.

I purchased the coal-baked fish (we believe it was coral snapper, however the waitress was in a bit of a hurry to leave – see our notes below). The fish was beautiful. The coal flavour added amazing depth to the meat.

Unfortunately, just like Mrs Romance’s prawns, the rest of the meal was disappointing. The parsley puree was okay however not astonishing as well as the pomelo that came with it was ok. The fish likewise appeared like it’d been dropped on the method to the plate as part of it was damaged as well as mushed up. I still ate it though!

Mains

Mrs Romance’s paperbark fish (again, we weren’t told what fish it was) was beautifully presented. The meat was tender as well as the shallots on top were crisp as well as delicious.

My poached poultry was so soft as well as tender. I have no concept exactly how the kitchen area did it. The sunflower seed mash/butter was good, as were the chunky shitake mushrooms as well as crispy grilled artichoke hearts.

Although the flavours were there, the old adage of eating with your eyes left me wanting a bit more. The meal was a bit 50 shades of Beige.

The sides we selected – the radicchio, orange as well as caramelised walnut – did have all the colour though, sadly it was a bit as well wonderful for me.

However, the peas with cashew butter was an outstanding dish.

Dessert

We were trying to choose on what to have from the somewhat unremarkable dessert menu when Mrs romance found an ice cream go by. It was a lemon meringue ice cream from the pool bar menu as well as much much better than anything on the restaurant menu.

Our wait personnel were much more than pleased to serve this instead, which I truly appreciated. different menus can cause a lack of versatility in some places, however not here. The only silly thing was they provided us significant dessert spoons as well huge for the ice cream cone. Sundae spoons, little bar spoons or even teaspoons would have been better.

Over all, the meal was extremely tasty, as well as the location, the design as well as the design of the location is all sufficient to make any type of special meal all the much more special.

A couple of side notes

I should state though, there were some issues. The amuse bouche at the begin of the meal was extremely unusual as well as a bit pointless. An entire raw radish with a (forgivably tasty) oyster emulsion is surprisingly difficult to eat – even with a knife as well as fork. The kitchen area hadn’t even eliminated the roots.

Perhaps we were missing something – however it was a bad begin to a excellent meal.

The other thing we missed was service. The space didn’t seem especially full the day we were there, however it took a ridiculously long time to get anyone’s attention.

I don’t typically comment on service as it’s so situational, so time sensitive as well as a extremely subjective creature, however our waitress on the day was clearly either off her game or totally under-trained.

This all said, I don’t want you to believe this location is no good. It truly is. There’s a great deal of hype around Halcyon home as well as Paper Daisy – many of which I believe is extremely much deserved. We can only comment on our own experience, many of which was incredibly positive.

Halcyon home as well as Paper Daisy are definitely locations you come for special occasions. as well as I do believe that coming right here for your special day will make everything the much more memorable.

The styling, place as well as general atmosphere of Halcyon home is a delight. You feel like you’re on a film set – somewhere between mad Men, a Bond film as well as possibly a biopic of Frank Sinatra.

Paper Daisy at Halcyon House

Good for: special birthdays as well as anniversaries, charming meals as well as catch-ups with dear friends

Open: breakfast 7am-9am – Lunch 12pm-3pm – dinner 6pm-10pm

21 Cypress Crescent
Cabarita Beach
NSW 2488

W: halcyonhouse.com.au
Fb: @HalcyonHouseCarabitaBeach
Ig: @_halcyonhouse
Ig: @_paperdaisy_

If you’ve delighted in this post, you’ll like the other things we’ve written about this part of Australia as well as Byron Bay:

7 finest things to eat in Byron Bay.

Gaia Retreat as well as Spa.

Top things to perform in Byron Bay.

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Images by Mrs romance utilizing an OM-D E-M5 mark II Olympus camera.
We dined at Paper Daisy as guests of Destination NSW.