Gympie food lovers in Heaven as top ten eateries revealed
TRAVEL website TripAdvisor has rated 45 of Gympie's eateries, with Heaven Leigh Cupcakes the clear favourite, followed by Ambrosia Indian Restaurant and Emilia's Café.
Leigh Clouston at Heaven Leigh is elated with the win and says TripAdvisor is a useful tool.
"We get a lot of visitors through TripAdvisor," Ms Clouston said.
"It's a great device for caravaners and backpackers."
Their sticky-date cupcake with fresh cream is their best seller, but each day they have special cupcakes and every month they have a Super Saturday celebration with discounted cupcakes, and fun, family activities.
Sue W from Brisbane ranked Heaven Leigh with five stars and said it was "a very pleasant surprise".
Ranking a very respectable second, Ambrosia Indian Restaurant strives to deliver the most popular foods of India and use locally grown produce, herbs and spices whenever possible.
Gary Singh said that the secret to success was high quality, fresh ingredients and exceptional customer service.
"We like to keep up the quality and provide good customer service," he said.
"If something is late, we will include something for free. Or we will give discounts, that kind of thing," he said.
Ambrosia Indian's most popular dishes are the chicken korma, butter chicken and chicken tikka masala.
Jeremy P from Perth was thrilled with Ambrosia Indian's "Great food, great service".
Getting the bronze, Emilia's Café is named after owner, Giovanni Giorno's mum.
Emilia's healthy Italian-inspired foods are a firm favourite with Gympie locals, with their calabrese-style organic seared egg with prosciutto, roast tomato, sourdough and caponata-style sauce their number one breakfast seller.
Mr Giorno's wife, Jodi, is the chef and he says she does a fantastic job and he would be lost without her.
Their Saturday special, the baked cannellini beans in napoletana sauce with basil, lightly seared eggs and spinach is such a hit with customers, they don't dare change it.
"We almost had a riot when she (Jodi) tried to take it off the menu," Mr Giorno said.
Another of their menu favourites sells out every lunch time; the crisp San Daniele prosciutto, tomato jam, soft goats' cheese with truss tomato.
Scott K from Miami on the Gold Coast said Emilia's has it all; "Great coffee, great host, great atmosphere."
Top ten
- Heaven Leigh Cupcakes
- Ambrosia Indian Restaurant
- Emilia's Cafe
- Kingston House Impressions
- Curry Manifesto
- Mama & Papa's Pizzeria
- Geordies Restaurant & Licensed Bar
- Phoenix Hotel
- The Australian Hotel
- City Cafe & Takeaway
Source: Gympie Times, Craig Warhurst, 8th October 2015
Originally published as: Gympie food lovers in Heaven as top ten eateries revealed
