La Pizza, Cairns (QLD) by Bureaucrat

On 1 March, a number of 'firsts' occurred for me.  It marked the occasion of my first visit to Cairns, my first flight on TigerAir (which wasn't as bad as everyone made it out to be) and my first booking into an AirBnb accommodation.  For the Lawyer, Mr Strong, Mother Hen and I, we had high hopes of a relaxing few days that would be highlighted by spectacular local produce - especially the seafood.  While the views were stunning, it wasn't until the latter half of our holiday that we started to encounter good grub.

One of the things we had read and heard about Cairns is that, being a tourist town, there's lots of tempting deals to get tourists to part with their money in exchange for great food.  I can confirm that, yes, there are many lunchtime and early bird dinner deals (e.g., $15-$20 for lunch including a drink, or 10-20% off early bird dinners) but the quality is less than desirable.  Most nights we ended up going to local fish shops and buying the fresh seafood and cooking it ourselves - it worked out cheaper and tastier!


Not wanting to walk too far for lunch (oy, the heat and the humidity!), the Lawyer and I surveyed the immediate restaurants along the Esplanade and picked La Pizza.  The daily lunch specials were squid fettuccine or a roast veggie quinoa salad.  We both went for the fettuccine because, well obviously, of the squid.  For $16.90 the fettuccine came with your choice of beer, wine or soft drink. For something that was described as "Squid fettuccine - crispy prosciutto, baby capers, Spanish onion, tomatoes in white wine and olive oil" the dish was nice but underwhelming.

The good points were that the pasta was nicely al dente and the squid was fresh and very tender.  We had both hoped, however, that there'd be more than four small pieces of squid on each plate.  Plus, it was a tad disingenuous to use a pinch of crumbled up (practically dust) prosciutto and pass it off as a main ingredient in the dish - all up, I'd say each serve had about a centimeter of prosciutto... I mean, having had the dish, I'm having a hard time trying to spot the prosciutto in the photo.  Same goes for the white wine - I couldn't taste that at all in the sauce.

The Lawyer also ordered a soy iced coffee which tasted like a big ol' glass of Nescafe Blend 43.

Cairns at dusk

Verdict

We wouldn’t return.

Overall

It's harsh but this was a less than stellar introduction into the Cairns foodie experience.  Service is on the slow side but that could well be part of the slower lifestyle in tropical north Queensland.  If it wasn't so hot we wouldn't have minded so much (most places have al fresco dining to take advantage of the sea breeze, but we would have much preferred the less environmentally friendly option of an air-conditioned restaurant!).

Find it at

La Pizza
93 Esplanade
Cairns City QLD 4870
Phone: (07) 4031 2646