Emeralds Restaurant, Green Island (QLD) by Bureaucrat

Travelling during the wet season in Far North Queensland is a gamble - it's only a matter of time before you get caught out in a tropical downpour. And, boy, did we gamble! Having survived a choppy 45 minute boat trip to Green Island, we were greeted with torrential rain on our arrival. The minute walk from the jetty to the main entrance of the island left us totally drenched. As the island is geared towards outdoor summer activities there's very little shelter. We were left wondering "what on earth will we do until the rain subsides?!".

Fortunately, Mother Hen spotted Emeralds Restaurant - the most upmarket dining option on the island (most of the other places were more like kiosks). The biggest appeal of the restaurant is that it was a dry and warm refuge from the tempest. With the rest of the tourist crowd having disappeared to god knows where, we had the whole restaurant to ourselves.

Emeralds Restaurant, Green Island. chicken baguette

The menu is fairly standard hotel fare - over-priced burgers, sangers, fish and chips. However, despite the price premium, we were all impressed with the quality of the food. Fresh, very tasty and the flavours were very nice. I got a grilled chicken baguette - lovely chicken tenderloins with slices of brie on crusty bread. For the price, I would have liked one or two more pieces of chicken. The chips were morish.

Emeralds Restaurant, Green Island, steak sandwich

The menfolk ordered a steak sanger each. This, too, was given the thumbs up - especially for the reasonably sized, juicy steak.

Mother Hen ordered a bowl of mussels. Alas, I forgot to take a pic, but it was a pretty decent sized serve. Everyone loved the fresh molluscs which were cooked in a creamy white wine sauce, and it came with a big bowl of chips and an equally big serve of toasted ciabatta bread. That was the best value dish of the day.