1 The Sunshine Coast’s under-the-radar hinterland town
IT’S A DRIZZLY FRIDAY afternoon when I step onto the deck of Mapleton Public House, the rouge-hued old dame of the tiny hinterland town. And she’s flush with company.
The pub has been presiding over Flaxton Drive with views barrelling down the hill to the Sunshine Coast’s beaches since 1910. But it’s only in the past eight months that punters have been making a pilgrimage – many from Brisbane – for a chance to eat from a refined menu, with produce plucked from the farm run by the pub’s new owners, Jessica Huddart and Ben Johnston.
Mapleton has always played third fiddle to Maleny and Montville in Queensland’s Sunshine Coast hinterland but with a bounty of walking trails, waterfalls and now this culinary dance card, it’s firmly on the map for foodies looking for an indulgent escape.
Diners of many of Brisbane’s best restaurants – Gerard’s Bistro, Agnes, Essa Restaurant – may have heard of The Falls Farm, whose highly acclaimed regenerative produce is used in menus across the city. In sidestepping to pub ownership, Jessica and Ben have landed on a way to take their mission of regenerative farming to produce nutrient-dense food a step further than a home-delivery box.
“I want to spread the word about the style of farming that we’re doing and I think that by having a dining experience that’s in a location like this, which is the hub of a town and something that all kinds of people are already coming to, then maybe we
