spirit house

beautiful, but a little short of amazing. i definitely liked it, but it was one of those times when high expectations can let you down - the experience was not so amazing as i hoped it would be. this restaurant is so beautiful - the nighttimewalk through flickering torch lit bamboo is magical, the menu is very exciting, the decor spot on, the staff highly professional. we had the banquet menu, which covered a good variety of dishes - the coconut salmon soup was gorgeous, but i felt some of the dishes were not quite as special as they could have been.

my husband and i dined here on a saturday night and ordered the classic banquet menu at $80 p/p. the first 4 entree courses were brought out to the table swiftly within half an hour. these were amazing.
unfortunately we waited about 1 hour and 10mins for our main courses, in thistimethe couple who were seated after us and ordered the exact same banquet menu received their mains before we did, (10-15mins before we did)
during thistimewe had asked what looked liked the restaurant manager (french guy) he said it would be 3-4 minutes wait, anyway this approximatetimewas exceeded with little care taken from the restaurant manager.
upon finishing our banquet we thought it was appropriate that we asked for our drink bill to be waived due to the extensive waittimefor our mains. we were told that they do not waive drinks but they could offer us a tea or coffee. very very disappointing with the lack of care shown as i had been wanting to try this place for sometime. considering that our bill was just over $200 you would think they would try and keep their customers happy. it didn't surprise me though as the restaurant manager seemed very arrogant with little customer service.
as i said i couldn't fault the food however the above experience will stop me returning again.

had a lovely lunch today. prebooked our table as it gets busy at times. the scallop and beef braised ribs were so good, juicy and tender. the extra chilli was definitely adding a nice heat.
the prawn and coconut salmon soup and pork ribs were nice too. the whole fish and the green beans were also nice. we were all satisfied with our meal. the downside probably was the waitingtimewas too long.
but overall very nice quite authentic thai food.

six of us went here for dinner in february as we had a voucher to use there. the surrounds and ambiance is incredible. when we were seated, the waitress was very attentive and went through the menu options with us and her recommendations on amount of food to order.

unfortunately that's where the service ended - it seems she may have been distracted after this and i had to ask twice for a drink and felt that she was almost non-existant for the rest of ourtimethere. and when she was around she was quite pushy with moving the food around the table. we had already rotated the food around us and we told her this and she still took a plate from one end and moved it to the other end.

onto the food.... we got 3 entrees, 5 mains and 2 sides for the 6 of us which was plenty of food. it may just be me but i really struggle to justify $47 for thai curry considering i can get something very similar around the corner from home for a third of the cost. the food was lovely but nothing incredible, i felt like the curries for example, really needed a little more spice flavour and a bit more creaminess and richness. the pork curry i felt was quite salty and one dimensional. and the prawns were unfortunately very old. my mum actually took and bite and spat it out, they were very obviously off. the best meal for me was the scallops - so refined and beautiful complex flavours very carefully put together. the scallops were what i was expecting with a place like this.

don't get me wrong, the food was good but for the price that you pay, i would much rather invest this into a dining experience that is nothing like my local thai joint and has thought and detail go into the meals. i feel comparing it to the fine dining modern aus restaurants in brisbane, they are on a much higher level and worth the money.

had a fantastic relaxing long lunch. service was polite and faultless.
we had the large banquet for 6 people. from the first entree right through the whole banquet everything was perfect.
we had two little one who were also made to feel very welcome.
i highly recommend that you take thetimeto have lunch at this fine restaurant.

this is now the secondtimei have been to spirit house, first for the cooking class, second for the restaurant. there is no better establishment than spirit house. the best meals i've eaten in my life.

my fav restaurant in noosa/yandina among lake & garden settings with a balinese backdrop.food is exceptional. staff very friendly. wines delicious. presentation tantalizing!  we started with the caramel pork canapés, the salmon coconut soup & pickle & pineapple salad. only small thing i found a "bone" in my salmon so was given a "complimentary" salad by the sous chef. a nice touch!!!mains were balinese oyster steak, taramind fish & steamed & seared sesame scallops. our dessert tasting platter was also incredible. the only thing missing was a visit from the  'sea dragons" around the lake (currently in hibernation) & the duck (who had been there for over 15 years) but had passed since the lasttimewe visited.  all in all a magnificent experience.  which words fail to fully describe!!!

our 5thtimehere and as always, amazing. i think this has to be the most beautiful setting for a restaurant i have ever been to and is definitely unique and special. food was incredible and service is always top notch.

beautiful location and food. came here for my wedding anniversary and had a lovely time. a tip for first timers - share what you eat. we shared pork belly for entree which was delicious and then the whole crispy fish (a must have - we order everytimewe come here) with sides of rice, salad and...

update jan 2018:
visited again after our very good experience last time. thistimewe had the $85 banquet and all the meals with the exception of the deserts were fabulous. the salmon soup was divine as was the fried whole fish. it was a 10/10 in food and service until we got to the deserts...which sadly were terrible. the apricot desert was incredibly sour and the chocolate desert was also pretty bad. we ended up leaving both half eaten which for us is a big deal as we love deserts normally (in fact our last trip here, the desert was our favourite!)

overall a great experience once again albeit thistimefinished on a bit of a bad note given the very poor deserts.

first visit 2016:
fantastic location among a tropical rainforest like setting. the decor and atmosphere is wonderful.

the meals were generally of high standard. we had the coriander chicken (beautiful smokey flavor), the quite good pork belly, the decent but not as good as expected crab cakes with the main disappointment being the dry, bland and burnt (!) $8 roti bread. that really needs to be improved. thankfully we finished with the sensational kafir lime cheesecake (wow good!). while we didn't have the whole fried fish, we noticed lots of other tables ordered it and it looked fantastic.

the service was excellent and friendly. well worth driving there from noosa for an excellent experience. expect a fair hit to the credit card though, many of the tiny entrees are in mid $20s and if it's a public holiday there is an additional $10/person charge.

we have heard about the spirit house on a number of occasions while visiting the sunshine coast. now having been there, we can see why. the location, notwithstanding it is located in yandina, is like a tropical oasis. while it is not in a central location, the trip here is worth it. we went straight to mains, with the “jungle curry of tasmanian salmon”, “red curry of crispy duck” and “bbq pork belly”. the dishes tasted as good as one could have expected. the red curry was exactly as i would have wanted, with just enough heat to keep my interest. the bbq pork belly, was an explosion of bbq sensation, with the fat in the pork belly not dominating the meal as can often be the case with pork bellies. being a lover of tasmania salmon, i was happy to see they did it justice to it in the jungle curry. one of the diners in our group said the flavours took her back to atimewhen she travelled in rural vietnam, staying in local villages. if you are after a quick cheap feed of thai / asian, this is not the place, but if you are after good quality asia dining experience, then i would recommend spirit house in yandina.

overpriced, overhyped and overvalued! i don't know where all the good reviews come from?? is it the hype maybe? went for lunch today - might as well have flushed the money down the toilet, as that was exactly how we felt afterwards. tiny portion sizes, food nothing to write home about, cold chicken, just a complete waste oftimeand money. whilst the ambience was ok, i don't get the big fuss? it's ok, nothing that special! waitress was attentive, but took away our dishes when i was still eating (twice!), rude. one of the worst dining experiences i've ever had, save your money and go elsewhere.

went to spirit house after multiple recommendations from friends lasttimewe visited the sunshine coast (from melbourne). i honestly can't fault this restaurant - it was one of the best eating experiences i've ever had. definitely the best thai food i've ever eaten. the food is absolutely to die for - gorgeous, rich flavours, good amount of spice, perfectly balanced, fresh tasting ingredients. the pork belly entree was my favourite and melted in your mouth, but the two curries for main were amazing as well (one duck, one pork). service was great - really attentive. and the setting just tops it off - sitting amongst a rainforest with beautiful trees and peaceful sounds. such a unique experience. loved the walk in! really peaceful and romantic at your table - you can't hear the tables next to you. absolutely perfect night and can't wait to go back nexttimewe're on the sunshine coast.

travelled from melbourne to return to the spirit house after a couple of years, thistimeat night for dinner with my partner. the pouring dampened my excitement but the food and service lived up to my ravings. the salmon soup was so much nicer than i expected - good choice april. the crispy pork belly has to be my favourite, they got the explosion of flavours spot on here. i need to work through all the starters. the massaman curry was too heavy with star anise and cinnamon for my liking and crispy fish a little dry. but wow the dessert. lemongrass meringue, lime mousse and perfect quinelle of basil sorbet to look like a whole lime - yum yum yum!! spirit house is still in my top 10 world wide thai restaurants.


-----22 aug, 2014-----

crispy pork belly with citrus caramel sauce. perfection!

didn't quite deliver. visited spirit house for the firsttimelast week as part of a big group for a celebratory dinner. being such a large group, we had the banquet and i'm afraid to report that it failed to deliver. the salmon in coconut broth was lovely, the scallops delish. unfortunately the pork belly was dry and a bit stringy (although lovely flavours). the crispy fish was nice, the chang mai chicken curry wasn't. was looking forward to the papaya salad as i developed an obsession with this while in thailand and i'm sorry to say it failed to live up to its potential. a beautiful venue, nice staff, but sadly i'm not sure i'd be back and failed to live up to the hype.