Let's go there: Nautilus, The Rainforest Restaurant in Port Douglas, Australia

The entrance to Nautilus- the rainforest restaurant in 14 Macrossan Street,Port Douglas

If someone says to me, oh you went to Port Douglas in Australia? What did you do? I would tell them that the highlight for me were the fresh seafood fishing boats and Nautilus Restaurant.

Between two buildings on Macrossan street is a sandy footpath that looks like it might lead to a rainforest. There is a sign saying “Nautlius”, “To Restaurant” and “private property". So I think it means without a reservation, you would be trespassing. And rightly so because if I own a restaurant like that, I wouldn’t want anyone wandering around.

The sandy footpath brings you physically and mentally away from the built-up town centre and to a restaurant set in its own mini rainforest. It is a very secluded space that offers open air dining experience surrounded by what it seems to be its own ecosystem. Bandicoots sometimes visit, it said on the menu- that’s on information section for the diners and not in the food menu section.

Nautilus- the open air restaurant set in its own rainforest

I read in the Port Douglas magazine that in 1996 Bill and Hillary Clinton visited Nautilus for their wedding anniversary. The restaurants took their reservation with only 15 minutes of notice. It was a high security event and the diners had to hand in their phones and cameras and they were not to approach the then president, but this inconvenience was made up when after the dinner, the president spoke to each table and posed for photos with each of them.

For our dinner (sans any kind of president), we arrived early for our pre-dinner drinks. I opted for the mango daiquiri that was made with local mangoes (yes Queensland is all about bananas and mangoes) and it was delicious- an excellent balance of alcohol and sweetness from the fruit. It was very relaxing to be sipping on cocktails while being surrounded by the lush greenery.

Mango daiquiri made with locally sourced mangoes

If you come to this restaurant, you would be a simpleton to order two dishes and go home. The seven course dinner is the one to have (if you don’t think you can eat seven courses, get your stomach trained and expanded just for this).

Nautilus is a famous restaurant that serves Modern Australian cuisine. What is Modern Australian cuisine? Simply put- a bit of steak, a bit of Asian, a bit of Italian and occasionally a bit of crocodile and kangaroo (but never koalas)!

Oysters with ponzu sauce

I feel the seven course degustation we had at Nautilus had a large finger on Japanese flavour, and why not? Since the Japanese are one of the world’s best seafood connoisseurs.

We had: oysters in ponzu sauce (yum), yellow fin tuna tartare (yum); Moreton Bay bug tail (yum); soft shell crab (yum), steam duck dumplings (yum); duo of beef tenderloin and short rib (yum) and mango soufflé (yum).

The oysters served were Sydney Rock oysters, small and plump. Even though oysters are one of my favourite seafood, I was disappointed that more local shellfish was not served. I guess, it is trendy to start with something like oysters- light, fresh and flavoursome and to many overseas tourists, it is a symbol of Australian seafood. For me, even though I enjoyed the oyster immensely, I would put something else that’s more of a local produce on the menu if I were the chef.

But I wasn’t.

So the next dish was yellowfin tuna tartare with a little chilli and dots of wasabi pea sauce served on a black slate and beautifully presented. Delicious and I wanted some more.

Tuna tartare, beautifully presented

My favourite was the Moreton Bay bug tail. Bug tail is not a "bug" but rather, it is a crustacean. It was cooked sous-vide style with Japanese miso and burn butter. This was an absolute delight. I can eat ten of these.

My favourite at Nautilus: Moreton Bay bug tail with miso and burnt butter.

The soft shell crab had a touch of south east Asian flavour with kecap manis which is a slightly sweet soy sauce from Indonesia and personally, it is not my favourite but it didn’t stop me from enjoying the dish either. What I liked most about this was not just the food itself, but it was presented on a wooden board which I thought was very creative and suits the restaurant's rainforest theme very well.

Soft shell crab served on a wooden board

Next was the steamed duck dumplings served in a shallow dish with duck broth. The dumplings were plump, very well made and flavoursome. The skin of the dumpling was bouncy and chewy, just the way the Chinese would have it. The duck broth had an Asian aniseed/five spice taste which I though paired very well with the game.

I was most impressed with the duo of beef tenderloin and short ribs and I’m glad I didn’t opt out of red meat because it was very tasty. Both tenderloin and short rib were tender and juicy and personally even though tenderloin is what I would prefer over short rib, I must admit that the short rib was just as good as the tenderloin- some restaurants over cook them and they become dry, but not at Nautilus.

Duo of beef tenderloin and short rib

My husband doesn’t eat red meat and he was offered a choice of gnocchi or snapper. Both choices sounded excellent but in the end he opted for the snapper without any regrets. (No photo because he started before I could photograph it).

The mango soufflé was accompanied by mascarpone and tiny pieces of kiwi and melon as well as macadamia crumbs. I enjoyed the soufflé very much as it was light and airy and not too sweet at all.

Dessert: mango soufflé, mascarpone and fruits

Overall, I enjoyed my dining experience at Nautilus very much and next time I visit Port Douglas I would definitely be a returning customer. Thank you Nautilus for a very lovely meal and hope to see you soon!