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Trevor Pepys reviews Eduardo’s By The River
Trev had had a rough day, no two ways about it. What he really wanted to do was to push a sustainable straw down the neck of a good bottle of Pinot Gris and slurp it up while munching crisps on the sofa and mimicking Ellen Fanning’s new-found ocker turn of phrase on The Drum.
As some readers may know, in addition to his part-time, semi-professional restaurant reviewing, Trevor offers cut-rate shiatsu massage therapy – something he picked up from a comprehensive $59 on-line course – to residents at aged care facilities. Normally the old dears love it, but this time he’d pushed just that little bit too far, and as he watched the patient wheeled out in traction, he just wanted to run away and find his own form of blessed relief.
But no, it being Thursday, the missus was adamant. We always eat out on Thursday, no ifs or buts. Fortunately Trev remembered an advertisement he’d seen in this very newspaper for a place on Gympie Terrace owned by a Brazilian chef who seemed to know what he was doing, a number was dialed and owing to a cancellation we were able to snare a table immediately, running out of the house just as Ellen was getting started: “Stone the flamin’ crows, Minister, do ya take us for a pack of galahs!”
Eduardo’s By The River is a simple, tapas-driven establishment that has been keeping adversity at bay over the Covid months since they opened a year ago largely through the diversity of owner-chef Eduardo Richetta’s South American and southern European offering, which reflects his mixed heritage. Eduardo established himself as a chef in Rio before coming to Australia and working in Sydney restaurants for more than a decade before moving to Noosa last year.
Continuing his theme of Pinot Gris, Trev ordered a bottle of Farm Road 2018 ($35) and attempted to put his trials and tribulations behind him as he surveyed the brief but interesting menu. We quickly decided it would be tapas all the way. The missus insisted on the garlic mushrooms ($15) while Trev got a little more adventurous, looking to the specials board for Feijoada balls ($14) and the Ojo de Bife ($20), accompanied by a platter of spinach and Ricotta empanadas ($16).
The garlic mushrooms, in a red wine, garlic and butter sauce, were a pleasant enough starter, and the Feijoada balls, or fritters, a staple of Brazilian street food, were tasty although a little lacking in a distinctive flavour of the meat cuts used, which was, however, compensated for by a good spicy sauce. Trev had high hopes for the Ojo de Bife a la plancha steak with caramelised onions and toast, and it was very good, although the meat was a little bland for Trev’s taste, and unfortunately he’d smeared the last of the spicy sauce on his balls, so to speak. The empanadas, which came out last when they would have been better to accompany everything else, were fine, just poorly timed.
The verdict: A pleasant space with a river outlook, friendly service and a menu that deserves further attention. Trev’s mood was suitably elevated by the Eduardo’s experience, and he will try again.
Eduardo’s By The River, 239 Gympie Terrace, Noosaville. Phone 5415 1236.