Spirit House Restaurant

Helen and Peter Brierty opened Spirit House at Yandina in 1995 — eight courtyards built around a lake covered in waterlilies, all bamboo and frangipanes, set up to feel like Thailand on the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. Helen passed away in 2018; her son Acland and his brother now run it as the second generation. Tom Hitchcock (2022 Queensland Chef of the Year) leads the kitchen following founding head chef Annette Fear's lineage. The cooking school runs nine classes a week including Friday and Saturday nights, lunch or dinner and wine included — Helen co-authored three Spirit House cookbooks with Annette Fear. Hong Sa Bar (Thai for "golden bird") and a 24-seat private dining room sit within the gardens. Rebuilt 2022 after a freakish break-in destroyed the kitchen — kitchen expansion designed to "power Spirit House for the next 25 years."