High on the Blackhall Ranges you’ll find Montville and Maleny, two pretty rural communities with an artistic heritage and beautiful views across the range. Spend a few relaxing hours exploring Montville’s shops and galleries, then check into Spicers Tamarind Retreat, an indulgent culinary escape with private pavilions dotted amongst the gumtrees. There are plenty of secluded spots to relax and get back to nature dotted throughout the grounds, a fabulous on-site Thai restaurant and one of Australia’s best cooking schools where you can learn new skills to take home.
Native bird calls and the natural beauty of the surrounding rainforest add an unmistakable Australian element to this Asian-influenced retreat which is spread throughout a large area of bush, embracing the Australian landscape alongside a national park. Thanks to the onsite cooking school and free guided guest activities such as flora and fauna tours, there is little chance of getting bored at this retreat.
If you visit in summer you can swim at the retreat’s swimming pool or in the swimming hole at Gardners Falls. In winter, you can take full advantage of the fireplace and the hot tub if you book a villa that has one of these. Any time of year is a good time to explore the surrounding area and enjoy a stroll through the retreat’s lush gardens.
It’s hard to tear yourself away from the stand-alone pavilions at Spicers Tamarind Retreat, with all of them offering an open fireplace and, in some villas, an outdoor spa tub. We spent part of one afternoon soaking in our outdoor tub as we watched the sunset light up the sky with shades of pink and mauve. The soundtrack provided by the many native birds who have made the retreat’s extensive grounds their home provided the perfect ‘music’ to accompany our romantic spa tub experience.
We were lucky with the weather but it wouldn’t be a problem if it was wet as you could curl up in front of the fire with a coffee from the in-room Nespresso machine and read a book while you enjoy the view. As each pavilion is a stand-alone, they’re ideal for a cosy romantic getaway. That said, the two bedroom villas are large enough to share with friends if you are planning a fun foodie escape. This would be a great thing to do, especially if you booked in at the cooking school together.
We joined a cooking class helmed by The Tamarind’s original creator and renowned Australian master of Thai cuisine, Paul Blain, who lives just up the road and has retuned to The Tamarind to conduct some of the retreat’s Thai cooking classes. His upbeat teaching style and incredible knowledge of Thai cooking made for a fun day as we learned how to make Dtom Gati Fak Tong (coconut, pumpkin and mushroom soup topped with crispy shallots), Yum Pla Khwan (a salad of smoked fish, roasted chilli dressing and coconut, with the fish swapped to chicken for us as we don’t eat seafood) and Geng Hang Lae (our favourite dish, a Northern style pork curry of tamarind, pineapple and peanuts). Enjoying the dishes we had cooked with everyone at a long table on the deck was the perfect finish.
One of the many highlights of a stay at Spicers Tamarind Retreat is the three course dinner included in the tariff, although this can pose a problem if you have done the cooking school as you don’t sit down for lunch until around 2pm (this is always the case, not just if the group cooks slowly). We took Paul up on his suggestion to pack the majority of our Geng Hang Lae curry into a takeaway container (these are provided and encouraged so you can take home the leftovers to enjoy later) so we would have enough room for our dinner at The Tamarind. It was excellent advice and you may like to do the same if you stay for the weekend and join the cooking class.
There are so many dishes to choose from at The Tamarind Restaurant that it almost felt wrong when we mostly ordered the same things again but these were so good we simply couldn’t resist. If you aren’t lucky enough to be staying in-house, you can come here for dinner but booking is an absolute must as this restaurant is popular for a reason. The same goes for The Long Apron, the French inspired restaurant which is a 15 minute drive up the road at Spicers Clovelly. We ended up going there for Sunday lunch on the day we checked out of Spicers Tamarind.
But back to what you can expect at Spicers Tamarind. Some dishes are traditional Thai cuisine while others are a stunning amalgamation of Asian fusion. My favourite was a small plate of Wagyu beef tataki served with crispy garlic, oyster emulsion and crispy daikon pickles that were the perfect textural foil for the delicate meat. My husband ordered the shredded chicken salad with charred sugar loaf cabbage, Asian herbs, lemongrass and toasted coconut again too.
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Breakfast is served in a glass-sided pavilion overlooking the rainforest, accompanied by a chorus of kookaburras. It begins with a continental breakfast platter, followed by a choice of hot main dishes. I chose the vegetarian breakfast burger as I love haloumi and my husband chose the meat eater’s version which came with bacon. Both were great but I think his had a slight edge due to the saltiness of the bacon. Most of the ingredients served at the restaurant are locally sourced and you taste the difference.
After breakfast, we took a stroll around the Spicers Tamarind Retreat art trail and admired the outdoor sculptures on show throughout the grounds. Each one has a QR code you can scan to learn more about the art work. However, our favourite was the one with a real kookaburra perched on top. He spent a lot of time there during our stay so it was easy to get a great photo. By the end of our stay, we could certainly understand why that kookaburra – and the retreat’s guests – didn’t want to leave!
Disclosure: The writer stayed as a guest of Spicers Tamarind Retreat and is already planning a return visit at her own expense.
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