Blume, Boonah Review

1 hour ago

2 min read

Boonah was once called Dugandan Scrub and Blumbergville, a name the town dropped and a restaurant picked up. Blume is a 20 seat room in a heritage building about an hour from Brisbane, with pressed metal walls, polished timber floors, a skylight, and a 2025 Good Food Guide hat for its trouble. The setting is the Scenic Rim, which is farming country first and dining destination second, and the restaurant has arranged itself accordingly. Head west from the Glitter Coast, through Beaudesert and keep going, sand you'll bump into this lovely little town.

Jack Stuart cooked at Gauge and Congress Wine, where a crumbed pig's head sandwich made his name, and in the United Kingdom at L'Enclume and Rogan & Co, before deciding Brisbane did not need another restaurant. The produce, he said, was better in the country. His aunt Jenny grows rare herbs in the garden next door, picked fresh for each service, and the apple marigold she supplies turns up on the menu.

Stuart's set menu runs to seven courses and changes with the harvest. The early spring version opens with an oxheart tomato consomme and apple marigold, then a Towri "white gold" sable with Branston pickle and lovage, which is the dish to ask about. Sweet corn cavatelli with guanciale, Southern Ranges beef short rib and a parsnip Hasselback follow, and the finish is a sundae built from left over sourdough with tamarind and hazelnut.

The cooking is on point. Precise, and with some whimsy, which for me is the essence of what good food should be. Balance, precision and a rollicking good time. It is well worth the drive to experience how awfully bloody good country venues can be. This is city dining quality, in a town of 2500 ish folk. The wine list leans very heavily on Aussie wines with an occasional European bottle there for good measure. But take the wine pair at $110 and be done with it. There are no ordinary choices on the menu so you won't be disappointed.

The price has moved a little with the set menu now $125 a head. Vegetarian, pescatarian and gluten free diners need to give 48 hours notice, and dairy free and vegan diets cannot be catered for at all, which counts in a menu this fond of cheese. The sample menu is a guide only, since the kitchen changes it with the harvest. This is a limited operation, with Friday and Saturday lunch and dinner, Sunday lunch and a bar menu on Thursday from 4:30pm.