One Plate, One Pour: The Paired Plate Serves Up the Sunshine Coast’s Most Accessible Food Trail

If a ten-day food festival sounds like something reserved for serious foodies with serious budgets, The Paired Plate is here to prove otherwise.

Running for the full duration of The Curated Plate festival, from 24 July to 2 August, The Paired Plate is a self-guided food and drink trail stretching across the Sunshine Coast, and it might just be the easiest, most affordable way to get a genuine taste of the festival. There are no tickets, no bookings and no set itinerary. Diners simply walk into any participating venue, order its signature pairing, and enjoy.

Each venue on the trail has created one dish matched with one drink, built around local Sunshine Coast produce. Some of the highlights include Mooloolaba king prawns tossed through chitarra spaghetti at Casa Restaurant, a Gympie Angus beef burger with Maleny Dairy cheddar and a schooner of ‘Hell Yes’ Lager at 10 Toes Brewing in Buderim, Kingfish gravlax with Falls Farm green rhubarb at Alsahwa Estate, and spice-grilled Mooloolaba snapper on a duck fat tortilla with Yanalla Farms dragon fruit salsa at Moffat Beach Brewing.

With pairings starting from just $15 (Olas Beach House’s prawn cracker and pint) and most sitting around the $30 mark, the trail offers festival-quality dining at pub prices. The format encourages visitors to hop between venues across the ten days, sampling several plates for less than the cost of a single degustation.

There’s an incentive to keep exploring, too. After every plate, diners scan a QR code at their table to vote for their favourite pairing, with each vote doubling as an entry into the draw to win a $400 Foodie Package: a $200 Queensland’s Sunshine Pantry hamper packed with local produce, plus a $200 dining voucher. The more venues you visit, the more chances you have to win.

Behind the trail is local Sunshine Coast event organiser Josh Donohoe, who has pulled the whole thing together without charging participating venues a cent. A staunch supporter of the region’s hospitality industry and its producers, Donohoe says the trail is about putting money directly where it matters.

“Behind every plate on this trail is a local farmer, producer, brewer or distiller. The Paired Plate is a chance to taste your way around the region, one venue at a time, and see just how much talent we have right here on the Sunshine Coast,” Donohoe said.

“Every dollar spent on the trail goes straight to our venues and the local producers behind them. This is about making great local food easy to find, easy to afford and giving our hospitality industry the spotlight and support it deserves.”

That producer-first ethos runs through every plate on the menu, from Kilcoy Beef and Woombye Cheese to Sunshine & Sons gin and Blackflag Brewing beer. It’s the Sunshine Coast on a plate, and in a glass.

The Paired Plate runs 24 July – 2 August 2026 at venues across the Sunshine Coast, presented by Queensland’s Sunshine Pantry as part of The Curated Plate. Dishes are available during normal venue trading hours, until sold out each day. Voting opens online from 24 July