Australia: Hot Spot

LUCKY JIM When Jim Berardo first visited Noosa he thought he had died and gone to heaven—and he quickly decided the afterlife there was for him. So he gave up a high-powered medical administration career in New York City and started a restaurant in Noosa. Berardo's Restaurant and Bar, tel: (61-7) 5447 5666, on Hastings Street, is now a place of pilgrimage for traveling gourmets. Chef David Rayner, recently of the Savoy hotel in London, makes a legendary tuna sashimi—or try his char-grilled king prawns with a white radish spearmint salad. Berardo has since opened a second venue, Berardo's on the Beach Bistro, tel: (61-7) 5448 0888. Its location, meters from the waves, is a big attraction—and so is its crab night, every Wednesday, when diners attack their meals with mallets. Look out too for the swordfish kebabs. Heaven indeed.