Overlooking Bass Strait, set high in the Otways above the Great Ocean Road, Chris’s Beacon Point Restaurant and Villas has become a Mecca for gourmet travellers. His personal approach to hospitality has made him one of the best-loved characters in the region and his passion for the food of Southern Europe combined with the freshest and purest produce has made his cuisine world famous.
Chris’s Beacon Point Restaurant opened in 1979 along much the same lines as his original, much loved and lauded “Chris’s Restaurant” down the Great Ocean Road in Lorne, now long gone.
In those days Apollo Bay was a quiet fishing village on the fringe of the Western District, with little in the way of fine dining. Chris, with his emphasis on the fabulous freshly caught seafood of the ‘Bay’ along with his trademark Mediterranean cooking with a Greek accent, has done a lot to change that.
The original pinewood and glass dining room, seating 30, was extended over the years until it held 120 on two levels. In May 2003 it was totally destroyed by fire. Chris built a new “Chris’s” on the ashes of the old, and reopened on Christmas Day 2003.
These days the Great Ocean Road has an international profile and is one of Australia’s top tourist destinations, and Apollo Bay is booming. With Apollo Bay’s transformation, so too has Chris’s become an icon of the Great Ocean Road.
