Toowoomba's Weis Restaurant to close

Vale Weis Restaurant.

The word 'iconic' is terminally over-utilised these days, but in the case of Weis Restaurant in Toowoomba, it's the only description that adequately fits.

Owner John Pohlman announced on Wednesday that the restaurant at 'the top of the range' will close on March 1, after 46 years trading.

Housed in a faux English cottage, Weis evokes evocative memories for many of us who are over 30. Dining here was my first experience of a 'real restaurant' and possibly inspired my love of food (and gluttonous nature).

The sadly too infrequent announcement by my parents that we were going to Weis always inspired high levels of excitement in our house, as we rushed to get dressed into our best and into the Valiant to bag a window seat (last in got stuck in the 'very back').

The trip up the winding Toowoomba range bickering with my brothers and trying not to vomit as the car filled with smoke from dad's panatella cigar or my mum's thin, brown 'More' cigarettes seemed to last forever, but all of a sudden, the air would get cooler and the gardens lusher and we knew we were near.

Past a lawn lined with flowerbeds and through an arched doorway with the restaurant name in a '70s font that exists to this day, the dark brick and white interior of Weis always felt wintry no matter the time of year. It was a sophisticated, otherworldly place, emphatically exotic, grown up and foreign, always receiving fulsome reviews from both diners and professionals.

"The doyen of eating establishments on the Darling Downs," wrote restaurant reviewer David Bray in 1990, "Weis' restaurant sets the standards high for quality lunching and dining. Always full, the restaurant offers a truly sumptuous smorgasbord of dazzling proportions."

And dazzling it was. A veritable nirvana for children who were allowed the unbelievable privilege of filling and refilling the dark brown earthenware plates with roast beef and gravy, fat slices of ham, cheese, pasta and bread washed down with litres of cordial. Finished off with some kind of exotic layered cream cake or ice-cream and toppings, we'd then head out into the garden while the adults enjoyed oysters and prawns accompanied by a glass or two of riesling.

Over the years I've thought often and fondly of Weis. As little as a month ago, I had it slated for a nostalgic re-visit.

As it closes the doors on March 1, it signals the end of an era in dining - a time when dining out was a special occasion. Vale the grand lady of Toowoomba; I'll toast your passing tonight with a bowl of cream of chicken soup and a glass of Liebfraumilch.