LOUISE FINDS HER UTOPIA
Meet-and-greet Louise Jackson’s smile radiates across the restaurant. Peaches-and-cream complexion, grey-green eyes, shiny brown hair. And a happy disposition that would put the grumpiest diner at their ease.
‘Mind you,’ says the girl from Mango’s diner, some couples who go out to eat are determined to have a terrible time. They spend the evening searching for something to complain about and when they give up, the poor waiter is often the target!’
Louise has discovered, she says, the world’s perfect lifestyle. She works in a classy restaurant with a rustic, Santa Fe style decor, overlooking the sea. She enjoys good theatre, with regular visits by English actors and actresses. And she can walk for miles along the beach before breakfast, seagulls cawing as the waves crash in.
It’s a long way from the Manchester newspaper, taking classified ads., a job that could have continued for years had she not decided to explore life outside the Midlands. Having never made her own bed, she applied for a job as a nanny in Canada, was accepted and emigrated. ‘I had five children to look after, all of the under six. I’d put them all into the bath together and play Mary Poppins, leading the singalong. We had a nanny network and would get together on our day off. The Canadian men loved our English accents.’
Encouraged by one of them to take off for Australia, Louise found herself in the political nerve-centre of the country, Canberra. She got a job in a hotel frequented by newspaper reporters and had a finger on the pulse of government. But Canberra’s fried then frozen climate soon had her looking for a place in the sun, so she headed for Queensland. ‘Then like most young people who leave family behind, I decided I should return to Manchester. I was horribly disillusioned. The places we used to frequent before I left were now no-go areas. If you did venture down you got pelted with stones. Pubs we once loved had been the scene of IRA bombs and knee-capping. Having resolved a lot of things in my mind, I couldn’t wait to return to Australia.’
She had worked for the British Council and narrowly missed the selection of 10 staff to meet the Queen when she opened the Council’s new building. ‘I was going up the stairs and saw these men in blue overalls hurrying down. I asked them if they were cleaners and they said no, they were Bomb Squad. They’d discovered no bombs; but they’d found the place where we hid the chocolate biscuits.’
A leading restaurant by the sea in Surfers Paradise hired her as office manager and she alternated with stints "out front" greeting and seating guests. ‘I found I had to learn patience; to be diplomatic with people. And that you can’t please everybody. To be honest, there are people in this world who are impossible to please. They come into a restaurant with the attitude that they are not going to like it; they look desperately for things to go wrong.
‘There are others, thank goodness, who have a sunny disposition and even if you bring them the wrong dish, or the wrong wine, they say: "Don’t worry luv, we’re enjoying ourselves."’
Today Louise is the first voice diners hear when they call Mango’s. ‘I make sure I sound bright and happy because that’s their first impression. They ask me what the food is like and I tell them about the grilled sea scallops, the pan-seared garlic-marinated prawns, and the rare peppered tuna. I tell them of the restaurant’s desert motif, with mango-coloured walls, windows open to the water, the high, white ceilings and the overhead fans and they’re sold!’
Mango’s chef is ex-Queensland Government House, and he cooked several meals for Prince Charles. Louise is particularly nice to him - he cooks her lunch. ‘And good chefs are hard to find. Prima donnas who must not be ruffled! I have been told that in the restaurant business anybody having a dust-up with a chef would be sent packing before they dismissed the chef. They do seem to be a bit restless and wander about a bit; I think they’re all seeking experience.’
Actor/restaurateur, Michael Caine and his wife, Shakira, have dined at Mangos and expressed their delight with the food. ‘I work out at the Sheraton Mirage gym,’ confides Louise, ‘and Shakira works out there too. And she is as beautiful without make-up as she is when she is out to be seen.’
