ALAN Bryce is glad he never got around to travelling back down the east coast of Australia when he landed in Airlie Beach eight years ago.

Alan, who moved to Australia from Scotland in 2009, said he took a flight to Cairns after visiting family in Adelaide and Canberra, and was planning on returning down the east coast, "but this is as far as I got”.

After responding to an advertisement for a chef at the iconic KC's Grill & Bar, Alan, who moved to Australia from Scotland in 2009, was employed for an initial three months and was then offered a sponsorship to stay - and he has remained with the restaurant ever since.

Alan, who began helping out in a kitchen when he was 16 and went on to train at a five-star hotel in Scotland, has been the restaurant's head chef for the past four years.

He said he felt very satisfied when he knew his customers were pleased.

"Being a grill and bar, our biggest seller is reef and beef. We've also been doing lots of seafood and beef short ribs,” he said.

Alan said the restaurant had plenty of regular customers as well as a constant stream of tourists.

He said KC's Grill & Bar was now one month into a new menu that had been updated to offer a more wintry selection of meals.

He said he'd been very grateful to the many locals who had continued to support the eatery since Cyclone Debbie hit.

KC's owners Peter and Selena Chengody have run the restaurant for three years, although Peter said his parents originally bought the land in 1967 and built the steakhouse in 1973.

Mr Chengody said that before buying the property, his family had holidayed to Airlie Beach from Mt Isa, and eventually his parents had decided to moved to the area which they loved because of the lifestyle and the spectacular islands.

In 1981, Kevin Collins - a drummer in a band at Sydney's Bourbon & Beefsteak - decided to leave the big city for brighter waters and set up KC's as we know it.

Mr Chengody said while atmosphere and good live music were important, it was the hard work of the chef that mattered most.

"The food is the most important. If you don't have good food, you don't have a good restaurant,” he said.