But Mr Hall did admit to a few pangs when he put the restaurant on the market in February. "Of course there's always that, but then again so many people reinvent themselves and their life, get a new career and I think it's time for me to join that gang and do something new and different with my life," he said. "Otherwise you just, you know, get stale." Over the decades many luminaries have passed through the Kookaburra Café's modest doors, including Hollywood legend Katharine Hepburn, Tony Greig and Wally Lewis. Even '90s superstars Nirvana paid a visit during their only Australian tour in 1992.

"They were fine, no worries at all," he said. "They just came in, had some pizza, stayed there for a couple of hours and drank lots of beer, from memory." Mr Hall has also supplied pizzas to Taylor Swift, Beyonce and Jay-Z when they were in Brisbane. "They didn't come to the restaurant, but they certainly got my pizzas when they were in town," he said. While Mr Hall said the capricciosa was the most popular pizza among the Kookaburra Café's patrons, the one he was particularly proud of was the unusual mix of bacon, banana and chilli.

"I invented that about 20 years ago, well I stole it off a toasted bacon and banana sandwich," he said. "That's been a bit of a highlight and subject to a lot of laughter and mirth until people actually try it, and then they're hooked." Mr Hall said he was selling the site business and all, but conceded it was unlikely the old-style charm of the Kookaburra Café would last under new ownership. "I've got a few people who are interested in buying the name and my client list, so it's very likely it could resurrect somewhere in the area under new management," he said. "Hopefully they might just take it on as the Kookaburra Café as it is."

A couple of generations of Mr Hall's inner-west clientele would agree. "We're into the second generation of them now," he said. "We had a lot of students and young people 30 years ago, who I didn't see for years and now they all come back with their own children. "I'm seeing a lot of people re-emerging from their shell." And given the menu "hasn't really changed in 30 years", according to Mr Hall those customers would have known exactly what they were in for.

But Mr Hall was not one for sentimentality and was confident he was making the right choice. "Life should have a lot of variety to it," he said. "I'm 68 now, so I've only got another 32 years to do my other career." Mr Hall said there had been "quite a lot of interest" in the site, at 280 Given Terrace, but the offers had not quite reached what he was after. "I'm hoping for 1.9 to 2 million (dollars) and I'm not quite getting that, so I'm just holding out for a better price," he said.

In the meantime, the Kookaburra Café's pizza oven will be running hot. Think this story is delicious? Like the Brisbane Times Facebook page.