We’re all partial to a spot of fancy feasting from time to time. Whether it’s an anniversary, birthday, special celebration, or none of the above and you just feel like getting dressed up and playing swish, thankfully the GC has some cracking fine dining options. Once upon a time, our hood may not have exactly been praised for its culinary prowess, but that was so 1990 and today’s Gold Coast eats scene has award-winners at every turn.
So don your special occasion finery and refresh your memory re. which cutlery matches which meal coz here we go!
Palette
With The Australian Good Food Guide awarding Palette 14 points and two chef’s hats, need we say more. Situated in the stunning HOTA Gallery, Executive Chef Dayan Hartill-Law draws inspo from the artworks on display and major exhibitions to show just how naturally art and food blends. Our tip: order the Burrawong Gaian Duck with five-spice cabbage, native plum and berry. Insert (fancy) drool here. You can’t go wrong here.
Where: HOTA Gallery, Home of the Arts, 135 Bundall Road, Surfers Paradise
The Fireplace
As the name suggests, expect cosy feels and epic wood-fired cuisine. Executive Chef Hamish and fellow culinary lord Randy Tablan showcase the finest locally sourced produce. And we’re not just talking about firing up the ovens with any ‘ole wood here – redgum wood is the chosen one, infusing each dish to perfection. If ever there was a (classy) party in your mouth, this is it.
Where: InterContinental Sanctuary Cove Resort, Manor Circuit, Sanctuary Cove, 4601 Masthead Way, Hope Island
Citrique
Famous for its breakfast buffet, weekend-long lunch, award-winning seafood market experience buffet, and exciting Modern Australian a la carte dishes, it’s the ultimate fine dining experience. Calling the beautiful Gold Coast home, JW Marriott Gold Coast Resort & Spa’s Citrique restaurant is a stunner. Let Executive Chef Paul Smart show you why is a master of his craft…and his craft is crafting unforgettable five-star meals.
Where: JW Marriott Gold Coast Resort & Spa, 158 Ferny Avenue, Surfers Paradise
Kiyomi
With a menu created by visionary Executive Head Chef Chase Kojima, Kiyomi gives diners a modern, yet authentic taste of Tokyo – sans the long-haul flight! As you explore the innovative dishes, you’ll quickly see why it has earned itself a reputation as one of the town’s most talked-about restaurants. Our tip: book yourself a Sake Flight and immerse yourself in Kiyomi’s signature sakes.
Where: The Star Gold Coast, 1 Casino Drive, Broadbeach
Nineteen at The Star
A rooftop restaurant with a chic lounge bar, this combo can do no wrong! Surrender yourself to Chef Uday Huja’s exquisite dishes from his signature a la carte and set menus. Plus, you can add paired wines carefully selected by the expert Sommelier to your dining experience…and it would be rude not to right?! With a slew of awards under its designer belt, elevate your tastebuds to new heights. Literally.
Where: The Star Gold Coast, 1 Casino Drive, Broadbeach
The North Room
At The North Room, the mantra is to always keep guests intrigued with an ever-changing food and wine list. They believe we eat with our eyes (same), so the incredible eats here not only captivate the tastebuds, but activate an unparalleled multi-sensory experience. Smaller, share style dishes focused on a few primary, seasonal ingredients create a relaxed, contemporary fine dining experience to remember.
Where: 1/2527 Gold Coast Highway, Mermaid Beach
Il Barocco Restaurant
I mean, it’s located in Palazzo Versace and if this doesn’t equate to fine dining…. A celebration of fresh and seasonal flavours, Il Barocco boasts a bountiful array of the freshest seafood and fish, vibrant salads, succulent roast meats and decadent desserts for a swanky buffet feed. Side note: the buffet breakfast is also a fine diner’s best friend.
Where: Palazzo Versace, 94 Seaworld Drive, Main Beach
Little Truffle
This relaxed yet intimate showstopper from owner and esteemed Executive Chef Daniel Ridgeway and Chef de Cuisine Jason Burt is a foody and wine lover’s haven. Winner of numerous awards including the Gold Coast Best Fine Dining Restaurant, and hats with the Australian Good Food and Travel Guide and Good Food Guide Queensland, it’s the real deal…and then some.
Where: 2444 Gold Coast Highway, Mermaid Beach
Social Eating House
This award-winning local treasure has recently re-emerged with a sleek, New York luxe look, only eclipsed by its incredible new menu. The recipient for three consecutive years of the People’s Choice ‘Chef of the Year’ Award, owner and Executive Chef Matthew Jefferson along with Head Chef Youngkyu “YK” Reu, treat diners to the epitome of modern Australian and international cuisine perfection.
Where: The Oracle Boulevard, Shop 137/3 Oracle Boulevard, Broadbeach
Restaurant Labart
This Australian cuisine specialist offers a small, frequently changing menu showcasing the best seasonal, local produce – and we’re superfans. Delighting tastebuds with sophisticated and perfectly balanced flavours, everything from the warm rustic ambiance to the staff’s impeccable knowledge of every morsel they serve up, the experience is faultless. Do yourself a favour and opt for the wine pairing. It’s worth its weight in grapes.
Where: 2a/8 West Street, Burleigh Heads
Words by Bianca Trathen.
You know when you visit the InterContinental Sanctuary Cove Resort for a meal, the chow is going to be on-point. Well the flavour and quality are about to be dialled up another notch, with the appointment of Hamish Watt as Executive Chef. Hamish is a bit of a big deal (autographs later peeps) and will oversee the culinary offerings across all areas of the resort.
Launching his illustrious career under Neil Perry at Rockpool in Sydney, Hamish has worked for an impressive rollcall of eatery icons here, in London and over the ditch in New Zealand. We’re talking the prestigious Kensington Place restaurant (how now brown cow), running the show at the Botanic Gardens restaurant, and Executive Chef at the Crowne Plaza Hunter Valley Resort. He was also the Executive Chef at Crowne Plaza Christchurch, before a secondment to InterContinental Wellington, where he reinvigorated menus across the five-star hotel’s R&B outlets. Oh and he’s also run his own successful start-up, ‘Watts on Crown’ in Crown Street Sydney, so yeah, he’s definitely going to bring home the bacon (and much more foody goodness) at our beloved Sanctuary Cove.
Using fresh, local ingredients as hero accents to produce innovative Modern Australian cuisine with a European touch, we are salivating as this is our kind of swagger! And when we say local, we mean precisely that, as Hamish aims to source from suppliers within a 100km radius. From The Fireplace, to Verandah Restaurant and Bar to the Cove Café, there are native ingredients galore, and oh how we love this for us.
Speaking of our cosy fave The Fireplace, it would be negligent not to talk about the new menu which will take your tastebuds to new (faren)heights! Together with the restaurant’s Head Chef, fellow culinary king Randy Tablan, this duo showcase the finest homegrown wood-fire cuisine, seasoned with herbs from the restaurant’s very own herb garden! Oh and important side note: redgum wood is used to fire the ovens, infusing each dish to perfection. The result….pure edible ecstasy! You’ll be so absorbed in the next level flavours that you’ll forget to take pics, which is code red because if it’s not on Insta, it didn’t really happen.
Kick things off with a wood-fire Grilled Quail entrée, served with pearl barley, carrots, apple purée and port wine jus. Make sure you leave room for the signature 1kg Tomahawk Steak from the wood-fire grill, 150-day grain-fed from Toowoomba, served with grilled broccolini and red wine poached shallot. Because a whole kilogram of moo just isn’t enough, why not add a mouth-watering accompaniment like the wood-fire Whole Moreton Bay Bug? Or, perhaps the Hiramasa Kingfish is more up your alley, with wood-fire baked kingfish, sweet potato purée, roasted capsicum, zucchini and sauce Vierge?
End on a sweet note with Roasted Coconut and White Chocolate Mousse, with pistachio sable, milk chocolate creameux and passionfruit gelee because….well, just because! It’s darn delish and didn’t your Gran teach you it wasn’t a proper meal without dessert?
Aside from new seasonal menus at The Fireplace, Hamish is also focusing on new innovative concepts for banqueting, and can someone we know please hurry up and get hitched at Sanctuary Cove so that we can taste-test please?
So next date night, special occasion or work event, it’s gotta be The Fireplace – or any of the other equally impressive offerings at InterContinental – for the unmissable Hamish Watt experience. Bring it on we say, spirit fingers and all.
Where: InterContinental Sanctuary Cove Resort, Manor Circle, Hope Island
When: 6pm – 9pm 7 days a week and from 5.30pm on Saturday.
Words by Bianca Trathen.
STORY SPONSORED BY INTERCONTINENTAL SANCTUARY COVE RESORT
