The Gold Coast’s best places eat and drink

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The Gold Coast’s best places eat and drink

By Craig Tansley
Its beaches are world-renowned, while its nightlife, glitzy malls and theme parks attract huge numbers of visitors, with good reason.See all stories.
A surge of culinary talent in Goldie has turned the region into a genuine foodie hot-spot.

A surge of culinary talent in Goldie has turned the region into a genuine foodie hot-spot.

The Gold Coast's food scene used to revolve around its surf clubs. Now a throng of southern chefs – along with talented locals – have turned the region into a genuine foodie hot-spot. From fine dining to innovative fusion-style eateries, there's a lot more to the Gold Coast than parmigiana by the beach.

Restaurant Labart

Parisian style bistro reinventing the Coast
If there’s one restaurant on the Gold Coast strip which epitomises how much dining in the region has changed these past five years, it’s Restaurant Labart. Owner Alex Munoz brought expertise from his time as head chef of some of Sydney’s best restaurants (Monopole, Cirrus Dining) to create a modern Australian menu set in an intimate 60-seater Paris-inspired bistro to teach locals they don’t need a view with their meal - just exceptional food, with tables set around an open-plan kitchen. Dishes are remarkably simple – think: king prawns and quail cooked on Japanese-style BBQs – but they’re perfect.
2A/ 8 West St, Burleigh Heads. Phone: 07 5576 3498. See restaurantlabart.com

Clay Cantina

Queensland’s most authentic Mexican-style kitchen
Here’s the Gold Coast’s best culinary secret – one of the best Mexican cantinas you’ll find Australia-wide tucked away down a tiny lane off the main street of often overlooked Coolangatta. Owner Kristal Smith spent 14 years travelling through Mexico and uses her knowledge to transport diners to the family-run style kitchens of central and southern Mexico. The vibe’s open and friendly and the food’s as far from your standard Tex-Mex offerings in Australia as it comes. Try the prawn ceviche or crowd-pleaser, enchiladas verde, washed down with the best Margaritas on the Gold Coast strip.
2/16 Griffith Street, Coolangatta. Phone: 0477 715 275. See www.claycantina.com

Rick Shores

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Award-winning Pan-Asian restaurant beside the sea
What could scream Gold Coast more than a restaurant so close to the waves that come any decent swell mixed with a king tide, guests are advised to wear thongs should they book a table beside the bi-fold glass doors (the restaurant’s designed to sustain ocean creepage). Though position is just one part of what’s made Rick Shores one of Queensland’s highest-awarded restaurant for seven years. Its Pan-Asian menu favours seafood - Fried Bug Rolls are the region’s most revered snacks. The floor’s tiered so you’ll always have a view of the ocean, though consider a seat at its tropical-themed bar beneath the rattan fans, watching the people show.
3/43 Goodwin Terrace, Burleigh Heads. Phone: 07 5630 6611. See rickshores.com.au

Las Palmas Bar & Restaurant

Latin American share plates in dreamy setting
Las Palmas Bar & Restaurant – oddly – has remained a nice secret locals share, despite the fact it’s the culmination of visions from the team that created Byron Bay’s trendiest restaurant, The Mez Club. But this place has it all. Walk through its funky pink door, and you’ll be confronted by an open-style restaurant with exposed ceiling beams and low-hanging rattan lights, where good looking patrons sit by a bar or on a wrap-around deck looking out over the ocean. The meals are mostly share-style Latin American bites, with simple seafood dishes like tuna tartare being your best bet.
1097 Gold Coast Highway, Palm Beach. Phone: 0401 031 102. See laspalmas.com.au

Kin

Traditional Japanese that invokes Tokyo
Enter via its hard-to-find back door and you’ll step right into Japan, all one block from the beach. It’s dark and moody in here – there’s a Japanese whiskey bar and further inside, there’s four Japanese chefs cooking food over white-hot Binchotan charcoals. With a Japanese whiskey menu that’s among the most elaborate of its kind anywhere in Queensland. Kin is the kind of Japanese restaurant that pleases even the fussiest diner who went to Japan. It has a designated raw bar and its own gyoza menu, but you won’t want to go past signature dish, Black Cod Miso, marinated for three days in carmelised miso.
5/1730 Gold Coast Highway, Burleigh Heads. Phone: 0499 548 819. See wearekin.au

The North Room

A gourmet degustation in an intimate setting
You’ll find some of the best Queensland dishes outside Brisbane served up in a room barely bigger than your lounge room, right on the Gold Coast Highway. But it’s what inside that counts: while the setting’s minimalist with brushed concrete tiles, the service is flawless and friendly and the dishes combine the best local ingredients with European-influenced menu philosophies. The North Room take a maximum of 20 guests per sitting – and is only open Thursday to Saturday. There’s no à la carte menu, you’ll be served a rotating tasting menu based on what’s in season, featuring everything from local octopus to veal tongue, created by young talent, Tim Stewart.
Shop 1, 2527 Gold Coast Highway, Mermaid Beach, 0468 311 003, thenorthroom.com.au

Bar Evelyn

Hip pizza and wine bar
Coolangatta had a reputation for fast food joints and $2 shops, but like the rest of the 'Goldie', it's changing fast. Bar Evelyn is proof of that. Here's a touch of Melbourne transplanted to the Queensland beachfront: so you get hip style and flavour, but with beach views Melbourne-ites can only dream of. One of Australia's most lauded young chefs opened this intimate wine-centric pizza bar last September and it's been busy since. Sit at a leather booth or better yet, see the surf from a bar stool at an L-shaped bar, and try wood-fired pizza or snacks like pickled mussels with cucumber and paprika oil.
20/58 Marine Parade, Coolangatta. Phone: +61435 977 494. See www.instagram.com/barevelyn_

Social Eating House + Bar

Modern Australian fare delivered perfectly
The fact Social Eating House + Bar is still the Gold Coast’s favourite restaurant 11 years after it opened should tell you everything. There’s no views here – though the fit-out was overhauled last year, and now it looks as slick as a New York Italian restaurant, but it’s all about the food and service. This is relaxed fine dining at its most relaxed, and at its finest. The waiters on hand at Social Eating House + Bar are as impressive as the multi-award winning executive chef. You’ll step out with a smile on your face, guaranteed.
Shop 137/3 Oracle Boulevard, Broadbeach. Phone: (07) 5504 5210. See socialeatinghouse.com.au

T'Ang Court

One of Asia’s best Cantonese restaurants comes to the Gold Coast
Its sister restaurant in Hong Kong has earned three Michelin stars for seven consecutive years (to 2023) and the Gold Coast version treats Cantonese fine dining with the same amount of diligence. Located in the Gold Coast’s newest luxury five-star hotel, The Langham Gold Coast, the décor is authentic Chinese and the menu celebrates the best Cantonese dishes. Choose between à la carte or three set menus, but don’t skip T’Ang Court’s signature offering: a three-part tribute to traditional Cantonese duck, choosing between duck pancakes, duck buns or sliced duck breast. Open since September 2022, T’Ang Court is already the fine dining restaurant of choice for the Gold Coast.
38 Old Burleigh Road, Surfers Paradise. Phone: 07 5638 8888. See langhamhotels.com

Tommy's Italian

Uber-cool pizza and pasta joint that couldn’t be closer to the waves
Locals were screaming out for Tommy’s Italian. Currumbin might be the Gold Coast’s prettiest beach ’burb, but it lacked somewhere to eat and soak up the magic. All their birthdays came at once when one of the best beach restaurant/ bars on the Gold Coast strip opened in 2021. Sit upstairs and stare out at the waves and the whales as you eat wood-fired pizza or fancier fare, like an 850 gram rib eye or king prawns grilled with salsa verde. Or sit downstairs at a communal bar and make new friends. Tommy’s Italian is the place to be seen … in thongs.
818 Pacific Parade, Currumbin. Phone: 07 5647 6180. See tommysitalian.com.au

Mare – La Luna

Modern Italian served in Mykonos-style club
Let's be honest, only a small part of the reason you're here is for the food. It's delicious though – modern Italian with a focus on mezze plates and great simple seafood (think: octopus with lemon gel, lobster and scallop ravioli with abalone sauce). But Mare is part of La Luna Beach Club – the first floating beach club in Australia, built on 13 pontoons in amongst the superyachts at Marina Mirage. You'll dine beside the chic pool, overlooking the marina and the glistening waters of the Gold Coast Broadwater, with a dazzling cocktail list and an even better wine menu.
74 Seaworld Drive, Main Beach. Phone: 07 5620 0223. See lalunabeachclub.com.au/mare-restaurant.

The Paddock

The best local produce served… in a paddock
If ever a restaurant could lay claim to being genuinely paddock-to-plate, it’s this one (and not just because of its name). Set on a 26-hectare wagyu beef farm 45 minutes’ drive west of the Coast, an ever-changing menu revolves around what’s in season in the region. Nothing is wasted in the kitchen – a philosophy started by the chef who started the restaurant, much-celebrated Queenslander Cam Matthews, and carried on by his star pick, Simon Furley. Part of Beechmont Estate, you’re served meals in a stunning clubhouse restaurant with barn-like ceilings, a big wrap-around bar, couches by an open fireplace and a terrace looking across paddocks of cattle.
422 Binna Burra Road, Beechmont. Phone: 07 5602 9710. See beechmontestate.com.au/restaurant

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