Chanoyu Japanese infused cafe

NOTE: In July 2023, Chanoyu moved to a new location in 56 Nerang St., Nerang. It’s the Matcha chocolate ganache tart that gives it away – a pretty little pie case filled with two shades of green chocolate filling… “Oh my! There’s real talent here,” we think. “I wonder who’s in the kitchen?” There’s something […]

Salt Meats Cheese

There’s nothing sexier than men preparing food. Especially Mediterranean men preparing really good rustic whole food. The ladies know it. They saunter in just before midday, hips swinging slowly, arms extended, looking for him. ‘Where’s Alessandro?’ Young and gorgeous, he crosses the restaurant to meet them, a huge smile lighting his face before being enveloped […]

Black Lime Café

While ‘Location, location, location’ is the big catch cry to success, there are some local favourites that have achieved modest success by going against the norm, choosing venues in hidden pockets of suburbia. There, they provide service to locals who previously had no food outlets nearby. That’s how it is with Black Lime Café. Tucked […]

The Oak Café

Somehow, every time we visit Mudgeeraba we fall in love again. It’s because little things count. A greeting from wait staff or a friendly smile from the open kitchen, water immediately brought to the table, a bowl of water for someone’s dog… it all adds up to make a village. The Oak Café, Mudgeeraba’s latest […]

La Barrita

“How come we’ve never been here before?” We shake our heads as we walk away from La Barrita, impressed. Nestled in between Fins and Bombay Cricketers Club in Salt Village, La Barrita opened in December 2017, slipping quietly onto the tail end of the ‘Mexican wave’ of coastal openings. While the opening of some restaurants […]

Goccia Italian Pizzeria

There’s nothing more perfect than an Italian lunch – a little antipasti to start, a light pizza to share, washed down with a glass of chianti and maybe something sweet to finish. What could be better on a glorious spring day? That’s exactly what we find at Goccia in Mermaid Waters.Upload Files We’ve met Anna […]

Mockingbird Cafe

Every so often you meet someone whose enthusiasm is the driving force of an establishment. So strong, in fact, that it’s like a magnetic field, drawing you into its energy. At Mockingbird Café, Kingscliff, that force is Jo Jackson. We’d first met Jo at her very successful restaurant, Signature Dish in Varsity, where she not […]

Hot Shott

Gold Coast café culture has done well from the downward shift in fine dining culture. Hot Shott is no exception. An example is owners and business partners, Chef Kellie Rolfe and Barista Jenna Finch, who took the opportunity to move from their jobs at Palazzo Versace to open their own business in Main Beach in […]

The Collective

Every so often something radically different comes along in the dining scene – an idea that, while generated from elsewhere, is given new life in our present-day culinary context. The Collective at Palm Beach is just that. A restaurant version of a food market, The Collective is a family business blending the complementary skills of […]

Jasmine Room

Southport’s star continues to rise with the opening of the Jasmine Room Chinese restaurant. Owned by Chinese restaurant royalty, the Cheng family (ex-Landmark, Sunnybank), who also own the very successful Dragon Cove, Jasmine Room is situated on the second level of the Meriton Sundale building, Southport, overlooking the Broadwater. In this peaceful, relaxed venue, diners […]