Category: Gold Coast

Australians’ holiday destination, other than Bali…

2016 Top 100 Restaurants in Australia by Financial Review

This is the second year the Australian Financial Review published the Top 100 restaurants in Australia. Instead of being judged by food critics / food bloggers / some random people, the list was actually made by the top 500 chefs in Australia. Being at the top of the list means that your peers agreed that your restaurant is the best in Australia. I am pretty sure that’s the best recognition that you could possibly get.

Attica is at the top of this list of 2016 Top 100 Restaurants in Australia. Australia’s Top Chef award is given to chef Dan Hunter from Brae in Birregurra region in Victoria. On this occasion, Australian Financial Review also asked the public to vote for their top Australian restaurant with an award called The People’s Choice. The People’s Choice winner for 2016 is Akiba in Canberra. We went to Akiba last year and we were pretty impressed with the dishes that they served. Sepia, last year’s winner, was awarded Top Service award for 2016.

From the 2016 top 100 restaurants in Australia list, All About Food have only reviewed 10 of them:

Quay at number 4, Ester at number 5, Rockpool at number 8, Mr Wong at number 11, Bentley (at the old venue) at number 12, The Bridge Room at number 13, Tetsuya’s at number 22, est. at number 39, Marque at number 40, and Golden Century at number 60.

The number of top 100 restaurants by state:

NSW 46 (45 in 2015)
VIC 37
SA 5
WA 5
QLD 4
TAS 2 (3 in 2015)
ACT 1

They also have the more extensive top 500 restaurants in Australia if you are interested to know.

The full list of 2016 Top 100 Restaurants in Australia by Financial Review

1. Attica VIC
2. Brae, Birregurra VIC
3. Sepia NSW
4. Quay NSW
5. Ester NSW
6. Sixpenny NSW
7. Bennelong NSW
8. Rockpool est. 1989 NSW
9. Automata NSW
10. Franklin TAS
11. Mr Wong NSW
12. Bentley Restaurant & Bar NSW
13. The Bridge Room NSW
14. The Town Mouse VIC
15. Cumulus Inc. VIC
16. 10 William St NSW
17. Flower Drum VIC
18. Cutler & Co VIC
19. LuMi Bar & Dining NSW
20. Supernormal VIC
21. Tipo 00 VIC
22. Tetsuya’s NSW
23. Minamishima VIC
24. MoVida, Melbourne VIC
25. Fratelli Paradiso NSW
26. Billy Kwong NSW
27. Biota Dining, Bowral NSW
28. Cafe Di Stasio VIC
29. LP’s Quality Meats NSW
30. Momofuku Seiobo NSW
31. Porteno NSW
32. Rockpool Bar & Grill, Sydney NSW
33. ACME NSW
34. Embla VIC
35. Vue de Monde VIC
36. Firedoor NSW
37. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal VIC
38. Chin Chin VIC
39. est. NSW
40. Marque NSW
41. The Apollo NSW
42. Lake House, Daylesford VIC
43. Oscillate Wildly NSW
44. Saint Crispin VIC
45. Guillaume, Sydney NSW
46. Fleet, Brunswick Heads NSW
47. Africola SA
48. Orana SA
49. Restaurant Amuse WA
50. Silvereye NSW
51. Pilu at Freshwater NSW
52. Moon Park NSW
53. France-Soir VIC
54. Lee Ho Fook VIC
55. Bar Louinhã VIC
56. Icebergs Dining Room & Bar NSW
57. Ormeggio at the Spit NSW
58. Estelle by Scott Pickett VIC
59. Rockpool Bar & Grill, Melbourne VIC
60. Golden Century NSW
61. Spice Temple, Sydney NSW
62. Sean’s Panaroma NSW
63. Cottage Point Inn NSW
64. Gerard’s Bistro QLD
65. The European VIC
66. Monopole NSW
67. Long Chim Perth WA
68. ARIA NSW
69. Provenance, Beechworth VIC
70. Coda VIC
71. Lalla Rookh WA
72. Yellow NSW
73. Luxembourg VIC
74. Wasabi Restaurant & Bar, Noosa Heads QLD
75. Master NSW
76. 4Fourteen NSW
77. Clarke’s of North Beach WA
78. Esquire QLD
79. Muse Restaurant, Pokolbin NSW
80. Monster Kitchen and Bar ACT
81. Grossi Florentino Upstairs VIC
82. Cho Cho San NSW
83. The Long Apron, Montville QLD
84. The Press Club VIC
85. Lucio’s NSW
86. Ethos Eat Drink TAS
87. Anchovy VIC
88. Vasse Felix Restaurant, Cowaramup WA
89. Lume VIC
90. Tonka VIC
91. Mister Jennings VIC
92. Union Dining VIC
93. Igni, Geelong VIC
94. Sokyo NSW
95. Peel St SA
96. Hentley Farm, Seppeltsfield SA
97. Lau’s Family Kitchen VIC
98. Fino, Seppeltsfield SA
99. Epocha VIC
100. Il Bacaro VIC

May 4, 2016
Black Coffee Lyrics

Review:

This week’s review comes from a restaurant in the Gold Coast called Black Coffee Lyrics. It was an interesting experience coming into this restaurant. It is actually a tapas-style bar without your usual Spanish dishes (the restaurant name doesn’t sound to Spanish-y, does it?). The restaurant was located in quite a dodgy-looking building in the middle of Surfers Paradise. When we came in it was quite dark with bar-type décor.

And the food… well, you can see it for yourself.

Alto Olives – $6.50 – Marinated, hand-picked and Australian-grown olives.

A simple assortment of olives is always pretty good to start the night with. The added decoration/enhancer orange rind was a nice touch!

Super Crispy Calamari Ribbons – $16 – Caramelised ginger and coriander pesto with fresh green peppercorns.

In line with its name, I think the calamari is super surprisingly good! Definitely one you must order!

Flat Bread – $6 – Charred flat bread, confit garlic, cumin and coriander salt, bocconcini and marjoram.

I actually did not get the bread. However, everyone said it was a really good bread.

Onion Bhaji – $8 – Tempura fried onion and vegetables, curry yoghurt, charred lime and curry leaves.

To be fair, it was a very different onion bhaji than the ones I tasted in Indian restaurants. However, I actually liked this version better. It was crunchy and a lot less dough-y.

Pork Belly – $18 – Vietnamese-style pork belly, coriander, chive, pickled carrot, cucumber and shallot salad, sweet chilli and crispy crackling.

My friends told me that the pork belly was very good and tasted pretty sweet. The crackling was already separated from the meat and there was quite a lot of fat!

Beef Short Rib – $18 – Slow stout-braised beef short rib, coffee sauce, deep fried shallot rings, carrot puree and horseradish crisp.

There were quite a lot of interesting ingredients in this dish: coffee sauce and carrot puree, anyone? Also, whenever you need no extra help from a knife, it means you have eaten a very good slow-cooked dish.

Beef – $36 – Scotch fillet, parsnip puree, beetroots, wilted kale and wholegrain mustard sabayon.

Size wise, it wasn’t that much bigger than the beef short rib (If size does matter, buy two ribs instead of this). However, the scotch fillet was more of a ‘complete package’ when compared to the ribs.

Charred Prawns – $15 – Charred king prawns, corn polenta, oregano, red capsicum and lemon butter.

In a tapas place like this, getting three king prawns for $15 was a pretty good deal. If you are not a big eater, I think this is a decent plate for a night out.

Vegetarian – $22 – Tomato base, confit garlic, caramelised onions, mushroom, spinach, walnuts and chili glaze.

Apologies… Obviously someone has taken one slice before I managed to get a snap! The vegetarian pizza was actually quite nice. The absence of meat actually got us to appreciate the pizza more.

The final verdict for Black Coffee Lyrics

What can I say? Black Coffee Lyrics surprised us… in a very good way!

Did you know?

As a bar, they have quite a few selection of beers and hard liquors.

Rating for Black Coffee Lyrics:

8.0 / 10

Taste: 8.5 / 10

Price: $15 – $36 per dish

Place: 7.5 / 10

Details:

Shop 41, 3131 Survers Paradise Blvd, Gold Coast

+61 402 189 437

http://blackcoffeelyrics.com.au/

Jan 18, 2016
2015 Top 100 Restaurants in Australia by Financial Review

This year, the Australian Financial Review started publishing the Top 100 restaurants in Australia. Instead of being judged by food critics / food bloggers / some random people, the list was actually made by the top 500 chefs in Australia. Being at the top of the list means that your peers agreed that your restaurant is the best in Australia. I am pretty sure that’s the best recognition that you could possibly get.

Sepia is at the top of this list of 2015 Top 100 Restaurants in Australia. Its chef, Martin Benn is also recognised as Australia’s Top Chef. On this occasion, Australian Financial Review also asked the public to vote for their top Australian restaurant with an award called The People’s Award. The People’s Award winner for 2015 is Catalina Restaurant.

All About Food have written a review for only eight of the top 100 restaurants:

Quay at number 3, Mr Wong at number 9, Tetsuya’s at number 10, Rockpool at number 12, Bentley (at the old venue) at number 13, Ester at number 14, Est at number 25, and Marque at number 33.

The number of top 100 restaurants by state:

NSW 45
VIC 37
SA 5
WA 5
QLD 4
TAS 3
ACT 1

They also have the more extensive top 500 restaurants in Australia if you are interested to know.

The full list of 2015 Top 100 Restaurants in Australia by Financial Review

1. Sepia, NSW
2. Attica, VIC
3. Quay, NSW
4. Brae, Birregurra, VIC
5. Cutler & Co, VIC
6. Vue de Monde, VIC
7. Cumulus Inc, VIC
8. Sixpenny, NSW
9. Mr Wong, NSW
10. Tetsuya’s, NSW
11. Flower Drum, VIC
12. Rockpool, NSW
13. Bentley Restaurant & Bar, NSW
14. Ester, NSW
15. MoVida, VIC
16. Momofuku Seiobo, NSW
17. Garagistes (closed April 2015), TAS
18. The Town Mouse, VIC
19. Cafe Paci, NSW
20. Cafe Di Stasio, VIC
21. 10 William St, NSW
22. Saint Crispin, VIC
23. Porteno, NSW
24. Supernormal, VIC
25. Est, NSW
26. The Bridge Room, NSW
27. Estelle, VIC
28. Lee Ho Fook, VIC
29. Rockpool Bar & Grill (Sydney), NSW
30. Lake House, Daylesford, VIC
31. Biota Dining, Bowral, NSW
32. Billy Kwong, NSW
33. Marque, NSW
34. Franklin, TAS
35. Fratelli Paradiso, NSW
36. Esquire, QLD
37. Golden Century, NSW
38. Monopole, NSW
39. Sean’s Panaroma, NSW
40. France-Soir, VIC
41. Chin Chin, VIC
42. Rockpool Bar & Grill (Melbourne), VIC
43. Coda, VIC
44. Magill Estate Restaurant, SA
45. Restaurant Amuse, WA
46. Bar Lourinha, VIC
47. Orana, SA
48. The Apollo, NSW
49. Lau’s Family Kitchen, VIC
50. Ezard, VIC
51. Pilu at Freshwater, NSW
52. Icebergs Dining Room & Bar, NSW
53. Wasabi Restaurant & Bar, QLD
54. Pei Modern (Melbourne), VIC
55. Yoshii, NSW
56. Moon Park, NSW
57. Fish Face, NSW
58. Guillaume, NSW
59. LuMi, NSW
60. Africola, SA
61. Spice Temple (Sydney), NSW
62. Provenance, Beechworth, VIC
63. Pendolino, NSW
64. Cho Cho San, NSW
65. Il Bacaro, VIC
66. Hentley Farm, Seppeltsfield, SA
67. Ormeggio at the Spit, NSW
68. Nomad, NSW
69. Tonka, VIC
70. Grossi Florentino, VIC
71. Urbane, QLD
72. Oscillate Wildly, NSW
73. Sokyo, NSW
74. Gerard’s Bistro, QLD
75. ARIA Restaurant, NSW
76. Gingerboy, VIC
77. Vasse Felix Restaurant, Cowaramup, WA
78. Luxembourg, VIC
79. Belle’s Hot Chicken, VIC
80. The European, VIC
81. Ms G’s, NSW
82. Bodega, NSW
83. Movida, NSW
84. Moon Under Water, VIC
85. Ethos Eat Drink, TAS
86. Izakaya Den, VIC
87. Print Hall Bar & Dining Room, WA
88. ACME, NSW
89. Spice Temple (Melbourne), VIC
90. Longrain (Melbourne), VIC
91. Epocha, VIC
92. Peel St, SA
93. El Publico, WA
94. Ten Minutes By Tractor, Main Ridge, VIC
95. Aubergine, ACT
96. Longrain (Sydney), NSW
97. 4Fourteen, NSW
98. Buon Ricordo, NSW
99. Da Noi, VIC
100. Lalla Rookh, WA

May 19, 2015
Belly Busters

Rating:

6.5 / 10

Taste: 6.5 / 10

Price: $115 for 3.5 people

Place: 7 / 10

Review:

As someone who enjoyed food so much, just hearing this restaurant’s name is music to my ears. Belly Busters is strategically located at the heart of Surfers Paradise and you would expect with big name like this, people would be enticed to at least try it out. That was exactly what we did…

On this occasion, two of our entrée used the same ingredients, wings. They were Buffalo Wings – Chicken Wings with a spicy tomato sauce – and BBQ Wings – Chicken wings with BBQ sauce. It was quite strange to receive two deep-fried wings dishes, one with tomato and the other BBQ sauce. If they said on the description that it would be deep-fried, I wouldn’t be as disappointed because they actually tasted okay for a deep-fried chicken. However, they definitely weren’t Buffalo or BBQ Wings as advertised.

For the main, I chose Rump n’ Bug – 350 gr rump steak topped with a bug covered in creamy garlic sauce. From the presentation standpoint, it was pretty good as they actually put an effort to decorate the plate. The steak was juicy but was cooked a bit towards the medium side, instead of medium rare. In addition to that, the bug was quite a letdown as it was not as fresh as I would like it to be.

For the next main course, we ordered T Bone n’ Garlic Prawns – 400gr T-bone steak topped with garlic tiger prawns in a creamy garlic sauce. Just by looking at the pictures below, you can see that the prawns were quite insignificant. The T-bone was also quite well done (instead of medium).

I guess when you ordered steak you might want to choose one below your expected level on how they cook the steak.

The final verdict for Belly Busters

Being at the heart of Surfers Paradise, Belly Busters will not need to do anything to advertise the restaurant. However, despite its big name, the restaurant under delivered on the taste department.

Details:

Centro Surfers Paradise, Cavill Mall, Surfers Paradise, QLD

07 5538 2355

Mar 3, 2014
ChaoPraya Thai Restaurant

Rating:

7 / 10

Taste: 7 / 10

Price: $35 per person

Place: 7.5 / 10

Review:

When I went to the Gold Coast the first time, long before I started writing this blog, we had dinner at this restaurant. We were pretty pleased with the food and it left quite an impression that I decided to write my next piece here. ChaoPraya Thai Restaurant has quite a nice interior design, very friendly staffs and the restaurant is located strategically on The Gold Coast Highway.

Our first dish of the day was Fried Rice Thai Style ($15.90), The description said it was ‘chef’s own special style of fried rice with chicken, egg and Vegetable’. All I could remember was that it was especially HOT! They put a decent effort in decorating the dish but it was just too hot for me.

Fortunately the second dish was a lot friendlier to me, it was Sweet & Sour Fish ($33.90) – Fried fillet of fish combined with tomatoes, cucumber, capsicum, onion, shallot in sweet and sour sauce. It was nicely served in a fish-shaped plate and had quite a nice balance of flavours.

Our next one was another nicely-presented dish, Larb Chicken ($24.90) – Minced Chicken cooked with lime juice, onion, coriander, chilli powder, toasted ground rice and mint leaves. It was also said to be ‘served with green lettuce at room temperature’.

The Crumbed Calamari ($12.90) – Calamari rings crumbed and deep fried. Served with sweet and sour chilli sauce – was presented in a squid-looking plate! We couldn’t help but wonder how many plates they have in their arsenal! Unlike the fish, the crumbed looked a bit darker. However the calamari itself was quite okay.

For our dessert, we ordered Sweet Sticky Rice with Mango ($9.90). In the menu it has the word ‘seasonal’ in bracket and we were lucky that mango was in season at that time.

The final verdict for ChaoPraya Thai Restaurant

There is no doubt that you would feel good after visiting ChaoPraya Thai Restaurant. They have good and beautifully-presented food and friendly services.

Did you know?

There is also a Chao Praya restaurant in Sydney. At first I thought they were related. However looking at their website, I don’t think they are.

Chao Phraya (???????????????) apparently is the name of a major river in Thailand.

Details:

Corner Frederick Street and Gold Coast Highway, Surfers Paradise

07 5538 8118

Feb 10, 2014
Donto Sapporo

Rating:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $50 per person

Place: 7.5 / 10

Review:

Urbanspoon listed All About Food Blog as 11% Japanese cuisines. I think now I know why as our first ever post in Gold Coast was (surprise, surprise) a Japanese restaurant! We were actually relying on Urbanspoon’s readers that showed us the best tasting Japanese restaurant around the area where we stayed. Our choice fell to Donto Sapporo Japanese Restaurant.

We didn’t order that many dishes because there were only the three of us. For the first one, we ordered the mid-range Sashimi that they called Fisherman’s Choice Sashimi ($35). The cuts were very fresh and neat as expected. However, the kinds of sashimi they put in were quite on the average-side for the price tag.

The second dish of the day was Donto Sapporo’s special: Duck Soup ($9.5) – my apologies that the name escaped me as it was a combination of long Japanese words. It was a nice and manageable portion of duck with clear broth/soup with some vegetables to accompany the duck. We were pretty happy that our first two dishes were refreshingly fresh!

Another Donto Sapporo’s special for our third dish: King Crab Tempura ($19.5). I must say I was quite surprised when I saw this special menu; there are not many restaurants in Australia that serve King Crab Tempura! In addition to the king crab tempura, they also did seaweed in tempura batter and also some vegetables. The crab itself was very juicy and meaty!

Our last dish was Tempura Udon ($24). There were the usual suspects in Australian tempura dish: prawns, sweet potato, long bean, carrot, eggplant. However, they also threw enoki mushroom into the mix. The udon was also textbook-spot-on. Strangely enough, this tempura tasted a lot crunchier than the king crab tempura. I think it was because the king crab tempura had a lot more meat in one piece than this one.

The final verdict for Donto Sapporo Japanese Restaurant

We left Donto Sapporo feeling pretty impressed with the restaurant. Honestly, we thought we would get those tourist-y over-the-top premium restaurants. However, it turned out to be a nice and homey restaurant with good food and great service.

Details:

2763 Gold Coast Highway, Broadbeach 4218

07 5539 9933

http://www.dontosapporo.com.au/

Feb 3, 2014