The Gold Coast’s best places eat and drink

The Gold Coast’s restaurant scene evolves almost by the week. Just when you think you’ve tried all the best new restaurants on the coast, along comes another one even better than the rest. Migrating chefs and ground-breaking local chefs have turned a region once on the foodie black-list into a place with more hip dining options than Byron Bay and Noosa … combined.

Norte Restaurant & Sueno Rooftop

Latin double act for Nobby Beach

The team behind Gold Coast icon dining venue, Rick Shores, have opened two new venues, Norte and Sueno, offering chic Latin American style food and drink options across two levels in the new Oxley 1823 precinct in Nobby Beach. It took over five years of researching hotspots in Mexico, Peru and Brazil to come up with the menu and decor. Norte’s menu revolves around a custom-made hearth (fireplace), while upstairs on the rooftop Sueno focuses on ceviche, skewers and tortillas and one of the best wine menus on the Gold Coast (as well as its best tequila and Mezcal menu).

2217 Gold Coast Highway, Nobby Beach. See norte.restaurant

Haven Burleigh Heads

A seafood star on the water’s edge

Haven Burleigh Heads is the signature restaurant and ultra-suave pool club of Australia’s first Mondrian hotel. Located on the third floor, overlooking the beach at Burleigh Heads, executive chef Aaron Teece (who’s been a private chef for everyone from Richard Branson to Queen Elizabeth) oversees a menu heavy on seafood, and cooked mostly on the wood-fire grill. While dishes like spanner crab will impress, the adjoining pool club bites deserve a special mention, with dishes like prawn hibachi skewers and freshly caught yellowfin tuna nicoise salad making perfect poolside snacks.

Level 3, 3 First Avenue, Burleigh Heads. Phone: 07 5508 0000. See havenburleighheads.com

Social Eating House + Bar

Modern Australian fare delivered perfectly

The fact Social Eating House + Bar is still the Gold Coast’s favourite restaurant after well over a decade should tell you everything. There’s no view here – though the fitout was overhauled in 2022 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 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

Billy Chow

Finally, Kirra is fulfilling the promise it showed…

Built beside a famous surf beach, Kirra is a suburb that’s always had mega-potential. A plethora of ordinary high rises and unimaginative cafes and restaurants meant it never fulfilled it … until now. Largely due to venues like Billy Chow (which opened in December 2023). Featuring al fresco dining with a killer view of Kirra’s famous waves, you’ll be as transfixed by the white brick decor and the pink marbled bar dishing out the region’s most imaginative cocktails. Try the ocean trout crumpets and any of the dumplings – there’s enough must-eat menu items to keep you busy for multiple visits.

76 Musgrave St, Kirra. Phone: 0437 003 989. See billychow.com.au

The North Room

So hidden even locals haven’t heard of it

You can find arguably the Gold Coast’s best fine dining restaurant opposite KFC on the Gold Coast Highway. The setting’s definitely minimalist but everything else is maximalist – the service is as good as the best restaurant in Melbourne and the dishes combine the best local ingredients with European-influenced menu philosophies. The North Room takes a maximum of 20 guests per sitting – and is only open Thursday to Saturday. Don’t worry about ordering, you’ll be served a rotating tasting menu based on what’s in season, featuring everything from local octopus to veal tongue.

Shop 1, 2527 Gold Coast Highway, Mermaid Beach. Phone: 0468 311 003. See thenorthroom.com.au

Malibu Racquet Club

Only those who wanted tennis leave disappointed

Yes, Malibu Racquet Club. A former tattoo parlour in Burleigh Heads is now the epitome of chic-ness with what has to be the coolest name in Australia. Okay, detractors may sniff pretense, but it all works. Sure, some of the best dishes come served with scoops of Siberian caviar, but the executive chef used to cook for the Royals, and none of this is meant to be taken too seriously anyway. It’s classy: with its Italian plaster ceilings and archways, but it’s mostly just a lot of fun and cocktails in the sun. How Gold Coast.

1740 Gold Coast Highway, Burleigh Heads. See malibuburleigh.com

Blowfish Ocean Grill and Bar

The fanciest seafood on the whole coastal strip

Blowfish Ocean Grill established itself as the city’s best seafood restaurant when it opened in 2023, and that reputation holds steadfast. The Goldie wasn’t always flush with fine diners, but these kinds of places are changing that. Husband-and-wife owners Steven and Autumn Adams were so confident they’d attract diners seeking lobster and bumps of caviar they invested $3 million in the fitout. Located in the heart of Broadbeach (where you’ll find a lot of the best restaurants), like most things Gold Coast, no one’s expecting you to dress fancy, even if the surrounds evoke Le Belle Epoque. Don’t go past the Moreton Bay bug-stuffed milk buns.

2 Oracle Boulevard, Broadbeach. Phone: 07 5621 2800. See blowfishdining.com

Kost Bar and Grill

Reinventing the Gold Coast barbie

It took three years to create Kost Bar and Grill – and three premises. The fact that owner Dave Galvin created a space big enough for 180 diners (130 seated in the restaurant and another 50 at the bar) speaks volumes about the rising popularity of a Gold Coast foodie holiday. Located in Food Central – Broadbeach – Kost Bar and Grill cooks most of its dishes on an enormous charcoal grill, overseen by chef Billy Buchanan who’s worked in London’s finest restaurants, and Bondi’s Iceberg Dining Room and Bar. The venue combines bar and grill so well that many opt for drinks and snacks at the bar, with dishes like coal roasted potatoes and smoked roe.

Shop 135S/ 3 Oracle Boulevard, Broadbeach. Phone: 07 5621 2855. See kostbarandgrill.com.au

Restaurant Labart

Parisian style eatery that schooled the Coast

This was the restaurant that showed the Gold Coast wasn’t what it used to be dining-wise. 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. And it wasn’t just the locals who were won over; Munoz’s amazing food caused a rush from visitors, too. Dishes are remarkably simple – think king prawns and quail cooked on Japanese-style barbecues. But they’re flawless.

2A/ 8 West St, Burleigh Heads. Phone: 07 5576 3498. See restaurantlabart.com

Crispy Italian Bar

Simple Italian done very well

It’s the simple things in life, right? And nothing epitomises this laidback style of hospitality more than Burleigh Heads’ Crispy Italian Bar. Launched in 2023, two Italian friends decided to bring traditional Italian dining to the Gold Coast. It’s not just the red-and-white decor either, it’s that the wood-fired pizzas here can sound pretty plain on the menu, then taste anything but. And that it’s totally OK to have a limoncello in the morning, and a coffee at night.

4/1840 Gold Coast Highway, Burleigh Heads. Phone: 0491 731 694. See crispyitalianbar.com

Rick Shores

There’s nowhere closer to the waves on the east coast

What says the Gold Coast more than a restaurant so close to the surf that any big swell mixed with a big tide means guests should consider wearing thongs if they book a table beside the bi-fold glass doors (relax: 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 restaurants. Its Pan-Asian menu favours seafood – Fried Bug Rolls are the region’s most beloved snacks. Book at least a couple of weeks ahead: Rick Shores is no secret, but it’s worth the wait.

3/43 Goodwin Terrace, Burleigh Heads. Phone: 07 5630 6611. See rickshores.com.au

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 its founding chef, much-celebrated Queenslander Cam Matthews, and carried on by Simon Furley. Part of Beechmont Estate, you’re served meals in a 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

Isla Cantina

Stunning SoCal-style Mexican in a place that sounds Italian

It’s not just the southern Gold Coast and Broadbeach where the hottest new restaurants are opening, though most visitors won’t have heard of this northern GC location. Isla Cantina is found on the Isle of Capri, a quick drive from Surfers Paradise that feels nothing like the tourist hotspot. Instead, you’ll sit outside on an alfresco deck with a breeze off the Nerang River. The menu’s heavy on seafood – don’t miss out on the spanner crab tostadas – though meat lovers must sample the eight-hour slow-roasted lamb barbacoa. There’s a cocktail bar to advance to after your meal.

Shop 4, G7 Via Roma, Surfers Paradise. Phone: 07 5570 1624. See isladining.com.au