4

BEAUTY SLEEP

Window shade down, face mask on.

Emerge from a long-haul flight or

extended daybed nap with

intensively moisturised skin. SK-II

Overnight Miracle Mask, six

single-use capsules for $154,

from Myer and David Jones.

From bean to bar

All this chocolate calls for digestivi. But who’d

have thought it would come from Mexico?

Henri Vallet’s Amargo-Vallet ($81 for 750ml) is

a bittersweet liqueur bottled in Hidalgo, north

of Mexico City. Angostura bark and macerated

cloves, cherries and spices give it a subtle

dark chocolate and cherry cola flavour.

spiritsorance.com.au

A penthouse suite at

The Darling Gold

Coast. Right:

freestanding bath with

a view. Below right:

one of 57 suites.

Athletes aren’t the only ones

with performance anxiety in

the run-up to the Gold Coast’s

Commonwealth Games this

month. It’s also been a race

against the clock for The Star

Entertainment Group to

complete The Darling Gold

Coast, a luxe 57-suite hotel in a

17-storey tower on Broadbeach

Island, in time for the Games.

The oval building, designed

by Steelman Partners, of Las

Vegas, is shaped, aptly, like

a stack of giant surfboards, or

perhaps a massive superyacht.

“We knew the designers would

create something beautiful,

but this really embraces the

Gold Coast,” says Geoff Hogg,

The Star Entertainment

Group managing director

for Queensland. “Even the

shape of the hotel reflects

the setting.”

The Darling has a rooftop

pool, bar and restaurant, and

roomy suites and penthouses

ranging in size from 78 to

328 square metres. Bathrooms

feature freestanding tubs and

skincare products by Lalique,

butler service is on tap and the

penthouse deluxe suites have

the choice of a billiards, media

or exercise room.

Feeling lucky? A bridge

connects The Darling to

The Star Grand casino.

The rooftop restaurant,

Nineteen at The Star, is a joint

project for local entrepreneur

Billy Cross and restaurateur

Simon Gloftis, who owns

popular Greek eatery

Hellenika at Nobby Beach.

Despite its name, the 110-seat

restaurant is on the 17th level,

not the 19th; the numerals

four and 13 are inauspicious

in Chinese culture so there

are no lift buttons for these

levels or for 14. Updated daily

menus will include the likes of

Royal Miyagi oysters, toothfish

and wagyu. The Darling Gold

Coast, Broadbeach Island,

Qld, (07) 5592 8100,

thestargoldcoast.com.au

FIONA DONNELLY

Gold Coasts new darling

In time for the Games, a new luxe hotel

opens for athletes and aesthetes.

22 GOURMET TRAVELLER