Nobbys Beach to check out a new South American grill
recommended by my waiter at The Fish House. Fire Cue
is the brainchild of Adam Dundas-Taylor, a Gold Coast
local who spent the past 16 years cooking at Nobu in
London and Barbacoa, a restaurant he co-owns in Bali,
before returning home last year.
“Last time I lived here in 2000 you pretty much had
two options when it came to dining: hotel restaurants
or a seafood platter down at your local life-saving club,”
he says. “But now there are some very good restaurants
opening up because of the influx of people moving here
from down south and from Asia with skills and ideas.”
Dundas-Taylor’s vision is classical Latin American
recipes with Asian and Aussie twists. The kingfish
ceviche takes its sweetness from pomegranates and a
miso sauce. The Ram Cap, a little-known cut of meat
from Brazil grilled over charcoal and wood with rock
salt, is caramelized and divine.
“Before, when my husband and I had a date night,
we’d say, ‘do we have to go to pub or surf club?’” says
Kobi Facto, head of marketing at QT Gold Coast, a five-
star take on a 1950’s beach-style Art Deco hotel that pays
tongue-in-cheek homage to the Goldie’s sexualized past.
The QT Gold Coast also satirizes modern Australian
cuisine with dishes like the Man Tea—a slab of wood
bearing a double mini cheeseburger, mini beef-and-
burgundy pie, truffle fries, prawn cocktail and a
parmesan doughnut. “But now there are so many new
groovy new restaurants and bars to chose from. We’ve
finally caught up to Sydney and Melbourne,” she says as
a waiter delivers dessert. A bourbon-infused semifreddo
presented in the guise of a chocolate cigar garnished with
candied bacon more than proves her point.AFTER A WEEKEND IN BURLEIGH, it’s time
to see the Goldie’s southern flank. Past the aquatic
playgrounds of Tallebudgera and Currumbin creeks,
I’m heading further south. Part-canal suburb, part-
industrial state, Currumbin Waters is home to a slew
of hip new venues like Balter Brewery, a microbrewery
co-owned by three-time world surfing champion
Mick Fanning; and Iron and Resin Garage, a hybrid
café, vintage motorcycle museum and boutique where
every Sunday more than 100 motorbike riders meet for
breakfast and to hear live blues before charging off on a
group ride into the hinterlands.
“I’ve done a lot of living and ridden motorbikes
all over the world,” says proprietor Bruce Robson, a
Sydneysider who last year moved to the Gold Coast
because “it’s always nice and sunny.” But there’s more,
and he’s anxious to tell me. “When I got up here, I
discovered the hinterlands have some of the best roads in
the world. And unlike big cities, you don’t have to go far
to see them. The Currumbin Creek Road is so close you
could walk there.”
Five minutes after leaving Iron & Resin Garage I
find myself driving along a country road that winds
through the lush green pastures of Currumbin Valley.
I pass farmers brushing their horses, flocks of colorfulFROM TOP: Looking
north along
Surfers Paradise
from the SkyPoint
Observation Deck;
muted class at The
Fish House.