Stretching along 57 km of stunning coastline, with over 480km of waterways (more than Amsterdam and Venice combined), it’s no wonder that tourists and locals alike enjoy dining with a view of the water.
Whether we dine at a surf club or restaurant overlooking the water, catch a cruise through the waterways or take a picnic to the foreshore, a water view can add to the ambience of the dining experience. Our iconic beaches provide a microcosm of Gold Coast life, a trip on the waterways shows off the homes of the Gold Coast’s rich and famous, and in our own egalitarian way the beach and rivers of the Gold Coast provide us all with a little bit of sunshine.
Rick Shores
Rick Shores
Wyndham Cruises
Wyndham Cruises
Rick Shores
Read: Beachside restaurant: Rick Shores
Shop 3, 43 Goodwin Terrace, Burleigh Heads, 5630 6611
Cost: Share dining; Salads and Mains $23 – $60
Rick Shores’ proximity to the beach brings dining almost onto the dunes, so much so that some mornings begin by sweeping out the sand before trade begins. But it’s a small price to pay for the view.
Laid out on three levels, the restaurant cascades downwards from the open kitchen and white wood-clad bar at the back of the venue, to two levels of dining below. The upper levels are ‘lingering’ territory where you can lounge on Chesterfield sofas, placing your glass on steamer trunk coffee tables strewn with vintage books and the odd caged parrot or two.
So our journey begins. Our bar snacks arrive; three delicate street food style dishes which we share: a delicate betel leaf topped with fried tofu and an intense smoked tomato jaewl; a small BBQ roasted duck bao, dressed with the sweet tang of plum and cucumber; and Rick’s fried bug roll, hot and sour, served with slaw. They’re tasty and intense, a couple being guides to the flavours of dishes to come.
We order two larger dishes we share, the soft shell crab topping a plate of green apple and pickled papaya salad laced with kim chi, mint and kewpie, and the stunning egg net salad. As it turns out, the egg net salad is the star – a visual feast of a dish sporting pieces of pork combined with smoky grilled cuttlefish tossed through Vietnamese mint strewn green mango with nahm jim.
It’s a top iconic spot to spend some time. So, grab a group of friends and share some extraordinary flavours. It will be like discovering your fifth sense of taste.
Wyndham Cruises
Tiki Village Wharf, River End Cavill Ave., Surfers Paradise Phone: 07 5539 9299
Cost: Lunch cruise deal for two, includes fresh local trawler prawns, cost $99. Check Wyndham Cruises’ website or Facebook page for current deals.
While locals may own a boat, a Wyndham cruise is one of the few ways that tourists can dine on the water. It’s a relaxing calm water cruise travelling on our river system from the Isle of Capri to Sea World, a running commentary showing points of interest along the way. Even locals will learn more about their own backyard, such as the cost of a suite in Palazzo Versace, the direction of the old Southport Bridge, or the price of river frontage real estate. By world travel standards, the cruise is not luxurious, but neither is the price, especially if you score one of the advertised deals.
There’s a small buffet on board consisting of fresh fruit, several salads, soft bread rolls and cold cuts of chicken and ham, the highlight being freshly caught prawns from local trawlers. They’re top draw! There’s complimentary tea and coffee during the cruise and the boat is licensed. Our favourites from the drinks list are beers from local brewers Pickled Pig and Burleigh Brewing, or the $10 jam jar cocktails.
Seaduction
Read: Restaurant Review – Seaduction
Soul Surfers Paradise, 8 The Esplanade, Surfers Paradise Phone: 07 5635 5728
Cost: Lunch set menu $45 (2 course) or $55 (3 course); Dinner Mains $32 – $48; Degustation from $135
Overlooking Surfers Paradise beach in the stylish Soul building, Seaduction is one of the most salubrious restaurants on the Gold Coast. A throwback to grander times, Seaduction is plush, the bright beach vista shown off through floor to ceiling glass subdued by an interior of wood grain and carpet.
We may not feel like dining out at night in the winter months, but dining at lunch shows off the Coast at its best and proves great value for money.
Seaduction, a two-hatted restaurant, boasts one of our most talented chefs, James Fiske. Bringing over 20 years’ experience working in Michelin starred establishments across the UK and Europe and the previous Chef de Cuisine of Vanitas at Versace. The meals are made from seasonal local produce with the chef featuring a hero of the dish and creating a magnificant meal around it.
Seaduction is a delight!
Four Winds Revolving Restaurant
The spectacular beachfront view from Seaduction
Four Winds Revolving Restaurant
Four Winds Revolving Restaurant
Level 26, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Gold Coast Highway, Surfers Paradise Phone: 07 5592 9907
Cost: Lunch Mon – Sat $59 (online special $49), Sun $69; Dinner Mon – Thurs $69 (online special $59), Fri – Sun $79. High Tea in the Sky Fri – Sun $39 (from 2.30pm)
Opened in 1991, Four Winds is Queensland’s only revolving restaurant. Perched high up on the 26th floor, there are mixed vistas of natural beauty and towering skyscrapers and sweeping views of the Gold Coast’s golden sands stretching out in yawning beauty. You can pick out iconic buildings, north and south and, looking west, waterways twinkle like a school of bait fish. Beyond, the Hinterland stands guard like a mountain of green. There’s interest in every direction outside the restaurant, 360 degree views to the four winds.
Inside, the restaurant circles bundt-like around the hotel’s lift core. The mainly Asian & seafood buffet is arranged in five stations around the curve: a seafood selection, yum cha, a cook-to-order window, hot bain-marie dishes and dessert. While a buffet’s appeal is based on the illusion that you can choose from a multitude of dishes and eat as much as you wish, it is an experience which is enjoyable for most people for a set price.
Fellini Ristorante e Bar
Read: Restaurant Review: Fellini Ristorante e Bar
Level 1, Marina Mirage, 74 SeaWorld Drive, Main Beach Phone: 07 5531 0300
Cost: Main courses $33 – $44; Degustation menus $73 + pp
Fellini is, without doubt, the most highly regarded Italian restaurant on the Gold Coast, having received countless awards since opening, most recently ‘one hat’, as well as coveted certification from the Eccellenze Italiane. Fellini is elegantly timeless, offering sweeping views across luxury yachts and the Broadwater beyond.
The restaurant’s ownership brings generations of traditional family cooking to the table, as well as the professional efficiency and charm of Italian gentlemen. Written in Italian, the dishes featured are regional specialties seen in far too few Italian restaurants in Australia. The menu is divided in the traditional order of courses common in Italian extended family celebrations: starters | entrées | pasta | main | dessert, with the added category of ‘degustation’. While there’s not a pizza in sight, pasta is well represented, freshly made in the family’s adjoining premises, Pastificio Fellini, its Italian-sourced commercial grade pasta machines churning out fresh pasta for retail and wholesale consumption both in Australia and overseas, as well as for the restaurant.
Our meals are rustic, generously portioned in size and very reasonably priced. There’s also nothing fussy about the food or the way it’s presented; it’s an accessible delicious meal, a degustation well nuanced in progression. Just beyond the windows, the sun sparkles like a school of garfish atop the water, broken only by the swell of a tourist boat heading north. Life doesn’t get much better than this!
Dune Cafe
Dune Cafe
Dune
945 Gold Coast Highway, Palm Beach Phone: 07 5521 0951
Cost: Meals $7.50 – $18.50.
Dune Café is located in one of the most beautiful spots on the Coast. Rounding the corner, it’s a breathtaking view. This is family heaven: a large flat lawn flanked by bush and boardwalks on one side and a pirate ship ‘Treasure Island’ themed children’s playground on the other. Beyond the grass lies the cove, a quiet swimming area fronted by a pristine sandy beach, the picture perfect landscape framed in the distance by Currumbin Hill. We could be miles away from the high rise sprawl; it’s so green, so peaceful.
On a balmy day, you will be surrounded by extended families enjoying the sunshine: mothers chatting over a coffee, their toddler-filled prams with a dog attached, teenagers playing touch on the grass, pre-teens on skateboards, children climbing over the installation art, children throwing bread to the fish as grandparents watch. The park area is so large and diverse that there’s room for everyone. There are disabled facilities, change rooms, showers, and even a community centre.
The Dune Café overlooks the action. The main fare’s really ‘upmarket healthy’ with an emphasis is on organic, fresh and local where possible. Sit in a stockman’s armchair in front of the café, enjoying a healthy salad followed by coffee and cake, overlooking your own little cove.
Edgewater Dining & Lounge Bar
Read about all the restaurants at Capri on Via Roma
Capri on Via Roma, Isle of Capri Phone: 07 5570 1624
Cost: Meals $14 – $43.50
Edgewater has a pearler of a view, by day or night, the restaurant vibrant with city lights. Whether it’s $10 Chandon on a Friday afternoon, craft beer on tap with mates, a place to meet friends for dinner, or a party for 20 in the private dining room, this is a ‘must do’ restaurant!
It’s an inviting, thoughtfully appointed space, with a range of seating types; stylish decorating while not detracting from the incredible view. Owner/Manager Peter Cianci, who also owns The Fish Emporium with his wife Tracey, tells us: “I want this to be a relaxed venue – a place where people come and enjoy themselves and have great food.”
Every base is covered: breakfast starts early but there are a few all day breakfast dishes, as well as Dimattina coffee or freshly squeezed juices. Small plates and share platters are available for lunch and dinner, as well as main meals. Personally, we can’t go past the fish. Our champion of the night is the fresh Coral trout, perfectly cooked, light and buttery, dressed only with a little salsa verde and the obligatory salad. What a hero of a dish! With a backdrop of city lights reflecting off the water, the night is still young!
Edgewater
Vie Bar + Restaurant
Vie Bar + Restaurant
Vie Bar + Restaurant
Palazzo Versace, Sea World Drive, Main Beach Phone: 07 5509 8000
Cost: Mains $22 – $90
On perfect days, there was no mistaking why we live on the Gold Coast. Where do you take guests to dine on a day such as this; a place of luxury where they can savour the taste of our landscape, yet relaxed enough to be enjoyable?
For us, Vie in Palazzo Versace is the perfect fit. Overlooking the playground of locals and visiting celebrities alike, you can enjoy exquisite service without remortgaging the house.
Relaxing with a glass of champagne or wine from the exceptional cellar, it’s easy to glide into the afternoon, waiting for lunch.
Vie’s accomplished dishes feature local produce, and there’s more than a touch of luxury in our service: starched cloths, formal yet friendly service, Medusa insignia cutlery and, best of all, a most stunning view. Framed by the Southport skyline, luxury yachts glide past, helicopters land on completion of their joy flights and the odd tinny revs on its way to a fishing spot. It’s a constant parade of entertainment, sitting relaxed, soaking up the ambience.
This is a restaurant we would like to take guests, a place to show off the best of the Gold Coast, to enjoy an intimate lunch or celebration, an affordable luxury, fairly traditional but unfussy. With every seat occupied, many others shared our opinion!
The Fish House
Read: Restaurant Review – The Fish House
50 Goodwin Terrace, Burleigh Heads Phone: 07 5535 7725
Cost: Mains $38 – $58; Chef’s selection $90pp
In Hellenika, owner Simon Gloftis tried to entice people to eat seafood, fish being one of his favourite foods. In The Fish House, it’s seafood that’s the main fare, presented in its own sophistication, without too much fanfare.
Upon entry to this two-hatted restaurant, the imposing Enomatic wine dispenser, wine cabinet and fish display attest to Gloftis’ investment in quality. Wine and fish! We feel right at home! Simple and rustic, the restaurant is cosy and comfortable.
The Norfolk pine-framed ocean just beyond the restaurant’s front windows provides the backdrop to the meal, the source from which the best Australian seafood has been plucked.
We choose the Chef’s selection and are led, in true degustation style, through dishes in a logical progression, beginning with the most delicate flavours. The lack of pretence in the presentation, the generous serving sizes, the light healthy touch in preparation, the Southern European style, all leave the quality of the seafood to speak for itself. It’s as though we taste each flavour for the first time, unadulterated.
Dining at The Fish House is a celebration of flavour. The Chef’s Selection is fantastic value for cuisine which allows the top quality ingredients to shine. With knowledgeable, unobtrusive service, ambient relaxed surroundings and a fine wine collection of over 200 handpicked wines from Australia and Europe, The Fish House provides a top quality wining and dining experience.
Oskars on Burleigh
Oskars on Burleigh
Fish House
Oskars on Burleigh
43 Goodwin Terrace, Burleigh Heads Phone: 07 5576 3722
Cost: Breakfast $7 – $25; Lunch & Dinner Mains $39 – $56
Once the lauded hero of Gold Coast cuisine, Oskars is still worth noting. More restaurants have opened to gently shake Oskars from its hallowed top rung perch, but none offers so close a view of the beach, so wide a sweep of the coastline as Oskars.
Though the night view is glittering, sitting by day on the verandah directly above the beach brings an unparalleled bird’s eye view of the beach. Daytime narrows the dining choice to breakfast, lunch, or tapas with beer and champagne.
We recommend breakfast as one of the most enjoyable and affordable Oskars experiences. As you dine above, the Gold Coast is out to play: building sandcastles, searching for lost car keys in the sand, playing with young children in the frothy surf, catching the shore break or further out on boards and skis. Oblivious to the venue above them, those below form a living montage of Gold Coast life.
Above, you’ll be dining on Strawberry quinoa bircher with toasted almonds and labna, Baked eggs with chorizo, or even the big Mixed grill with sausage, black pudding, fillet steak and confit duck, participating as an audience in the theatre of life playing out below.
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