Shiro Gelato is like a tiny part of Japan dropped into a little shop in Nerang Street, Southport. Shiro is home to some of our favourite Japanese creations: the elastic texture of freshly made mochi, and the smooth, unmistakable flavours of matcha and black sesame gelato. Combined together, they form dessert heaven, Daifuku. Shiro is...

I fell in love this week, not with a person but with a cuisine. Nikkei. ‘The Fusion Cuisine You Didn’t Know You Needed’, says Vogue magazine. And I am not alone in my passion. Italian-born Adriano Antonini discovered and fell in love with Nikkei cuisine while working as a sommelier in London hot spot Coya,...

NOTE: In July 2023, Chanoyu moved to a new location in 56 Nerang St., Nerang. It’s the Matcha chocolate ganache tart that gives it away – a pretty little pie case filled with two shades of green chocolate filling… “Oh my! There’s real talent here,” we think. “I wonder who’s in the kitchen?” There’s something...

Every so often we are blessed with dining venue that is truly different. A year ago, Sens Coffee, at the base of the Meriton Broadbeach, transformed their café into Goya Café, a modern, ultra-sexy Japanese street food café. But after shouting ‘Revolution!’ and taking the coast by storm, it could not have been a more...

We have chefs we love, and Chef Yusuke Ito is one of them. You have probably eaten Chef Yusuke’s food before. Chances are, though, that unless you’d been paying close attention, you may not have known that Yusuke had cooked the food on your plate. Quiet and unassuming, as are many Japanese chefs, Yusuke worked...

If there’s something we never tire of, it’s freshness. The first dedicated poke bar to open in the south-east corner, Finn Poke, opened their second venue upstairs in Pacific Fair exactly a year after the opening of their Byron Bay shop. With a longterm hospitality background in extended family restaurants ‘Fig & Olive’ and the...

Whether you’re a on holidays on the Gold Coast or a local, a night out at KooKoo Teppanyaki and Lounge Bar is loads of fun. KooKoo Teppanyaki is located in the heart of Surfers Paradise, a short walk from the Cavill Avenue light rail station.  Open to Surfers Paradise Boulevard, from the street you can...

There is no cuisine finer than Japanese. It’s a well-recognized art form in sourcing, preparing, plating and presenting fine food with additional kudos due for its health benefits. Fortunately, though we can’t travel to Japan at present, we can take a short drive and find ourselves in the back streets of Tokyo where Chef Koki,...

NOTE: This cafe changed owners and name late in 2022. It is now called Cafe Bar Dokidoki. We are assured that its menu remains unchanged. …… One of the strategies employed by business is to locate your establishment as close as possible to the opposition. So, when Raijin opened right beside the esteemed Cafoo Izakaya,...

Kemuri Kitchen has launched a series of omakase dinners held monthly in their Carrara restaurant and they are well worth seeking out. Well known for their excellent casual cuisine and knowledgeable wine service, owners Hiroyuki Okubo is a Master Sommelier, his wife Yuki a French-trained chef. The concept of ‘leaving it to the chef’ encapsulated...