If there was a dining ‘Hall of Fame’, then Jo-Anne and Greg Short would be among the first to be inducted. It’s twenty years since the couple opened the Broadwalk Café, the forerunner of today’s iconic Sandbar. Migrating from NSW with their young family, the couple were excited to start their own new venture in...

Osteria del Mare reminds me that in so many ways the Gold Coast is fortunate. Not only are our climate and mountain-fringed seascape a joy in themselves, but the coast’s magnetism draws world travellers like flotsam to our shores for us to enjoy. One such couple is Andrea and Simona Riva, owners of the newly-opened...

We might find it difficult to name a food that dates back 3,000 years in our culture, however that’s not so for the owners of Fiery Deli. Arepas, the flat round pockets of maize meal that form a core menu item in the Venezuelan-born Perez family’s Robina restaurant, date back to the first use of...

If there’s an unsung hero of the northern dining scene, it’s the Black Sheep Bistro. Located not far from the Oxenford turnoff, the Black Sheep is a local favourite, especially for its weekend breakfasts and lunches. To Australians, ‘black sheep’ carries the connotation of a stray, or disreputable family member. However, my New Zealand childhood...

We love pretty spaces and pretty food but, even more, food needs to taste great and be good for us. It’s the fuel we choose, after all. Sometimes these factors don’t all come together. Sometimes Instagram leads to unrealistic expectations and, in the ‘flesh’, the food experience disappoints. Opened by the very creative Morgan Walsh...

Simon Scott lives and breathes the ocean. Born and raised on the Gold Coast, Simon’s a keen surfer and fisherman. When he’s not out on the ocean, he’s in the kitchen cooking the catch. So, it’s understandable that when Simon and his wife Buffie opened a seafood shop in Burleigh it would be within sight...

In a busy life, it’s important to plan times of retreat; weekends of relaxation, sharing time with your partner surrounded by green. Somehow, we find that lawns, gardens and wilderness are nourishing for the soul, far more so than concrete and bitumen! The InterContinental Sanctuary Cove is one of our favourite retreats, an expansive resort...

As a city, we are very young indeed… at least superficially. We can’t boast a Colusseum, nor the glorious artworks of the Sistine Chapel. There are no obvious antiquities dating back 20,000 years to when the first Aboriginal footsteps were etched into our sand, nor to the first European settlers who breathed this air and...

Fancy a coffee with your new lounge suite, or something to eat? How about some fresh cannoli? Robina’s Home + Life Centre, opposite the Auto Mall, opened late last year with a great array of lifestyle shops –  James Lane, Nick Scali, DecoRug, Vast Interior, The Good Guys, and Kitchen Connection, to name a few....

Get on your ‘little Japanese dumplings of happy’ and get down to Harajuku Gyoza in the Broadbeach Mall. If the combination of beer and gyoza is not enough to put you into a spin, add the zany elements of ‘Harajuku’ and you’ll be doubly happy! The largest of seven outlets of the phenomenally successful chain...