Beer and bugs! It’s too good an invitation to miss. Skipping lunch, I prepare my appetite for a seafood onslaught at the House of Brews media lunch. A feast it is, but the ‘bugs’ at Brews push my dining experience into wild frontiers. They’re bugs alright. To be more specific, ants and crickets. Eating insects...

No dining experience on the Gold Coast would be complete without a visit to Palazzo Versace, recently crowned Australasia’s Leading Hotel 2015 in the World Travel Awards! Opened in 2000 as the first Versace hotel in the world, the hotel was a coup for developer Sunland who, after a lengthy period of negotiation, signed a...

It’s the case of ‘the girl least likely’ marrying royalty; a fairly pedestrian café in an outer suburban shopping centre scoring seasoned hotel and restaurant owners Graham and Kate Bennett (ex Helm Bar) as its new owners. Mudgeeraba should be so lucky! But we didn’t know about the hometown queen when, after hearing really good...

Gelato. I’m sitting looking into the tubs. This is one of those foods, I’m thinking, where the visual representation has very little to do with the taste. In front of me is an ordinary looking mass of light brown gelato; a bit non-descript, really. Unenticing. Except that I’ve just tasted it. Which changes everything. Gelato...

Tucked in between the Gold Coast and Byron Bay, the Tweed Coast is a foodie destination all its own. The Tweed Fusion Festival, held annually in October, invites us away from our all-too-comfortable armchairs to explore and experience the environs just beyond our back door. Tweed Fusion is a two-day celebration of arts, music, food...

‘Authenticity’ can be an over-rated ideal. There are times when it’s a good idea to shake up time-worn dishes with a healthy dose of innovation. After all, being an ‘authentic’ dish embodies not only a sense of place, but also a time and social context which cannot be replicated. As diners, if it’s flavour and...

Coffee Sisters is a great place to enjoy a coffee and a bite to eat off the beaten track; a perfect nook to bask in the winter’s sun. Once owned by barista sisters Penny and Susan Strophair, hence the name, since Kylie Jennings bought the cafe in mid 2014, it has continued its rise in...

Kingscliff always reminds me of holidays: days when you can amble past a few shops, grab a chair in the sun or an armchair just inside the door of a café, catch up with friends for an all-too-rare chat as you wistfully imagine that you lived in this sleepy town! Although less than two years...

Following seven years in Palm Beach, Nam Sukhyum has opened a second Hachi in Nobby Beach, adding variety to the already popular highway front strip. It’s an ambient space with its two-piece floating ceiling and smart bar, the open kitchen showing off the chefs hard at work. Effective use of stone and wood together with...

Coffee shops are the new community centres. They’re the places we meet, read the papers, catch up with friends and generally hang out. If you live in Burleigh or Palmie, you’ve got tons of choice. In those suburbs, the coffee shops are as busy as Central Station. Everyone has their favourite place. (Bad luck for...