Fat Freddy’s Beach Bar & Diner has opened under the 5-star Avani apartment tower in Broadbeach. Opened by the Good Time Group as part of their multi-venue precinct, Fat Freddy’s name is a giveaway for its intent. The venue, combining sports bar, diner and gaming in one, dubbed by owner Ben Walsh as ‘a clean...

One of Gold Coast’s longest-standing restaurants, Mario’s Italian Restaurant, turned 30 years old in August, marking the occasion with a huge family-style banquet. “It’s all about family and togetherness, while paying homage to family traditions,” says co-owner Marlon Pirie. From its humble beginnings in the late 1980s to its recent elegant refurbishment, Mario’s Italian Restaurant...

Bridging old and new traditions, Grand Dynasty is one of our most modern Chinese restaurants on the Gold Coast. Ken Zeng, who co-owns the restaurant with business partner Alain Yue, is no stranger to hospitality. Having grown up in his family’s restaurants in Shenzhen and Hong Kong, Ken trained in hospitality before moving to Australia....

If there was a family tree of restaurants on the Gold Coast, Mario’s would be the patriarch. Since it was established in 1989, Mario’s has been a favourite of many families, whether they are locals or tourists on annual holidays. Mario’s longevity, when so many other restaurants have come and gone, is testament to its...

When you’re on holidays or retired, lunch can be the main meal of the day. It’s a cost-saving choice of travellers as lunch deals abound, as well as a good health move to eat lighter at night. But sometimes finding the deals is harder than it seems, especially if you’re looking online. Here are some...

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...

I have a personal affinity for gyoza. Perhaps it’s my love of the underdog, a sentimental identification with that misshapen parcel of ugliness that hides a hidden goodness. Or maybe it’s my sympathy for the traveller in all of us, for the stereotyped migrant who’s an individual in their own right. Whatever! There’s no hiding...

Chances are that if you’ve been to Broadbeach for holidays, you’ve eaten at Sage. Slung around a winning corner in the highly competitive Broadbeach dining area, Sage has been a solid performer over the last few years. Now under new owners, a whole Asian Fusion menu has been introduced and we can’t get enough of...

Everyone has their favourite café. Some of them are places only locals know about; tucked away places they share with friends. You know you’ve found one when people greet each other by name and you, the newcomer, score a subtle surreptitious glance. They’re not necessarily the latest trendy spot, in fact they may be well...

The glamour of Cuba in the 1950s is legendary. In the favoured holiday destination of movie stars and celebrities, at chic bars and stylish restaurants, tables were laden with food and mojitos flowed. Socialites partied on in a haze of cigar smoke, their drivers waiting outside in Studebakers lined along the street. But trouble was...