Crafty’s Sports Bar, located at the main entrance to Harbour Town Eats, is a family-friendly sports bar offering sociable dining complete with competitive games such as table tennis and cornhole. Cheeky and stylish with an entertaining sense of humour, it’s a fun place to meet friends or to have a party. “There was a gaping...

With waterfront dining at a premium on the Gold Coast, it’s surprising that Quarterdeck Kitchen & Bar is still a secret haven, frequented by locals, boaties, football stars and millionaires. New owner Kieran Hogue and his wife have undertaken some smart renovations, including a stainless-steel bar and new tables, decking out the venue like a...

Kemuri is a little Japanese gem hidden from sight in the middle of suburban Carrara. Owned by Hiroyuki Okubo and his wife Yuki, one could easily overlook it due to a lack of curiosity or understanding. In fact, the couple between them have great experience, Yuki a French-trained chef and Hiro a top-level sommelier and...

One of Easter’s celebration days, Shrove Tuesday, celebrated this year on 5 March, has unusual beginnings. Also known as Pancake Day, it began as a way to use up the luxury ingredients in the household ready for people to fast during Lent. Eggs and milk (prized items in poorer times) combined with some flour make...

If you dream of holidays in the Mediterranean, there’s probably a little restaurant beside that azure sea serving delicious Greek food and wine: succulent flame-grilled lamb and seafood, great flatbread and delicious dips. The team at Zeus Street Greek brings traditional Greek food with a modern twist to the Gold Coast, their new outlet in...

Our local Chinese-Malay restaurant, Kenny’s Malay, serves a delicious Duck salad, which we have enjoyed on many occasions. While Kenny’s sauce remains his secret, I have attempted to capture some of its flavours, translated to a dish that can be presented as an entree at a dinner party. Not able to find the microherbs I...

Many years ago, one of my dinner party recipes was a nori-lined spring roll stuffed with marron we’d caught while visiting a local dam, the heads poking out of the end of the spring roll for presentation. It’s an recipe easily adapted to prawns and asparagus or, in this case, to shitake mushrooms and asparagus...

The warmer weather of summertime calls for fresh, bright dishes. Moving away from winter’s comfort food, we long to stay hydrated, to feel energised though lighter eating.. It’s not uncommon to see fruit in salads, particularly peaches and nectarines. This year, watermelons have been luscious, so I developed this recipe with inspiration from two sources:...

Hailing from Cesena in Northern Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region, Andrea and Simona Riva, owners of the newly-opened Osteria Del Mare, come from a region of Italy that produces the best parmesan, balsamic vinegar and prosciutto in the world. They cook fine Northern Italian food in their restaurant overlooking Burleigh’s foreshore, food that is lighter than that...

Sauerkraut, kombucha, kimchi, … What do these foods have in common, and why should we include them in our diet? They are all fermented. Long before we had refrigeration, fermentation was used to preserve food that would otherwise go to waste. Many cultures also realised fermented foods’ contribution to health, its ‘good’ bacteria contributing to...