Synonomous with healthy eating, beach side dining and long standing awards and reputation is Coolangatta’s Japanese favourite, OSushi.
Whilst this restaurant has a sushi train it is far from just a sushi joint. The place has an extensive hot menu too offering many styles of Japanese dining, including the popular poke bowls, udon noodle bowls, sashimi and other styles.
The layout is simple and welcoming. The happy bustling staff make your experience memorable as well as high quality food.
Position opposite the main beach at Coolangatta beside the Cooly pub it draws a diverse crowd. Lunch time vacay goers can stagger off the beach, and score a great snack. Night time diners can have a myriad of choice. Either dining at the sushi train or sitting outside with the sea breeze gently cooling the evening.
On this night we have kingfish cerviche. The fish is fresh and the tastes infuse well on my palette.
For mains we share a sashimi platter with comes with seaweed salad. I look sashimi and the salmon is buttery and fresh.
The best thing about this restaurant aside from the great food, friendly staff and ideal location, is that is serves a variety of alcoholic beverages at reasonable prices.
Situated on Waiheke Island – a 45 minute ferry ride from Auckland – is Mudbrick Wineries, just past Jurrasic Ridge.
It is one of the closest to the ferry terminal and this makes for a great day-time lunch venue. They even have transport (ferry) and two course meal specials in summer. Find out more here.
It’s a short cab ride from the ferry, approximately 10 minutes. Or you can walk from the ferry through the beautiful countryside and this will take you approximately 30 minutes.
We wander in and have a $10 taster which is good. The lady knows here wines and happy to chat.
After our tasting we slide into the restaurant area and have a nice glass of wine by the fire side. It is too early for lunch so this serves as a pause stop.
The food is meant to be remarkable.
The service is good. And the location delightful.
My two favourite things are the edible garden on the way in, and the couches by the log fire side. Let’s face it who can pass up a great wine by the fire side?
I did find it quite pricey if I am honest but the whole of the island is pretty expensive. Go for the experience not as a budget holiday.
Coming back from the airport and eager to eat we stop into the very popular and funky suburb of Auckland called Ponsoby.
Right on the fringe of the CBD this food and inner city precinct has a great vibe.
There are many restaurants, cafes and designer shops to explore. It is late at night and city traffic is hectic so we go straight to the Collective. Here you will find many styles and types of eateries.
It’s a flame grilled BBQ – what Argentineans are famous for.
We order the mix grilled and it is amazing. Three styles of meat, lamb, pork, beef all BBQ to perfection. It is served with a fresh yummy side salad and a delicious Malbec red.
Opened us recently by the owners of the funky Mexican eatery, Bonita Bonita, is Mermaid Beach’s very own Poke Poke cafe.
The poke poke concept is one adopted from Hawaii. Big bowls, typically a shelled coconut, is filled with fresh salad delights with add-ons. Such as sushimi tuna, salmon, chicken, endamame, sea weed, nuts, seeds, condiments of all sorts.
It’s one of those places though where you find a favourite style and stick with it for life.
I found my fav poke on the first visit. It is called Tuna Me On. Sashimi grade tuna w soy & sesame, avocado, crispy shallots, pickled cabbage, edamame, onion & wasabi mayo on brown rice.
The variety of food is good. They even offer curries, vegetarian dishes and sides.
The side of endamame and pee dip with wonton crackers, was humongous and scrummy.
They are licensed as well, so a cheeky cocktail with lunch is very doable! My fav type of eatery…
Go to the beach down the road, have a swim or surf, slide back for a healthy feed and feel pumped and healthy.
Surf Life Saving Clubs are an iconic landmark scattered around the Australian coast line.
In Queensland some of the best locations to eat over looking the surf are in surf clubs.
By far my favourite is Rainbow Bay Surf Club which over looks the infamous Snapper Rocks. Snapper, as it is known by locals, hosts the annual World Surf League Quicksilver Pro and Roxy Pro.
The QuickSilver Pro has been drawing the world’s best surfers for years, and my all time fav Kelly Slater carves up the waves only meters in front of you! Definitely worth going down to watch if you are around Late February, early March.
At other times of the year, it is still worth drifting down to the southern end of the Gold Coast to have lunch at the Rainbow Bay Surf Club.
The food at this surf club is OK. It’s a kin to a good counter meal. Most the surf clubs are similar. Rainbow does offer lunch time specials so for a reasonable price you can grab a beer and feed, or wine and feed overlooking one of Australia’s most amazing ocean views from which to eat above.
These are “clubs” but visitors are welcome. You will be asked to sign in on arrival or join, which is a nominal fee of around $5.
I was expecting some indigenous food fan fare when I landed in Broome and was tipped that 18 Degrees was the place.
It was one of those days when it got hotter as the day went on.
You know hot during the day (but a slight breeze) to sweltering at night, no breeze and suffocating heat.
That was this night….
Probably coupled with the fact we had been floundering in the pool (which temperatures alone) would have topped any UK summer’s day. We headed off to 18 Degrees.
Seated at our table (simple decor) by a beautifully friendly girl on the deck and off we go.
Apparently their cocktail has won an award… it is a fusion of mango nectar, chilli, soda and gin. Their cocktails turn out to be the highlight….
It was sublime hot yet cold. Nearly as good as my chilli margaritas from La Calitas in Canguu.
This is what we ordered:
Scallops and Octopus
Calamari and octopus tenticls and kale… sounds great but was over cooked and salty. Which sucks because I love all of those ingredients.
Shrimp Cakes
It sounded fantastic on the plate but they were missing all the subtle flavours one would expect in a delicate dish….
Wild Caught barramundi
This dish should have been succulent, melt in mouth and subtle flavours. Instead it was dry, and flavourless. What a waste of a wild, beautiful fish!
All in all, a little disappointing.
If I was asked to rate them, I would give them, based on last night’s meal:
Service:7.6/10
Cocktails: 9/10
Food: 2/10
So my lesson is… regardless of how exotic, how magic and seductive the herbs and spices and unusual the ingredients, it comes down to the artisian flare … the chefs intent… and commitment to use the food to enhance and bring to life a food experience.
Unfortunately on this night these guys failed to deliver.
When my sister sent me a text from the UK saying “Fifteen booked for Sunday” I assumed 15 people were coming for lunch. Little did I know that it was the name of a Jamie Oliver restaurant.
The Entrance to Fifteen
Based a little north of Newquay in a pretty cove called Watergate Bay is Fifteen.
The winds whirl along the Atlantic Sea and hit the coast of Cornwall making for some dramatic coastal beaches and even some surfing spots. Today is a mild but very unswimmable day. As stick figures clad in thick wetsuits drag their foamies out into the wild surf we settle into Fifteen. Nice and warm and with wonderful views of the Ocean.
View from Fifteen
James is to be our waiter and after the usual courtesies I really want to see what James has in him as a waiter.
A waiter is after all, an liaison for us, the dinner and the kitchen.
I believe their role is to help us decide.
In doing this a good dinner will pry gently into your day… is it going well, are you celebrating something, what sorts of appetite and digestion do you have. From there, like a tour guide showing off the secrets of an ancient relic, he/she can navigate you around the menu. Which after all is just a guide.
James gets the idea and throws himself into a full explanation of the menu. I am very grateful. Because after reading it twice it still had no meaning. It was just words. But after James had read and explained a few things, it became an adventure and an excitement. That or the wine had time to kick in.
The restaurant has been set up by the famous English chef Jamie Oliver. It is a charity where people with “rough starts” as he puts it, can acquire some training and a new skill in the food industry.
I had already met three of the apprentice chefs at the festival in the morning so I felt great joy at supporting the restaurant. Jamie Oliver has a gift of connecting people and rubbing out the lines between dreams and opportunities.
The food was excellent
The Pork Chop
I had two starters to begin with – the zucchini flower and liver and rosemary.
The liver was absolutely devine and was like self cured pate. I will dream about it for a long time. Lightly grilled after being marinated (I am assuming) the little livers melted in your mouth. The simple butter sauce complimented it perfectly and the livers were served speared on rosemary stalks which gave them enough flavour.
Main course was fantastic!
I had a big pork chop cooked to perfection. Pork can be over cooked and dried out but this was perfect to eat. The polenta and wilted spinach that accompanied it suited the dish perfectly.
All this washed down with a light Italian wine.
Inside fifteen
The food was of a high restaurant standard, but I found the atmosphere weird. It was a very large place, kept warm but lacking warmth if you know what I mean. I felt the music needed to be different to bring it all together. Maybe some Avenders playing. The decor was funky and fun yet the staff didn’t seem to be having as much fun as they could.
Maybe the music and a few more cheeky interactions would rate this restaurant higher in my opinion. All in all, great and I will definitely be returning one day.
You can also donate to help keep this grand project ticking over but probably the best thing to do, if you can, is to dine there.
I love trying new places and it turns out so do many other Gold Coasters.
The latest place to try on the glitz beach strip is Hideaway Kitchen & Bar in Broadbeach.
These photos are from my iphone so I will have to go back during the day and take my camera.
Friends at Hideaway Kitchen FUN!
Tonight is packed and it’s only the second week this new creation of Bine and Ex Nobby’s Arc owner has been open.
I recognise many of my favorite waitresses and bar tenders from around the coast and as expected the chef (ex Etsu) concocts amazing food bites.
The menu is extensive and delicious. I don’t think you can go wrong and it’s the place to lash out and be adventurous.
We try a variety of “street foods” which is the gist of the place.
The pork belly and lettuce cups at Hideaway Kitchen
We start with Beef Cheek Rendang done with coconut cream and Crispy Prawns with jalepeno salsa. Delicious and enough to wet our appetites. I want more.
I am a little overwhelmed with the menu to be honest and struggle to settle on one item so happily hand it over to my friends who have at least 2-3 things they all want to try.
Our tasters are followed by Pork Belly with apple and cabbage, served in lettuce cups and so much fun. I love getting down and dirty with food and having the sauces drip down my sleeve as I eat makes me feel alive and in love with food.
The Mooloolaba Prawns are delicious with Asian sauce and the boys fill up with a pad thai.
Lately I have become a big fan of cocktails . The Kama Sutra is devine. It’s a vodka, elderflower, lime concoction – elegant and not over the top.
The wine however takes the winning drink award tonight. It is a Tomich chardonnay from the Adelaide Hills and is served chilled to perfection.
Surrounding the incredible food action is a bustling vibe, loads of energy and movement. The restaurant does capture a “street” vibe. Clad with graffiti and funky umbrellas outside I feel like the Gold Coast is finally catching up with swankier and adventurous Asian districts like Hong Kong.
Oh and for some fun, have a drink on one of the bars funky swinging chairs. And I am sure you could pop in for a fun cocktail on your way to else where.
This is a definite place to book ahead as you won’t get a table.
Gringoloco a taste of Mexico in Surfer’s Paradise.
Nachos at Gringoloco Surfers
Time with my son is special as I only have my children one week in two and this week has been extra special as it has just been him and me. We have had a relaxed time and today we didn’t have much on the agenda except my son wanted to go to a buffet for lunch (special treat time) and I wanted to catch a Reelife film panel discussion at the Gold Coast Film Festival.
Yummy Nachos at Gringoloco Cantina
Off we went on our bikes on the glorious day. Into Surfers, the buffet was closed so we decided on a Mexican restaurant beach side.
GringoLoco had a good atmosphere – open but still well decked out and the food was good. I thought it was a little pricey but if the quality of food is good and the views were great – one doesn’t mind so much.
We shared nachos with beef cheek and two prawn tacos.
Prawn tacos Gringoloco cantina
I would recommend having 2 tacos per person as they are quite small.
The Gringo Margarita was delicious and I will probably return simply for the margarita and views.
Our Sunday finds us pottering along the Northern Rivers seaside towns of Fingal and Kingscliffe where we stumble across Baja, celebrating the famous Mexican day Cinco De Maya. The day when the Mexicans beat the French.
Giant Staircase at Fingal
The Giant Causeway at Fingal, named after the famous Irish Giants Causeway. Absolutely magic.
Before finding our lunch destination we swing into the quiet town of Fingal. Fingal Heads was discovered by Captain James Cook way back in 1770. But it wasn’t until 1872 when a light house was erected to veer ships away from it’s treacherous cliff rocks that Fingal was put on the map.
The causeway and light house make a delightful short walk and then you can meander to Kingscliffe, just as we did.
Baja lured us in with it’s vibrant colours, chilled atmosphere and the celebrator air. Today they were celebrating Cinco De Mayo. The day (really 5th May) when Mexico beat the French in the battle of Puebla. Complimentary tequila, $5 fish bowl sized cocktails, I instantly liked the Mexican remembrance day! A long way from Mexico, Kingcliffe Baja does OK.
The food was fine – not five star dining but ok. Crispy calamari, buffalo wings and a beer washed down nicely a sorjourn to another country.
