Southeast Queensland’s top 6 family-friendly restaurants
FAMILIES should no longer feel consigned to takeaways and their local fish and chip shop. We’ve found top restaurants that not only provide excellent food and service, but do so for the whole family.
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FAMILIES should no longer feel consigned to takeaways and their local fish and chip shop. We’ve found top restaurants that not only provide excellent food and service, but do so for the whole family.
Hellenika
Hellenika 2235 Gold Coast Highway, Nobby Beach
07 5572 8009
With a flashy marble bar, black chandeliers and palatial portions, the newly revamped Hellenika may have a fancy facade, but it’s still comforting Greek food at heart.
While the relaxed atmosphere and home-style helpings are far from fine dining, you’re unlikely to experience finer food or service on the Gold Coast.
When Hollywood comes to the Coast or a business bigwig needs to schmooze important company, this Nobby Beach eatery is on page one of the little black book. Whether making the rounds of tables or fine-tuning the menu with home-tested recipes, frontman Simon Gloftis’ influence is everywhere.
When you’re in the hands this capable chef, the best thing you can do is trust them – tell the team what you like and they’ll tailor a banquet.
Make sure it includes the rough-cut Greek salad (there’s just something about those tomatoes), saganaki and southern calamari. The 1.2kg classic baked lamb should be in the centre of the table.
The wine list has swelled to 500 tempting labels and there’s a sommelier to guide diners through unexplored terrain, including some worthy Greek vino.
The imminent opening of the rooftop is set to further cement Hellenika’s deservedly formidable reputation. Expect Greek Islands-style summer sessions under its retractable roof.
Must-eat dish: Arni me patates sto fourno (1.2kg classic baked lamb to share)
Cuisine: Greek
Chef: Simon Gloftis
Price: $$
Open: Lunch Sun; dinner nightly
Instagram: @hellenikarestaurant
Rick Shores
43 Goodwin Terrace, Burleigh Heads
5630 6611
Nestled on the sand with surfers carving up the waves metres from the tables and panoramic views up to the jagged Surfers skyline, Rick Shores justifies a visit based on outlook alone. But order, for example, the luscious lamb rump encrusted with sesame and seaweed, and paired with rich, bone marrow butter and you’ll be settling in for the long haul even after the surfers have packed up.
This is assured food inspired by a variety of Asian cuisines reinterpreted in fresh ways. Starters (from the bar snack menu) might be the fried bug roll with gem lettuce and mayo
turbocharged with Sriracha; crab and prawn dumplings with bonito flakes, or a pork belly slider enlivened by white kimchi and Sichuan caramel. Yellow curry of king prawns is a mild but deeply fragrant take on a Thai favourite, while twice-cooked duck with rosella, kohlrabi, radish and five spice offers a hint of Chinese in its compelling combination.
Team all this with sparky, adept service and a decent wine list with an engaging by-the- glass selection and Rick Shores is far more than a room with a stunning view.
Desserts stay on task, too, with chocolate parfait teamed with malted parsnip and brown rice miso, and pavlova with shards of coconut parfait, semi-dried pineapple and a spiced rum cream.
The location is unbeatable – Rick Shores is perhaps the ultimate beach canteen.
Must-eat dish: Fried bug rolls
Cuisine: Asian
Chef: Jake Pregnell
Price: $$$
Bookings: Recommended
Open: Tue-Sun 12pm until late
Instagram: @imrickshores
Etsu Izakaya
2440 Gold Coast Hwy, Mermaid Beach
07 5526 0944
The lively buzz of some of Tokyo’s best izakayas is captured in this fun and cheeky Gold Coast hotspot.
Diners can perch on a stool at the generously stocked, backlit bar where friendly bartenders offer lessons in mastering chopsticks to children, or perhaps pull up a pew under the unapologetic deciduous tree sprouting from the centre of one of the tables.
Though the elongated space might not take itself too seriously – with a curved wall reminiscent of a skate ramp, vibrant Japanese-inspired murals and live music bringing the party vibes, the kitchen wholeheartedly means business.
The menu boasts bar snack favourites from gyoza to robatayaki, sushi, sashimi and more serious, substantial proteins all designed to share. Let the informed and professional waitstaff guide your selection, perhaps beginning with the almost meaty, abundantly fresh tuna sushi maki, or the nuggets of ethereally light tempura Moreton Bay bug huddling in a sweet amazu sauce.
Stellar pork ribs offer meat that glides off the bone, sticky with a complex and nuanced Japanese version of barbecue sauce, while nasu dengaku eggplant is served halved, its yielding flesh scored, slippery and sticky with a miso glaze.
The drinks list boasts a sake to suit all dishes, alongside cleverly selected wines and an enviable collection of Japanese whiskies. Book ahead and come often.
Must-eat dish: The pork ribs
Cuisine: Japanese
Chef: Nooei Wongchaaum
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Dinner daily
Instagram: @etsuizakaya
Bistro C
49 Hastings St, Noosa
07 5447 2855
Bistro C is everything you’d expect a Noosa restaurant to be. Fronting the beach along the region’s famous Hastings Street, its fit-out is that of a relaxed summer house with mid-toned timber floors, crisp white walls, rattan pendants and inviting banquet seating – of course all overlooking that mesmerizing surf.
Service is just as relaxed as the setting, with the young team of waitstaff more focused on delivering plates efficiently than fussing over diners. Not that that’s a bad thing.
Even at its busiest, the kitchen ensures food leaves the pass with speed, no doubt helped by the easy, breezy menu of fast and fresh fare – coconut chicken salad, lemon thyme grilled chicken, and fish and chips among other crowd pleasers.
Tacos are an ideal beachside lunch with soft corn tortillas replete with boldly flavoured braised beef, lime-spiked avocado, pico de gallo, iceberg, chipotle sour cream and chorizo crumbs.
While a seafood curry is beyond generous showcasing an abundance of scallops, prawns, squid, mussels and fish in a fragrant red curry broth donned with a tangle of green papaya, Thai basil, bean shoots and sliced chilli.
For the prettiest of desserts, perhaps consider the creme brulee, oh so subtly infused with kaffir lime and lemongrass, and crowned with diced dragon fruit, fresh berries and tanned biscotti.
An approachable, easy drinking wine list is well suited to the fresh, tropicana-esque food, making Bistro C an ideal spot to relax with a bottle and good company.
Must-eat dish: Seafood curry
Cuisine: Modern Australian
Chef: Dayle Merlo
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily
Instagram: @bistroc
Lupa Pizza Bar
321 Montague Rd, West End.
07 3532 3875
Authentic Italian food and hospitality is on the menu at this relaxed, neighbourhood pizzeria.
The indoor/outdoor space nestled underneath the red-brick Light+Co building in West End is
comfortable, but frill-free, letting the mix of casual bites, off-the- radar wines and old-school hospitality be the stars.
The menu is all about sharing, say a starter of gin-cured salmon with citrus dressing, before one of their specialty ‘Lupacchiotti’ (cub, in Italian) small plates. The un-sauced thin crisp pizza base topped with dry cured pork capocollo, oozy-centred burrata, a disk of marinated eggplant and Parmesan shavings is great; but the mortadella version featuring the soft and sweet Italian salume folded onto a chunky pistachio cream with more of that lusciously creamy burrata and crumbled pistachios is even better.
Bringing in the crowds though, is the brigade of pizza, marching in a formation of six red and six white. The perfectly puffed, lightly charred, slow-fermented bases are designed to be the stars, and with minimal toppings, such as traditional San Marzano tomatoes and a few slivers of San Daniele prosciutto and fior di latte, they are as classically Italian as a Sophia Loren film.
Carefully matched to the cuisine is a smart, interesting Italian wine list, including familiar drops like Lambrusco and moscato, plus lesser-known varieties such as Tuscan ciliegiolo and negroamaro from Puglia. There is also a terrific range of aperitifs, digestives and grappa, which floor manager and co-owner Andrea Contin will thoughtfully explain to guests.
The occasional language barrier with some staff adds to the authenticity of the experience, making Lupa the type of typical neighbourhood pizzeria you find dotted all over Italy.
Must-eat dish: Mortadella ‘lupacchiotti’
Cuisine: Italian
Chef: Antonio Seno
Price: $$
Bookings: Recommended
Open: Dinner Tues-Sun; lunch Fri-Sun
Instagram: @lupapizzabar
The Lamb Shop
4/20 King St, Fortitude Valley
3252 1761
There’s no white linen, ornate plating or out-of- the-box creativity at this no-frills Greek-inspired establishment, just tasty food highlighting the benefits of simple cookery.
For those who aren’t ordering takeaway, friendly and accommodating staff welcome diners in to the fresh Med-style eatery containing shared high tables and bar seating, while a few tables outside provide relief from the smoky rotisseries spinning some of the tastiest chicken and lamb you’ll find this side of Mykanos.
It’s a smart but relaxed space that lends itself to the casual menu, including chargrilled octopus with lemon, featuring a single, XL tender tentacle, lightly charred with just a hint of smokiness and the seasoning on point. Equally pared back are lamb ribs, which slide straight off the bone, and chargrilled corn soaking in lashings of oregano butter and seasoned with shavings of Parmesan-sharp sheep’s milk cheese.
The lauded souvlaki comes with either lamb or chicken and topped with the choice of onion, parsley, mustard mayo and chips, or onion, tomato, lettuce and tzatziki so good it should be bottled. It might be street food in Greece, but expert meat cookery, pita bread as fluffy as a pillow, and the freshest of ingredients make this a dish to crave well beyond any 3am antics. These same great ingredients also come deconstructed on ‘small plates’.
There is certainly nothing fancy going on at The Lamb Shop, but when the food is as real-deal as being in Yaya’s kitchen, there doesn’t need to be anything added.
Must-eat dish: Lamb souvlaki with onion, tomato, lettuce and tzatziki
Cuisine: Greek
Price: $
Bookings: Not essential
Open: Lunch & dinner daily
Instagram: @thelambshop
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