The restaurant serving the roast chicken dish you must eat
It may be a bit pricey but be prepared to be blown away by the roast chicken at this new $2.5m Queensland eatery.
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One look at its name and oceanside location and a menu dripping in seafood is what most would expect for Coast Beach Bar & Kitchen.
But this new $2.5m Surfers Paradise glamazon is far from predictable.
Located on level one of the new Ocean by Meriton hotel, Coast could easily cruise by on its enviable position, delivering nothing more than a perfunctory food and drink offering. But owners Justin and Elizabeth Allie wanted more for their first high-end eatery.
The pair is behind casual Gold Coast dining favourites Longboards Laidback Eatery and Bar also in Surfers, The Fish Shak in Southport, as well as catering company Gourmet en Counter.
Coast is designed to be the culmination of their 22 years in the industry, an amalgam of top-notch fare and high level service but with a casual and relaxed feel. And that’s just what it is.
Floor staff is well-trained on the menu, personable and engaging, with an attention to detail for the finer aspects of hospitality.
Meanwhile, the kitchen is led by acclaimed chef Rhett Willis, who once rattled pans at Brisbane institutional restaurants like Jellyfish and Cha Cha Char.
It should perhaps then come as no surprise that the menu is not just an ode to the ocean, but a tale of the sea and the land, with just as much meat as fish and crustaceans on offer.
All dishes are designed to share, though some of the smaller plates from the coal-powered grill that fires brightly in the open kitchen could act as mains for the seriously hungry.
The kitchen also features a dry-ageing meat cabinet for the house steaks and the locally made chorizo ($24), the latter hanging to develop its flavour before being plucked from its hook, licked by flame and presented sliced with dollops of mustard and aioli for a crowd-pleasing starter.
Another dish sure to become a fan favourite is the king salmon tartare ($28), with kewpie and diced avocado coming together with the highest quality salmon and cheffy touches of smoked soy and miso-cured egg yolk ready to be scooped up on deep-fried wonton wrapper chips, crispy nori or seaweed and rice crackers.
It’s just the right match for a delightfully sharp passionfruit mocktail called “Fun without rum”, or a Jim Barry riesling from the 2000-bottle cellar offering up to 120 wines mostly from Australia’s best growers, including a Penfolds Grange magnum collection valued at more than $60,000.
Steak lovers have three to choose from, including a pure Black Angus flank from NSW ($58), charred beautifully, its centre rosy and tender, with a pot of bright and sharp chimichurri for dipping. But the standout is the roast chicken ($48) from the Redlands, east of Brisbane. Juicier than a cheating scandal on Real Housewives, the bird has been cooked on the bone, its skin seasoned to salty perfection, before being crisped up with heat. There’s a Vietnamese nuoc cham dressing for pouring over, but the meat is so good it’s almost redundant.
For dessert there are three sweets and a cheese platter, but an intensely rich chocolate pudding ($18) is only for the serious cocoa fiend.
What’s perhaps most surprising about the restaurant at Coast is that it is seemingly void of the gobsmacking water views you think it should command. Rather, those privileges have been reserved for the venue’s 160-seat bar.
Instead the dining area is elegant, moody and intimate, with Gold Coast firm Space Cubed Design Studio leaning into subtle references to the ocean outside through fabric that hangs from the ceiling rippling like waves, sand-hued tones across the floors and walls and eye-catching rattan pendants.
It’s a restaurant that feels sophisticated, and thanks to a strong kitchen team and shining front of house, this is a venue that doesn’t need an ocean vista to carry it.
COAST BEACH BAR AND KITCHEN
Level one, Ocean by Meriton, 86 Esplanade Surfers Paradise
5636 9543
Open
Restaurant: Mon-Wed 5.30-8.30pm; Thu-Sun noon-2.30pm and 5.30pm-8.30pm
Verdict
Food 4
Service 4.5
Ambience 4
Value 3.5
Overall 4
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