Surfers Paradise bar restaurant White Rhino ready to launch

FIRST PHOTOS: A new $4 million Surfers Paradise hospitality hotspot has a top restaurateur to the stars and stunning features unlike anything seen before on the Gold Coast.

A NEW $4 million Surfers Paradise hospitality hotspot has a top restaurateur to the stars and stunning features including a lifesize rhino replica, giant rock wall and waterfall.

Two-level cafe, bar and restaurant White Rhino is ready after months under construction in Circle on Cavill.

Lifesize replica rhinos at new Surfers Paradise venture White Rhino. Picture Mike Batterham

The 700-square-metre venue with indoor-outdoor flow has 80 staff led by top restaurateur Adam Dundas-Taylor and ex-Island rooftop general manager Adam Thring who also helped launch Stingray bar.

White Rhino bar and restaurant is open for business but after its official VIP launch on November 1 it will open from breakfast through to 1am in Surfers Paradise. Picture Mike Batterham

Mr Dundas-Taylor, who has set up the White Rhino restaurant and menu, trained under Jamie Oliver in London and later worked in that city’s Nobu Mayfair, rated among the world’s top 10 restaurants.

He has catered for Leonardo DiCaprio and Beyonce, whilst he personally cooked for Elton John’s wedding.

White Rhino is the brainchild of Artesian Hospitality partner Matt Keegan who signed up Mr Dundas-Taylor after being impressed by the latter’s Nobby Beach restaurant Fire Cue.

Artesian Hospitality partner Matt Keegan whose brainchild White Rhino is ready to serve up its all-day menu to locals and visitors in Surfers Paradise: “Surfers Paradise has been crying out for a place like this for so long.”

Mr Dundas-Taylor revealed yesterday he was asked to come on board as a consultant after dishing up several taste-testings for Mr Keegan.

“Matt approached me a few months ago and we did a couple of tastings. White Rhino’s menu is modern Australian food done well,” he said.

“They’ve spent several million on the place. But I was attracted by the people I’m working with there, I thoroughly enjoy Matt and his crew.”

A giant rock wall with waterfall is the backdrop to the White Rhino bar and restaurant in Surfers Paradise. Picture Mike Batterham

The all-day menu has bar staples including burgers and pizzas with a lunch and dinner line-up of slow-cooked meats and fish.

Artesian, with a nightclub stable including The Bedroom and sprint legend Usain Bolt’s favourite Sin City, is branching out into the food game with White Rhino under Mr Keegan, a former Sydney-based high-flier with professional services giant PricewaterhouseCooopers.

White Rhino, with indoor-outdoor flow, has been under construction in Circle on Cavill in Surfers Paradise for the past few months. Picture Mike Batterham

Mr Keegan said Surfers Paradise had been “crying out for a place like this for so long – something locals and tourists can enjoy, a bar and restaurant of the quality you find in Sydney and Melbourne”.

White Rhino hosts an invite only media launch tonight before opening to the public from 9pm.

A mezzanine level at new White Rhino bar and restaurant which has capacity for 500 to 600. Picture Mike Batterham

But Mr Keegan said it would fine-tune the operation until its official VIP launch on November 1 and eventually open from 7am for breakfasts with a liquor licence through to 1am.

Surfers Paradise Alliance CEO Mike Winlaw said the investment was a big confidence boost in the visitor hub and would grow visitation.

No expense spared at White Rhino bar and restaurant in Surfers Paradise. Picture Mike Batterham

White Rhino’s landlord EG Funds Management put its Circle on Cavill asset on the market last month but quietly withdrew it. It is understood EG believed it was not the right time to sell and will relaunch the campaign in the first quarter of next year.