New Mermaid Beach restaurant Lupo has ever changing menu

THIS new Gold Coast restaurant has an ever-changing menu. But there’s one thing they’ve pledged to never serve up ... pizza!

Harry Pearce, sous chef at Lupo restaurant at Mermaid Beach. Picture Glenn Hampson

AFTER a six month hiatus, one of the Gold Coast’s favourite hospitality families is back.

Thea and Brad Pearce and sons Harry and Rick, responsible for Espana Tapas Bar then Bistro Franc, will open the doors to Lupo, realising a dining dream.

“Lupo is essentially our dream restaurant,” Harry says.

“We want to cook whatever we want, whenever we want — it’s not confined to a country cuisine or anything.

“The ethos is along the lines of a European neighbourhood restaurant, where you eat and drink well whenever you want.

Mussels from Lupo, new restaurant at Mermaid Beach. Picture Glenn Hampson

“It’s not stuffy, but the service is good. The food isn’t wanky, but we’ve put a lot of thought into it.

“Understate, over-deliver is what we’ll be doing a lot of.”

With no set style, Lupo’s dishes will be dependant on what’s in season.

“The menu will be full of simple plates, only two or three ingredients and using what produce is good at that time and making sure it’s treated right,” Harry says.

“Maybe one day we can get really nice trout and it might also be the season for snow peas.

“The decisions are made already by Mother Nature, we’ve just got to figure out what technique to apply.”

Inside the new Lupo restaurant. Picture Glenn Hampson

An ever-changing menu won’t just keep diners on their toes, but the Pearces as well, and despite the extra effort they’re taking no shortcuts.

“We’ll always have a raw fish dish on the menu, but something we like to do is cure as opposed to just leaving it untouched,” Harry says.

“If you apply a good curing method you can actually improve the flavours.

“We do a lot of behind the scenes stuff like that, or pickling and fermenting, dry-ageing beef or marinating proteins.

“Processes you’re obviously not going to write on the menu, but it’s all the back-end work that make a difference.”

Another point of difference is the wood-fired oven, which they’ll be using around the clock to cook the majority of their dishes.

Food will be cooked in a woodfire oven at Lupo restaurant at Mermaid Beach. Picture Glenn Hampson

“The idea of cooking over fire is really interesting to us,” Harry says.

“The simplicity of it is beautiful.

“For example, the other day I roasted a cabbage with a bit of salt and pepper and once it was finished I was like, ‘wow, that’s a really nice cabbage’.

“It’s not like a fine-dining restaurant where there’s 30 ingredients and piling on with unnecessary stuff.

“But we don’t want to do pizza, there won’t be any pizzas.”

A Lupo dessert. Picture Glenn Hampson

As for Lupo’s location, a corner of the Mermaid Beach precinct currently home to Bonita Bonita and Glenelg Public House, well, it hasn’t had a lot of luck.

But if there’s one family who know what they’re doing, it’s this one.

“We’re very happy about where we are. We’re surrounded by other restaurants we like, in an area we like,” he says.

“Everyone’s doing different stuff as well — Bonita Bonita does Mexican, Glenelg is doing steaks, Etsu does Japanese — we’re not in direct competition and we’ll all support each other.

“Broadbeach is very competitive, here it is more collaborative.”

LOCATION: Lupo, 2460 Gold Coast Highway, Mermaid Beach