[Australia] Dining in Gold Coast

I was in Broadbeach in Gold Coast for just a few days and I had most of my meals at the event I attended so I only got to try a few restaurants while I was there. Among the restaurants I visited, my favorite is Urban Fish Market. I had dinner here on my first night because I felt that since I was in Gold Coast and was right next to the sea, I should enjoy some seafood.

Urban Fish Market

I ordered the Seafood Basket which has NZ Hoki, 2 calamari rings, 2 sea scallops, and 1 prawn cutlet. I thought this was the perfect dish for me because it was a lot of seafood on one plate and I was really hungry. You get to choose how your food gets prepared: grilled, crumbed, or battered. I asked the lady at the counter what she recommended and she said battered so I went with that. My meal was really good! If I ever visit Broadbeach again, I am definitely eating here again.

Seafood Basket at Urban Fish Market

I had dinner alone because my colleague still wasn't hungry because she had a very late lunch at Rumi, a Persian restaurant right next to Urban Fish Market. Her flight arrived in Gold Coast a couple of hours earlier than mine so we met up in Rumi. By the time I got there, she had eaten her meal but she did Baklava for dessert and wanted to share it with me. I thought the Baklava was a bit on the sweet side but it was still good. And the presentation was very fancy!

Baklava at Rumi

Monday night dinner was organized for several event attendees at Sage, which was also in the Surf Parade area and just about a block away from Urban Fish Market and Rumi. I got to meet with some other folks from Southeast Asia, including a few Filipinos who were also attending the event.

Sage Restaurant

We were all asked to pre-order and I selected the Sirloin Steak. It had good flavor but I felt it was overcooked and a bit too tough, an opinion shared by other folks who got the same dish. I think maybe Sage isn't fully equipped to churn out dozens of similar plates at the same time because our group included maybe about 50 people and they served our main dishes at about the same time. Nevertheless, that didn't deter me from fully consuming and still enjoying my steak haha.

Sirloin steak at Sage

What we all loved was a seafood platter that was served before our main courses arrived. I'm not sure what it was but looking at the Sage menu, I guess it might have been the Hotplate. Whatever it was, it was exceptionally good. I guess Gold Coast really does have great seafood.

Seafood platter at Sage

We also had dessert. I selected the lemon meringue dessert and it was delicious.

Lemon meringue at Sage

On our final night, my colleague and another friend had dinner at Harajuku Gyoza Beer Stadium which is just on the outside of Oasis Mall.

Harajuku Gyoza Beer Stadium

We ordered a few different gyoza plates as well as the Popcorn Pork Belly (crispy slow cooked pork belly served with a chili caramel sauce, coriander and pickled red cabbage slaw, sprinkled with red chili and fried garlic).

Pork Belly and Gyoza at Harajuku Gyoza

I didn't have an opportunity to have more Australian-specific items like vegemite or kangaroo. If I get to visit Australia again in the future, maybe I need to try these.

Next: Meriton Suites Broadbeach