Any place you can eat until midnight gets a big tick in our books, and that’s just what you can do at The Island’s new Italian restaurant.
On the second level of the freshly renovated Surfers Paradise boutique hotel, marketing co-ordinator Danielle Barber says The Island Restaurant unveiling marks yet another milestone.
“The rooftop been open since November and since then we’ve fully renovated 98 boutique hotel rooms and as of last week we launched our downstairs dining and bar area,” she says.
“It’s an Italian inspired menu headed by chef Anthony Fullerton.
“We’ve got an awesome wood-fire pizza oven — it only takes 90 seconds to cook a pizza — and there’s a few other things in the kitchen that will take our food to the next level.”
Danielle says the Italian offerings from downstairs will be available to rooftop diners although the rooftop will soon have its own wood-fired oven as well, to be lowered in by crane.
By the sounds of it, they might want to keep the crane handy for the emergency evacuation of diners who have overindulged in Anthony’s authentic Italian fare.
“My background is Italian, I’ve been doing it for quite some time now,” he says.
“I’m a member of the Italian Chef Federation, I’ve been involved in chef hatted restaurants in Melbourne and I go to Italy every two years to research food and wine.
“This will be the 15th restaurant I’ve opened.
“What I focus on with cuisine is being an authentic as possible.”
Some of the offerings at The Island Italian.
Anthony’s vision for authenticity and quality is simple and it translates to every facet of his craft.
“Whenever I test or hire a chef, I asked them to cook spaghetti aglio e olio, which is a very simple Italian dish,” he says.
“It’s basically just spaghetti, olive oil, chilli and garlic, but if you don’t use the right oil, the right spaghetti, if you don’t have the right balance you can tell.
“If you can do the simple things well I think that’s the true testament of a good chef.”
Chef Anthony Fullerton creates some good looking dishes at The Island Italian.
When you’ve got top producer connections that Anthony has, there’s no need to interfere too much.
“That’s what makes us different — we focus on ingredients and produce,” Anthony says.
“I’ve done a lot of work over the years and built relationships with farmers, so the meat is individually sourced and some products we’re the only place in southeast Queensland to have them.
“Basically we’re really not skimping on any ingredients in order to produce the best food we can produce.
“Don’t overwork it, let product speak for itself. That’s what true Italian food is anyway.”
Save room for dessert if you dine at The Island’s new Italian restaurant.
Aside from the wood-fired pizzas, The Island Restaurant’s signature dishes deliver hearty flavour.
“The Bistecca Fiorentina style we’re doing two cuts: a 600g T-bone, a single origin sourced farm T-bone — natural, organic, traceable,
“The second is a 1kg dry aged black angus rib on the bone and that’s intended for sharing.
“We’re also doing beautiful, simple whole fresh baked fish, finished with Chianti olive oil, aged balsamic and lemon.
“So again it’s clean, simple and lets the produce speak for itself.”
The interior at The Island’s new Italian restaurant
Originally published as ‘The Island Boutique Hotel unveils luxe Italian restaurant and bar’ in the Gold Coast Bulletin
By Sally Coates, Gold Coast Bulletin
Surfers Paradise. Whether you’re a born and bred on the Gold Coast or not, most of you would be familiar with The Islander – that pastel-pink hotel that catches your eye as you head along Surfers Paradise Boulevard. Well, after more than 12 months of works, the lid has been lifted on the iconic site to reveal what will now be known as The Island. We had a peek inside the boutique hotel’s new-look restaurant, bar and rooftop – and it’s pretty darn impressive.
The Island now cuts a stylish and distinctive figure on the corner of Beach Road and Surfers Paradise Boulevard, with the newly opened restaurant and bar already creating a vibrant buzz from the heart of Surfers Paradise. The Island’s transformation marks the first Gold Coast venue for renowned hospitality operators The Katarzyna Group, which is behind a swag of popular Brisbane venues like Cloudland, Press Club and The Family (due reopen as EI8HT in June). Whilst the Surfers Paradise hotel has always been (and will remain) an icon, the added element of a refined restaurant and bar offering has taken the destination to a whole new level.The Island’s striking fit-out sees the street-level restaurant and bar space wrap around to seamlessly open up onto the precinct’s main drag – it’s one of those places where long lunches can easily lead into afternoon cocktails … and merge into dinner and few drops of wine. The Island’s main restaurant serves breakfast seven days per week from 7:00 am, before stepping into a vibrant Italian-style lunch and dinner menu.
The Island kitchen offers smaller shares plates from charcuterie boards to polenta-herb crusted sardines with cress, red onion and shaved fennel, which leads into an impressive line-up of land-based dishes. There’s top-end dry-aged steaks and a hearty 1.2kg shoulder of biodynamic lamb with duck-fat potatoes, alongside a refined selection of seafood dishes like the confit of king ora salmon with braised fennel, broccolini, barley and farro. You’ll find a modern spin on Italian favourites, from the braised-duck gnocchi to a simple and traditional salami, chilli and basil pizza rosso. Whilst the restaurant and bar is the perfect place for an afternoon or evening tipple (just quietly, this is also an exceptional people-watching spot), head upstairs to The Island’s rooftop bar for some next-level drinkables and a little bit of cocktail-inspired fun in the sun.