Coco Jungle for Coffee and Dessert

Coco Jungle Chocolate Lounge
Shop 111, Sunnybank Plaza, Sunnybank

Close friend of mine, Bee, hopped up to QLD for a quick visit of her family a couple of weeks ago. With my working on Saturdays and her tight schedule, it was difficult to coordinate a meeting but we finally managed to have a group catchup over coffee at Coco Jungle. Hien and I got there first and we were hungry enough to order some sweets while we waited.

Coco Jungle is located near the cinemas in Sunnybank Plaza. There are lots of hot and cold drink options, including some flavoured hot chocolates that I really wanted to try.

Tapas and Cocktails at Peasant

Peasant
http://www.peasant.com.au/

One of the girls at work recommended Peasant at The Barracks so I dutifully filed it away in my list of restaurants to visit. I swear, no matter how often I eat out and how many venues I tick off, the list is always growing.

Last weekend was my bestie Kat's birthday and because I have always been and forever will be terrible at choosing birthday presents, I stuck to what I know best and took her out for food and drink. It occurred to me that Peasant would be the ideal location for this as the focus is on share plates and cocktails. This is the perfect combination for a girls night out.

Lunch at Seoul Bistro

Seoul Bistro
2/152 Turton Street, Sunnybank

Yes, yes I've already mentioned endless times that I'm addicted to Korean food. Over the past weekend, this kicked up a notch because I was literally craving Korean food every single meal. We had it for lunch on Saturday at Hong Depot and again for lunch on Sunday. I even did a search for new Korean places to try just so I wasn't exhausting my usual haunts. This search lead us to Seoul Bistro in Sunnybank.

There was a big birthday gathering at Seoul Bistro that day so I didn't manage to snap a photo of the shopfront (didn't want to be the weirdo that gets yelled at for taking photos of strangers and their kids). The restaurant is smallish with a few tables inside and out. We took up one of the inside tables.

Engagement Lunch at Il Centro

Il Centro Revisited
http://www.il-centro.com.au/

With our recent engagement, Marc and I pulled our families together for a celebratory meet and greet. One event happened over lunch at Il Centro. I had been to Il Centro before albeit a long, long time ago. It's famed for its sandcrab lasagne and I can ascertain that it is, indeed delicious. This must be why it's survived on the menu for so many years.

Il Centro is located on the Eagle Street dining precinct, next to Cha Cha Char. I don't know what's going on with the parking under Eagle Street but we had the oddest experience being directed along the maze of carpark levels, finally finding a park (we weren't sure if most of them belonged to residents) and then not being able to work out how to get back to ground level. Being stuck in an underground carpark with no clear exit can get very claustrophobic very fast.

Gold Coast Fling 5 - Breakfast at Base

Base Espresso
75 Surf Parade, Broadbeach

I've decided that I hate 10am check outs. Marc and I left our hotel on Broadbeach at 10 and found that the only food options available were of the bacon and egg variety. That's all good on most days but on this particular day I was really in the mood for proper lunch food. Noodles. Burgers. Nachos. None of those places were open and we were too hungry to wait until lunch trading so we gave up and found a cafe instead.

Gold Coast Fling 4 - Dinner at Goha

Goha Korean Restaurant
160 Nerang Street, Southport

Anyone who's followed this blog at all this year would know that whilst the main cuisine of Brisbane 2014 is Southern American, the main food of Cora 2014 is most definitely Korean. My interest in Korean cuisine has exploded this year and I will never say no to the offer of a Korean meal. While we were staying at the Gold Coast recently, we met up with Blossom and a couple of her friends. She is Korean and knew just the place to take me for Korean BBQ. Best of all, it was all-you-can-eat at a very reasonable price.

After some thinking, I realised that this premise sounded very familiar. It turns out that my highschool friend Bee mentioned her parents owned an all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ at the coast and when I inquired, it turned out to be the same place.

Gold Coast Fling 3 - Lunch at Cheng's China Bistro

Cheng's China Bistro
http://www.chengschina.com.au/

Being OCD about food blogging means that I don't always write about the trendiest or most gourmet places to eat. I can't help but write about everything new that I try. This was a quick lunch stop during our stay in Broadbeach. We actually walked all the way to Surfers Paradise and I started regretting it because I felt like there were better food options back at Broadbeach. I started craving cheap Asian food and we stumbled upon Cheng's Chinese Bistro and basically said "this will do".

It was Saturday lunch and the restaurant had maybe 2 other tables of diners. We were given a one page menu of lunch specials and a large book of a la carte dish options. Marc and I weren't looking for a full on sit down feast so we both ordered lunch specials.

Gold Coast Fling 2 - Dinner at Hurricane's Grill

Hurricane's Grill and Bar, Surfers Paradise
https://surfers.hurricanesgrill.com.au/

I'd been to Hurricanes at Darling Harbour in Sydney once before in my life but that was a hazy affair because high volumes of alcohol had been consumed earlier that night. All I could remember was that the ribs were really, really, really good. Imagine my excitement over Hurricane's bring their delicious creations to Queensland with a store at Surfers Paradise.

Marc and I had been wanting to go for a while but areas like Surfers where parking is always a challenge can be a heavy deterrent. A couple of weekends ago, I got to experience the convenience of the new light rail service. We were staying opposite Jupiter's in Broadbeach and from there it was a quick 5 minute walk and short tram ride from Cavill Mall. After that, however, we managed to misread Google Maps and walk in the complete opposite direction to where we were supposed to be going.

Gold Coast Fling 1 - Lunch at No Name Lane

No Name Lane
Elizabeth Avenue, Oracle Boulevard, Broadbeach

Ever since I was a little girl, I loved staying at hotels. There's something about the thrill of checking into an unfamiliar location, unlocking your temporary home for the first time and then heading out to explore the new neighbourhood. I just love it!

Last weekend, there was a dental conference at the Gold Coast so I arranged a mini holiday at Broadbeach. Hungry Kittens isn't meant to be an accommodation blog so I won't carry on too much about where we stayed, but suffice to say I highly recommend Meriton on Broadbeach. Our apartment was clean, spacious and modern with gorgeous views from both sides. I found the location perfect for heading out for groceries, restaurants, cafes, even getting a mani/pedi. Everything was so close by. With Jupiters Casino just across the road and the beach a ten minute walk away, you have all interests covered.

Dinner at Flaming Olive

Flaming Olive Restaurant and Bar
http://www.flamingolive.com.au/

Lately, Hungry Kittens has featured cafes and burger shops aplenty but it's obviously been a long time since I've eaten at a fine dining establishment. With a constant bombardment of bills, mortgage repayments, wedding planning deposits and more, it's become harder and harder to justify an expensive meal. I normally save that stuff for special occasions but all our special occasions seem to be in the first half of the year, which leaves July to November very dreary.

Thank goodness for restaurant promotions! I've recently discovered the power of Urbanspoon's weekly dining specials. If you book a special online through them, you get access to some darn good discounts. Only thing is, you have no control over what restaurant gets featured. It was a stroke of luck when I saw Flaming Olive because that has been on my list of restaurants to try since it first opened in the M and A building. Marc, the world's most passionate olive hater, quipped "why would anyone want to flame an olive? To get rid of them?" Ha ha, Marc. Very funny.