The Top 10 Restaurants in Southport, Gold Coast

If you ask a Southport local out for dinner and they happily cheer ‘Not Tonight!’, don’t worry, you haven’t been rejected. They’re just excited to show you this boutique tapas bar in Southport’s CBD, located on the new light-rail track overlooking the historic Council Chambers and Ambulance buildings. The owners began with a mission to serve smart yet affordable gastropub food alongside great cocktails and local craft beers. They designed and built most of the venue themselves, leaving the raw skeleton of the original foundations intact to give a sense of industrial, ever-evolving versatility to the space: whether you’re looking for a quiet refuge to nurse a drink or a rowdy party zone, there’s room for every type of night to coexist here. The flexibility of their menu extends all day long, since their kitchen offers breakfast, lunch, and dinner: start your day with a brunch of eggs benedict, zucchini and corn fritters, or French toast with honeyed walnuts and creme chantilly; return in a few hours for an after-work share board, pizza, Tamborine beer-battered whiting and handcut chips, or a simple bar snack such as slow-cooked pork belly skewers; and finally, party into the weekend with $5 small batch local beers on tap, including Beard & Brau Farmhouse Amber Ale from Mt Tamborine and Stone & Wood from Byron Bay.
Price: Mid-range
Opening Hours: Wednesday: 5pm – 11.45pm; Friday to Sunday: 12pm – 12am
Watch out for: The small bar license, meaning the venue doubles up as watering hole and chic eatery

The Roost@53 is a concept café in the heart of Southport open for breakfast, lunch and takeaways. The theme underlying this venture is American food truck style fare, which translates as chic industrial interior design and a resolute focus on house-made dishes and ingredients, all the way down to their own fresh bread and sauces. Stars of the breakfast menu include baked beans on Turkish toast, pancakes a drizzle of maple syrup or a sprinkling of sugar and lemon, and the fabled breakfast burrito with scrambled eggs, bacon, cheese, and salsa. The coffee and espresso is also Roost’s own special House Roast. Lunchtime offerings include burgers, pizzas, build-your-own sandwiches, and house special souvlakis with lettuce, onion and tomato; there are also daily specials such as the New York style Reuben sandwich and slow cooked beef brisket with potato salad. On a final note, it would be seriously remiss to pass up one of the Roost’s banana or vanilla and lime milkshakes.
Price: Budget
Opening Hours: Monday to Friday: 5am – 4pm; Saturday: 6am – 1pm
Watch out for: The Roost Roast house blend of espresso

Spendelove is situated within The Brickworks, a bustling shopping precinct incorporating the famous Ferry Road Market. Laid out like an open plan New York bistro, with elements of both a coffeehouse and a bar lined with aisles of fresh fruit and vegetables, the venue offers shoppers a spacious, laid-back haven from the surrounding crowds. Breakfast offerings include bircher muesli with candied roasted nuts, berries, poached fruit and honeycomb yoghurt; a fresh and poached fruit platter dressed in passion fruit syrup; and chocolate french toast with fig and date compote. Early risers with bigger appetites should seek out the ‘Spendelove in the morning’ platter: two free-range eggs, bacon, toasted vienna bread, lamb cutlet, hash brown, herb crusted tomato, chipolata sausage, spinach and field mushrooms. Meanwhile, Southport lunchers can dine on fresh selections like salt and pepper squid with lime aioli; warm chicken salad with roasted peanuts, mixed herbs, spanish onion and a tangy asian dressing; and the house organic quinoa salad with glazed baby beets, dutch carrots and spinach.
Price: Mid-range
Opening Hours: Monday to Saturday: 7am – 6pm; Sunday: 7am – 5pm
Watch out for: the distinctive and historic red and yellow brick decor

Clink is a quaint, homey restaurant and wine bar found within the Courthouse Hotel on Nerang Street, specializing in taking pub grub to new heights with a high degree of innovation and flair applied to classic dishes. Start with a dozen or half-dozen South Australian oysters, or the crispy calamari served on mini corn fritters with an avocado, lime and pineapple salsa. For your main course, consider the beef and Guinness pie with pumpkin and mushy peas, or the vegetarian Japanese crumbed tofu stuffed with mushrooms, macadamia nuts & coriander, served with stir fried vegetables and a honey soy sauce. For dessert, the clear favorite among regulars is the cinnamon waffle with brandy bananas.
Price: Mid-range
Opening Hours: Monday to Thursday 12pm – 3pm, 5pm – 9pm; Friday 12pm – 9pm; Saturday 12pm – 3pm, 5pm – 9pm; Closed Sundays
Watch out for: the cinnamon waffle

If you’re looking for something like to enjoy with a good drink, head to Tonic on Chirn, a small, vibrant space serving cocktails and tapas in a classic warehouse-styled interior. While this bar makes a mean Manhattan and knows how to handle the classics (try the Old Fashioned or Sazerac), Tonic also offers a number of original cocktail creations, like the White Chocolate Martini for those with a sweet tooth (Absolut Vanilla vodka, Mozart white chocolate liqueur & white cacao liqueur with fresh milk & cream), and the intriguing It’s Quite Delicious (Choya Umeshu plum wine, elderflower liqueur, vanilla, passionfruit, lime and aloe vera juices, served in a Japanese teapot and charged with soda). Their tapas and sharing plates range from grilled pork gyoza dumplings with black vinegar dipping sauce to more substantial fare like grilled scallops with tamari sauce, shallots & pink ginger, and braised pork belly with sticky honey & soy sauce. Their desserts are both decadent and playfully executed; end your night with a close examination of their deconstructed hazelnut cheesecake.
Price: Mid-range
Opening Hours: Tuesday to Thursday: 3pm – 11pm; Friday and Sunday: 12pm – 11pm
Watch out for: The house cocktail It’s Quite Delicious

Goha Korean Restaurant is a family-owned operation on Nerang Street, and the best stop in Southport for authentic Korean cuisine. This menu keeps it all in the family; the meat is even sourced fresh from the family’s own butcher shop next door! You’ll find your favorite Korean specialties here, like hot stone beef bibimbab, stir-fried baby octopus, and kimchi and spicy seafood stews. For hands-on diners looking to cut out the middleman and engage in their own DIY cooking, Goha also offers a selection of marinated meats (think wine pork belly and spicy pork belly). Customers who like to try a little bit of everything will be delighted by the BBQ buffet available every night.
Price: Budget
Opening Hours: Tuesday to Sunday: 11am – 2pm, 5.30pm – 9pm
Watch out for: The DIY cooking option with pork bellies