Sunshine Bistro began with a simple argument: the best meal on the Gold Coast should taste like the Gold Coast. Nineteen floors up, we plate what the trawlers brought in that morning and what the hinterland farms picked that week.
Every supplier on our menu has a face and a postcode. Mooloolaba prawns, Byron Bay pork, Tamborine Mountain dairy. If we cannot tell you where it grew, it does not go on the plate.
The kitchen works with fire, fermentation and patience. Nothing arrives on the pass unless it earned its place through a week of testing, and often a season of it.
Dinner with us is the first act. The casino floor, the jazz sets and the night sky over Broadbeach take care of the rest. We design evenings, not just meals.
Nineteen floors above Broadbeach, the dining room trades noise for light. Our mosaic below moves from the open kitchen to the cellar and out to the terrace, the same way your evening will.
The menu turns completely with each season. What follows is the current quarter's showcase; ask the floor team about today's off-menu catches and cellar pours.
Hiramasa kingfish, finger lime, sea blite and a cold press of macadamia oil. 240 kcal, gluten free.
Flinders Island lamb, warrigal greens, saltbush jus. 610 kcal, contains nuts.
Wild strawberry sorbet, lemon myrtle cream, meringue shards. 310 kcal, vegetarian.
Mooloolaba prawns, avocado mousse, Marie Rose lifted with Tabasco. 380 kcal.
Whole grilled coral trout, green mango salad, lime caramel. 540 kcal, gluten free.
Bowen mango, toasted coconut, kaffir lime granita. 290 kcal, vegan option.
Pine mushrooms, aged parmesan custard, thyme. 420 kcal, vegetarian.
Dry-aged duck breast, native quandong glaze, charred witlof. 580 kcal.
Slow-poached quince, puff pastry, jersey cream. 450 kcal.
Carnaroli rice, Manjimup black truffle, aged cheddar. 640 kcal, vegetarian.
Twelve-hour wagyu cheek, parsnip silk, bone-marrow crumb. 720 kcal.
Dark chocolate cremeux, roasted wattleseed, saltbush caramel. 480 kcal.
Kilojoule counts and allergen notes are listed on the printed menu. Our kitchen handles nuts, shellfish and gluten daily; tell the floor team about any allergy before ordering. The full list lives on the menu page .
Executive Chef Mara Ellingsen spent eleven years between Copenhagen and Sydney before landing on the Gold Coast. Her kitchen keeps a short menu, a long memory and an open door to the suppliers who make it possible.
Ellingsen cooks the Gold Coast the way locals dream about it: unpretentious, precise, and a little bit daring.
Restaurant Awards, Queensland
Our bar team builds drinks around Australian botanicals and house-made ferments. The list changes with the barback's mood and the season's citrus.
Finger lime vodka, lemon aspen, egg white, a whisper of saltbush.
Rye whiskey, wattleseed syrup, bitters, smoked under glass with jarrah.
Native lemongrass gin, verjus, soda, a crown of sea parsley.
Cold-drip espresso, macadamia liqueur, a salted crema cap.
The bar holds twelve stools and a standing ledge along the glass. Reservations for the bar are separate from dining bookings.
Reserve the BarOur signature degustation runs nine courses over roughly three hours. Each plate is a single idea, carried by whatever the boats and farms delivered that week. Wine pairing is optional and strongly encouraged.
Natural and gently smoked, finger lime
Brown butter, sea herbs
Green ants, citrus kosho
Butter-poached, coastal greens
Quandong, brioche
Mussels, saffron broth
MBS 9+, charred onion
Tamborine Mountain selection
Wattleseed, macadamia, dark chocolate
Every service, a camera sits above the pass. What you see here is tonight's kitchen, tonight's chef, tonight's mistakes and recoveries in real time.
Streaming 18:00 – 22:30 AEST during dinner service.
The cellar leans Australian and French, with a soft spot for aged Hunter semillon and cool-climate pinot. Coravin pours run daily, so the good stuff comes by the glass too.
Barossa Valley, shiraz. Dark, plush, cellar-aged at release. Pairs with the wagyu course.
Hunter Valley, a decade in bottle. Toast, lanolin, electric acid. Beautiful with oysters.
Burgundy, pinot noir. Silky and perfumed, saved for the duck courses and quiet Tuesdays.
Flown in from Western Australia within 48 hours of harvest. Hover the markers to see why it earns its own section of the menu.
Manjimup truffles carry a deeper, rounder perfume than their European cousins. We shave them at the table so the aroma arrives intact.
A dense body means clean, paper-thin slices that melt over warm risotto without disappearing into it.
Our supply comes from a single truffiere outside Manjimup. Allocation is forty kilograms a season, and the menu reflects that limit.
The chef's table sits inside the kitchen itself, four centimetres of marble between you and the pass. Chef Ellingsen narrates each course as it's built. Thursday to Saturday, two sittings per night.
Leave your details and our reservations team will confirm your sitting within four hours.
Good Food Guide Awards, 2024 and 2025
Queensland Restaurant & Catering Awards
Shortlisted, Australia's Wine List Awards
Across 2,300+ verified reviews
"The most quietly confident room in Queensland. Order the bug tail and don't skip the wine pairing."
"You come for the view and stay for the duck. The casino crowd never makes it upstairs, which is the point."
From mid-June to mid-August, the kitchen runs a parallel truffle menu alongside the carte. Five dishes, all carrying fresh Manjimup black truffle, available until the season's last shipment is gone.
See the Truffle MenuUnedited notes from recent guests. We read every one, and the good ones get pinned to the kitchen wall.
Share your experienceWe booked for the view and stayed three hours for the food. The oyster course alone was worth the flight from Sydney.
Sydney, anniversary dinner
The dine-and-play package is dangerous in the best way. Great dinner, then straight into the lounge without queuing.
Brisbane, regular since 2023
Booked the chef's table for my partner's birthday. They printed her name on the menu. Small touch, huge effect.
Gold Coast, chef's table
A running record of where we've been reviewed, ranked and occasionally disagreed with. Full articles open in a new tab.
We're inside The Star Gold Coast, one lift ride from the casino floor and three minutes' walk from the beach. Valet parking runs from the main entrance on Casino Drive, complimentary for restaurant guests.
The questions our reservations team hears most. For the full list, including dietary and casino-entry questions, visit the FAQ page .
