EVENT IS A SWEET DREAM
The Gold Coast Food and Wine Festival menu includes a decadent dessert spread designed to win you extra “likes” on Instagram
THIS weekend will see our city erupt into a feeding frenzy as the Gold Coast Food and Wine Festival takes over.
Festival director Michelle Christoe, who you can also thank for a little game-changer called NightQuarter, says their goal is to showcase everything edible.
“The purpose is to reinforce the evolution of the Gold Coast food and beverage industry,” she says.
“Growing up I used to visit the GC and it had no identity in food and beverage.
“It has grown up and evolved so much over the past 10 years, so this festival is a way to represent everything it offers.”
The festival menu includes everything from barbecue battles to decadent degustations.
“There are 35 different experiences scheduled over the Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so there really is a lot to choose from,” Michelle says.
“We’re very proud to be partnered with Sirromet winery and their amazing chefs and winemaker will be hosting a seven-course degustation this Friday.
“Each day there’s also the Catch a Crab experience where people can catch their own seafood and eat it later.
“Our Instameet is going to be amazing – we’ve got some great food bloggers coming and we’ll have beautiful desserts arranged to be Instagrammed and eaten.
“Everything we have planned is so diverse and it really represents the Gold Coast right now.”
Fruit picking at Tropical Fruit World, an UberEats picnic at a Surfers Paradise park, high coffee at the InterContinental, Barbecue and Beats at NightQuarter and a distillery tasting at Mt Tamborine are also in the line-up.
“It’s intended for tourists and locals alike – I want a variety of people to have a variety of experiences all across the Gold Coast,” Michelle says.
“We’re not just Surfers Paradise and I think it’s important that we promote that message to tourists, but take care of our locals at the same time. This is only the second year of the festival and I’m hoping in the future it will be an event that people will bookmark and travel for.”