Eatery reshuffle a mystery dish
ONCE touted as one of the Gold Coast’s most coveted restaurant locations, this showpiece in the heart of Pacific Fair is now a construction zone.
Workers are dismantling the area of The Resort that previously housed Daniel and Ruggie Ridgeway’s Rivea restaurant.
Rivea reopened over the road in Broadbeach last month in the groundfloor tenancy in The Wave building, previously home to another of Mr Ridgeway’s Bin restaurants.
The masterminds behind Mermaid Beach’s Little Truffle and the Bins 72, 89 and 12 restaurants and the recently closed 232 in Broadbeach, the Ridgeways declined to comment on the closure of their Pacific Fair venue.
Pacific Fair senior centre manager Steven Ihm said Rivea closed at Pacific Fair in January but declined to say why.
“The Ridgeway Group continues to operate the popular venue Bin 232 located at The Patio at Pacific Fair,” he said.
“We look forward to continuing our ongoing relationship with the Ridgeway Group.”
Mr Ihm said the space that previously occupied Rivea would reopen in mid March.
He said the new area would “allow customers to sit down and relax in the shade and soak up the atmosphere of The Resort”.
“There will be new seating, vegetation and grassed areas,” he said.
The space will also be used for “activations” during the Commonwealth Games.
Two more eateries, Crafty Cuts and Finn Poke, will open in The Patio in coming weeks.
The National Australia Bank will also open a new branch next to St George while Baku swimwear are preparing to open in The Arcade.
While council has reduced on-street parking limits in Broadbeach to two hours during the Commonwealth Games, Mr Ihm said Pacific Fair would continue to offer five hours free parking a day, and free parking for anyone who spends more than $300 at the centre.
“Pacific Fair is not changing the existing parking arrangements for customers or staff during the Games,” he said.
“We are however encouraging staff to consider public transport options, carpooling or active transport (walk, run, ride) as we expect Pacific Fair to be busy during this period.”
The centre will provide traffic control staff in its car parks to help customers during the Games – as it does during the busy Christmas trading period.
“We have the G:link right on our doorstep, as well as an extensive bus interchange, bike racks and a taxi rank, giving our customers many options to get to the centre,” the spokesman said.
“We will also continue to run our free shopping shuttle during the Games on a limited route.
Games organisers have not reserved any of the centre’s car parking for use during the Games.