Anti-mandate restaurant’s rogue festive lunch
A POPULAR Gold Coast restaurant openly defying vaccine mandates has held an impromptu Christmas lunch after being ordered to close under the Public Health Act.
Artichoke Restaurant at Sanctuary Cove held the lunch on Saturday, three days after being forced to close and being fined $6892 for not complying with public health direction.
But in a post on Instagram, the restaurant boasted: “They tried to cancel Christmas, but instead we came together.
“An absolute honor (sic) to be able to have tantalised the tastebuds of every patron that came through today,” reads the post, which went up on Saturday evening.
“We may not have been open for business, but feasting on such a perfect Christmas Day, was better than washing it all down the drain.
“Nothing went to waste, laughter could be heard for miles and smiles were in abundance.”
The restaurant’s bosses thanked people who had “purchased gift vouchers over the last week to keep us afloat through this closure”.
Queensland police were joined by Liquor and Gaming officers in a visit to Artichoke Restaurant at Sanctuary Cove on Wednesday.
It was just the second eatery across the state to be shut down over the public health orders.
A northern Gold Coast cafe also closed after anti-mandate protesters blockaded the venue in support of its inclusive policy on Thursday.
The protesters said they were protecting the business from being shut down by police.
Noego Coffee Company posted a notice on its Facebook page on Thursday afternoon thanking supporters. “We have run out of stock so we will be closed from today until the 9th of January, back on the 10th,” the post read.