Baci Restaurant Bar & Lounge

Baci Restaurant & Lounge has capitulated to its enviable position right by the golden sands of Surfers Paradise, opening the doors to its Trickett Street premises as the sun rises and keeping them open into the small hours the following day. The fantastic Italian food and drink is a constant, and you’ll regularly encounter live music from 6pm to 9pm, and DJs from 10pm until 3am, by which point the beautifully presented Italian-Australian tapas and the magnificently stocked bar have come into their own. There’s beer on tap and a range of specialty cocktails to keep guests salubrious, but we have to recommend pairing the exquisite food with a bottle from Baci’s wine cellar, from which you’ll find vintages from Italy and around the world.

In the kitchen, Baci approaches Italian cuisine with confidence and a contemporary mindset, noting that given the authentic regional cuisines emerging from the bel paese should be prepared as a Tuscan cooks in Chianti and a Neapolitan cooks on the Amalfi coast, for instance, so should a Surfers Paradise chef cook according to the rules of the Gold Coast. This means a menu featuring dishes packed with an abundance of locally-sourced, fresh ingredients, and a repertoire that draws on an encyclopedia of modern Australian culinary ideas strongly rooted in Italian food culture. The seafood could hardly be fresher, the meat dishes heartier, and the salads and vegetarian options are a riot of colour and good health. If you’re looking for a bite to eat after a dip, a casual or an elegant night out – to dine, to drink, to dance – then Baci Restaurant & Lounge needs to be on your bucket list.