MECCA BAH - BROADBEACH, GOLD COAST, QUEENSLAND

Mecca Bah
3 Oracle Bvd
Broadbeach, Gold Coast, Queensland

Mecca Bah is such an exotic venue - in fact it's what you would probably be expecting from the name.

It's a very spacious place with a variety of different areas - with seating inside, outside along the pretty boulevard or in their large covered inside/outside area at the rear of the restaurant.

We chose the inside/outside area as it was a beautiful sunny day and it just looked so nice there.

Mecca Bah is of course Middle Eastern food and their brand and group has grown to now have venues across a number of cities in Australia.

It's obviously providing food and venues that people like.

It was just so pleasant sitting there watching the world go by and eating delicious food.

It's open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner and stays open late so there are plenty of available times to visit.

Make sure you take a look around too - there are so many artifacts and ornaments there adding to the feel and experience - it's lovely.

It was midday and that meant it was time for a drink - actually it was opening time at 11:30am but near enough!

Sir had a tasty Casablanca martini which he thoroughly enjoyed and Mlady had the slightly sweeter Turkish delight martini which hit the spot for her!

We then started to eat - and boy was there a lot of food to try - we only got to a small portion of the extensive menu.

First up was the Moroccan potato cakes filled with goats cheese and pine nuts. These little beauties were a favourite of Mlady's - crunchy on the outside and soft and full of flavour inside.

Pastry and meat are made for each other aren't they? The lamb sfiha was a winner with Sir - but he loves meat and he loves pastry. It was not a heavy starter - made from open pastry with spiced lamb, tomato and mint and lemon. Delicious!

Next was some tangy and tasty hummus topped with spiced lamb, pine nuts and herbs served with Lebanese Za'atar bread. It was a bit more complex than your usual hummus - and the extras certainly went well.

We both like haloumi but we loved this variation - baked haloumi with pomegranate, mint salad and lemon.

Of course lemon is a must with haloumi but this version had even more tang with the pomegranate and mint - the addition of the pomegranate and mint was great.

Next up was Mlady's highlight of the meal (she's the healthier one of us obviously).

It was a pretty and colourful salad of mixed quinoa, roasted pumpkin, snow pea tendrils, asparagus, fetta cheese with a spicy apple balsamic dressing.

Of course Middle Eastern food means meat on a skewer. This was not like any other presentation we'd had previously either.

The Baharat spiced lamb shish came with bell peppers and onions and was served with Lebanese flat bread, tomato, cucumber, fresh herbs and fragrant pilaf rice.The meat was on a skewer  hanging over a dish of hot coals with a mesh grill on top. You then simply slid the meat, onions and peppers onto the grill and slightly "toasted" them a bit more. There was also some fragrant wood chips and sawdust to sprinkle onto the coals - adding even more flavour and creating a lovely "show".

Dessert for some people is the best part of any meal. For us it is certainly important - almost essential in fact!

We had a lovely platter with interspersed sections of cheesecake and ice cream. It was orange blossom cheesecake with pomegranate, raspberry and honey syrup served separated by scoops of vanilla ice cream.

We then finished everything off with some rich and thick Turkish coffee.

The showmanship of the serving process makes it all even more interesting - and lets not forget the sweet Turkish Delight that came with it!

We slowly sipped on a couple of "dessert martinis" to complete the feast! Mlady's slightly sweeter tooth was quenched with a marshmallowtini - garnished with petite marshmallows. Sir had the quaintly named baked apple pie - and yes it did taste exactly like this!!

Mecca Bah is an exotic escape right on the Gold Coast. The decor is of course Middle Eastern - and nicely done. Service is fast and friendly and the food and drinks are a treat. The biggest challenge is what to choose - the menu certainly has heaps of variety!

Sir and Mlady dined as guests of Mecca Bah and Platinum Restaurant Group. Special thanks to Mecca Bah Gold Coast Manager Stan for spending time with us. Thanks also to Caitlin, Cathy and Domenica for looking after us so well. A big thanks to Fallon Gomesz of the Platinum Restaurant Group for inviting us.

MALAYSIAN ON THE GOLD COAST - GOLD COAST, QUEENSLAND

Malaysian on The Gold Coast
Gold Coast, Queensland

Ocean Seafood Chinese and Malaysian Restaurant
3110 Gold Coast Highway
Surfers Paradise

Our quick trip up to the Gold Coast to sample some of the Malaysian Restaurants on offer there started with a meal in Ocean Seafood - right in the heart of Surfers Paradise. There's a good mix of both Malaysian and Chinese food on offer but we stuck with the Malaysian as it was our reason for the trip supported by The Malaysian Kitchen Programme.


We of course started with an entree or two. The kari puffs sounded good straight away - and they were - and we decided to pair these with a couple of spring rolls which were also nice.

We also ordered some roti chanai with curry sauce - which isn't a surprise. The roti was nice and flaky too - as it should be.

We had decided to eat fairly lightly this evening.

The good thing about Malaysian food is that there are both heavy and lighter options available - or you can simply mix and match according to your tastes.

We started our mains with a plate of nasi goreng - a complex tasty Malaysian fried rice.

You can have nasi goreng as a side dish or even as a meal on a plate on its own - it's versatile!

A colourful, crisp and very tasty dish of Belecan snow peas with scallops was possibly the dish of the night. Apart from the great taste, we were surprised at just how many scallops were on the plate - it was literally packed with them.

Ipoh Satay House

Cnr Karbunya St and Sunshine Blvde
Mermaid Waters, Gold Coast, Queensland

Tucked away in a quiet part of Mermaid Waters is Ipoh Satay House.

It actually opens out onto the central part of the centre it's in, so it's a bit hard to see from some parts of the car park.

Ipoh is a modest and almost unassuming place - but don't let that fool you about the food.

Locals have been flocking here for ages (it's been around since 1995) and it is extremely popular for very good reasons!

Do you always look at the Specials when you're in a restaurant? We do - and sometimes you find some gems. It's not often you see a dish on the menu at a Malaysian restaurant described as Spanish Mackerel fish cakes. Seeing it here made it a must order dish. It was so crisp, light and a winner.

Malaysian food means roti canai. It's a must, even though its style and taste can vary widely from place to place.

Here it was served with a bowl of curry sauce and potatoes. While the roti itself was really good here, the curry sauce was possibly one of the best we've had anywhere. It was that tasty!

We have become real fans of loh bak so this was another return to a favourite dish - with the hope that it would live up to expectations.

As it turns out it exceeded them. This was minced pork wrapped in thin tofu skin and deep fried. It's crisp, tangy and tasty - and if you've never tried this treat - give it a go!

Rendang beef is a dish we frequently order at Malaysian restaurants.

This was described as slow cooked tender beef in a spicy dry curry. In fact it arrived in a thick gravy-like sauce that we couldn't stop eating. It was packed with plenty of flavour and extremely tasty.

We finished with this extremely light, fragrant and tasty dessert of coconut jelly.

It was a decent sized chunk of jelly too and it came drizzled with a thin and sweet coconut and brown sugar syrup.

We were so full already but this was the perfect after meal sugar hit without over-filling us. 

Ipoh Satay House is a simple place that's even tucked away a little. However, its food is quite delicious and well worth finding. They also have some unique choices available - and make sure you look at the Specials Board when you're there - you may find something unexpected. 

River Penang
The Promenade
Robina Town Centre, Gold Coast, Queensland

River Penang sits on the edge of the Robina Town Centre but it is outside and in a really pleasant spot.

It's kind of indoor/outdoor as it's completely covered and protected but you do get an open feel from the whole place.

It's very pleasant there on a warm day sitting back and relaxing!

It has en extensive menu so allow a bit of time to go through it first before ordering.

We started with a drink - of course.

Because it was a warm day we decided to have a coconut juice.

It's not something we usually have, in fact we haven't had it with our Malaysian meals before, but it just seemed like a good idea this time.

We were glad we did go this way though.

Coconut juice is such a refreshing drink, cooling you down without any heaviness.

We even decided to order it more often from now on!

A favourite of ours at Malaysian restaurants is char koay teow so when we saw Penang Char Koay Teow on the menu it was a must have dish to order.

It was such a substantial dish - packed with noodles, chicken, prawns, sprouts and plenty of veggies. We actually used this more as a side dish instead of rice - koay teow is also versatile like that!

We then moved on to a lovely serving of curry beef rendang that came with a side of roti - but we indulged and ordered a second batch of roti (as you do). The rendang curry was rich and full with plenty of pieces of tender beef and the roti was tasty with plenty of flavour.

We almost always seem to have Malaysian skewered chicken with satay sauce - it's a good entree or extra dish.

We were actually going to skip it this time until we saw it arrive at a nearby table and we decided to change our minds - or change our changed minds!

The chicken was delicious, juicy and tender in nice chunks, but the winner was the great satay sauce. This was simply delicious, full of flavour and so tangy and tasty.

River Penang is a pleasant place. It's very open and casual with good service and really tasty food.

Sir and Mlady visited the Gold Coast with the support of the The Malaysian Kitchen Programme.