'Tis the season to eat, drink, and be merry….with a hearty side of luxe.
'Tis the season to eat, drink, and be merry….with a hearty side of luxe.
Ho Ho Ho-ooooold the phone. The silly season is almost here and seriously, wasn’t it March, like, yesterday?! This means we need to start thinking about all things celebratory (aren’t we always), especially booking our Christmas and New Year’s soirees stat.
Speaking of, our ‘presents’ is requested at the many festive season events hosted by the ever sleigh-ing InterContinental Sanctuary Cove Resort. With Executive Chef Hamish Watt at the helm serving up the highest quality cuisine, nothing says happy holidays like a Christmas or New Year’s celebration InterContinental style.
Christmas Eve Seafood Buffet Dinner
If you’re a buffet fan (same), the Cove Café puts on the Balenciaga of buffets. From 6pm – 9pm on Saturday 24th December, start your feasting with a worldly selection of hot and cold dishes and fresh seafood. Then move into the traditional roast carvery with an assortment of festive condiments, plus in-house Pastry Chef, Chef Dee’s, decadent dessert collection featuring a traditional Bûche de Noël. $169 per adult, $69 per child (aged 5 – 12), and children under 4 are complimentary with a paying adult. Book here.
Christmas Day Degustation Lunch
Umm, you had us at degustation! Kicking off at 12:30pm on Sunday 25th December in the showstopping Fireplace restaurant, this adults-only affair is THE most exclusive dining experience of the season. You’ll be treated to the ultimate in elegant festive theming, and start with decadent canapés like Oysters with Champagne Jelly and Caviar and sparkling wine on arrival. Your five-star four-course menu includes the likes of Gin-cured Kingfish with beetroot gel, sea bean, avocado mousse, olive tuile and French radish, and Woodfire Smoked Beef Tenderloin with foie gras, potato gratin, cherries, root vegetables and pepperberry jus. We’re drooling just writing about the sumptuous offerings!
There’s intermezzo prepared by the Fireplace pastry chef, and your choice of two desserts including a Warm Christmas Pudding and no, this is unlike any pud you have ever tasted before #sorrygran. Wash it all down with a Yuzo vodka truffle shot (if you insist…) and of course a platinum beverage package. For the vegetarians, there’s an equally luxe menu, and to level things up another notch, all guests receive a customised gift. How tree-mendous! $449 per person with limited seats available. Book here.
Christmas Day Seafood Buffet Dinner
Once again, the Cove Café will flex its seafood buffet greatness, this time on Christmas Day! Explore an extensive array of dishes, expertly prepared by a dedicated culinary team using the finest seasonal Australian produce. The menu is different to Christmas Eve’s, so why not go two nights in a row #tistheseason?! From seafood to traditional Christmas meats with modern flare, antipasto, salads, pizzas, pastas and desserts, what’s not to love? $199 per adult, $69 per child (aged 5 – 12), and children under 4 are complimentary with a paying adult. Book here.
New Year’s Eve Seafood Buffet Dinner
The Cove Café is doing it all again on New Year’s Eve with yet another ah-mazing buffet menu, and two seatings available from 5pm – 7pm and 8pm – 10pm. With meze, salads, seafood, hot dishes and esteemed Pastry Chef, Chef Dee’s, delicious desserts, what a way to say hooray (as in farewell) to 2022 and hooray (as in YAY) to 2023! $199 per adult, $69 per child (aged 5 – 12), and children under 4 are complimentary with a paying adult. Book here.
New Year’s Eve All That Glitters VIP Event
If your New Year’s Eve resolution is to spoil yourself a little more, what better way to start than with a dashing New Year’s Eve event in the grand MacArthur’s Ballroom. Book your babysitter from 6pm on Saturday 31st December, don your finest disco-chic attire, and settle in for an evening of opulent eats, dreamy drinks, and live entertainment. Indulge in a finely curated plated menu paired expertly with a five-hour premium beverage package and yes, we did say f.i.v.e hours.
Take those designer sequins for a spin on the dancefloor, party like it’s 1999 2022, and soak up all the glamour and good times. The garnish on top (cherries are a bit naf for this one) is a special celebration lagoon-side at the Resort’s exclusive beach for the countdown, and yes, we likey! $349 per person (adults only) and bookings plus prepayments are essential. Book here.
So there you have it. Your big three festive season heavy weights (Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve) are all going off like a fancy firecracker at the idyllic InterContinental Resort Sanctuary Cove. For bookings and more information, click here.
Where: InterContinental Sanctuary Cove Resort, Sanctuary Cove, Manor Circle, Hope Island
When: Various activations on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve 2022
Words by Bianca Trathen.
STORY SPONSORED BY INTERCONTINENTAL SANCTUARY COVE RESORT
Oh how we love playing dress ups and enjoying the finer things in life. The only thing more exciting than tea and scones at Buckingham Palace is tea and scones (and so much more varie-tea) at InterContinental Sanctuary Cove Resort’s mesmerising High Tea Immersion. Run ‘oolong’ on a Saturday and/or Sunday from 1pm – 4pm for this superior experience, which transforms high tea into a new immersive journey. How you ask? Make yourself a cuppa (obvs), get comfy and read on…
For the tea enthusiasts who appreciate a spot of name dropping, this will send your senses into overdrive. The exceptional menu, which we’ll unpack shortly, has been expertly crafted alongside the fine teamakers of Tea Forté. In case you’re not up to speed with tea hierarchy, these handcrafted luxury blends are the Margot Robbie of teas. Brew-tea-ful, award-winning, at the top of their game, and loved the world-over. And, to add a little more spesh factor, the InterContinental Sanctuary Cove Resort is the first hotel in our sunburnt country to feature Tea Forté and cue the applause, coz this is quite the coup.
Bringing new innovative interpretations of their globally renowned tea flavours, Resort Executive Chef Hamish Watt and his team have been working overtime to create a High Tea menu to leaf you might-tea satisfied. Curated to guide each guest on an opulent culinary journey from arrival, imagine the VIP vibes when you’re greeted with a Tea Forté infused towel and a palate-cleansing iced tea piccolo. And, for an even more swish factor, opt for a choice of Champagnes and Wines or the signature ‘Pear-tea-ni’ Cocktail (SOLD!), infused with Tea Forté’s White Ginger Pear blend. Pretty sure this is our love language.
Served in the Cove Café, enjoy three tiers of sweet and savoury delights, each boasting unique flavour profiles of a contemporary artisanal brew and designed to pair perfectly with your beverage choice. Savoury lovers will go weak at the knees for the Spanner Crab with saffron mayonnaise and tobiko, Goats Labneh with oyster mushroom and melon radish, Slow-cooked 12-hour Toowoomba Beef Brisket Doughnut, and Smoked Tasmanian Salmon Mousse with fennel and cucumber. Sweet-a-holics will revel in the Salted Caramel Choux with orchid vanilla tea cream and caramel sauce, Coffee Chocolate Opera Cake with hazelnut cream and milk chocolate tuile, Berry Tart with ruby chocolate ganache and pistachio cream and last but not least, the Coconut and White Ginger Pear Tea Mousse with almond cream, apricot and white chocolate. Yep, we’ve got a toothache just thinking about it but #SoWorthIt.
There is an equally delightful spread for the vegan, nut-free, gluten-free and dairy-free folk, with the likes of Roast Pumpkin, Caraway Seed and Tomato Blini, Grilled Corn with beetroot escabeche and cucumber, Dark Chocolate Mousse with avocado and fresh raspberries, and Cinnamon-Spiced Banana Cake with lime and apricot cream. YUM!
And of course, a high tea just isn’t a high tea without Scones. We’re talking Classic Scones and Cranberry Scones and just give us ALL THE SCONES! Pair them with your choice of Tea Forté teas including English Breakfast, Orchid Vanilla, African Solstice, Chamomile Citron Green Mango Peach and White Ginger Pear, all presented with iconic Tea Forté flair.
So, stop pro-caffeine-ating and check out this high-roller High Tea Immersion before it’s scone….
For bookings, click here or phone (07) 5530 1234. The High Tea Immersion is $57 per person (without champagne), but you can upgrade to Bottomless Rosé (2 Hours) for $13 per person or upgrade to a Glass of Champagne for $17 per person!
Where: InterContinental Sanctuary Cove Resort, Sanctuary Cove, Manor Circle, Hope Island
When: 1pm – 4pm Saturdays & Sundays
Words by Bianca Trathen.
STORY SPONSORED BY INTERCONTINENTAL SANCTUARY COVE RESORT
Ahh winter, we have big love for you. We swap kombucha and salads for cab sav and actual food, and don our luxe coats for a boujee fix. Speaking of fancy feels, our fave highbrow local dining and retail precinct, Sanctuary Cove, is turning up the heat with special signature dishes to celebrate winter. Plus, they’re going all out and giving away five $200 Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Gift Cards. Tell us more we hear you say? Don’t mind if we do….
Pablito’s Mexican Cuisine and Tequilaria
The heat is well and truly on this winter at new kid on the block, Pablito’s Mexican Cuisine and Tequilaria. The authentic eats, cocktails and venue fit out are next level #instagood and we can’t get enough. For the ultimate winter indulgence, the Spiced Fresh Fish Taco with guacamole, chipotle, slaw and corn salsa washed down with a chilli margarita is calling your name. And ours….
Dragon Cove Chinese Restaurant
Trying to choose a meal here is like trying to decide between binging Ozark or Stranger Things – really hard…but you can’t go wrong. The world-class chefs are famous for their authentic Cantonese chow and if you get past the Peking Duck (we never can…), warm up with the Beijing Beef Julienne with oriental sauce and green veg. Pair it with a glass (or two…definitely two) of red for instant winter warmer feels.
The Fireplace
With a name like The Fireplace and internationally renowned Executive Chef Hamish Watt at the helm, this fine-dining icon was made for winter eats! Located in InterContinental Sanctuary Cove Resort, enjoy wood-fired cuisine using locally sourced produce, and grape juice from the award-winning wine list! Offset the cooler weather with a hot signature dish, like the 1kg 150-day grain fed Tomahawk Steak from Toowoomba – with a whole Moreton Bay Bug on the side! SIGN. US. UP.
Ioesco Cucina
For us, winter equals guilt-free comfort carbo loading, and no-one does authentic pastas and contemporary interpretations of Napoli cuisine quite like Ioesco Cucina. The Steak Primavera topped with a salsa of avocado and bruschetta tomato on a bed of mash potato, with a glass of Side Step Shiraz is destined to float your boat (or your yacht – we are at Sanctuary Cove after all). Bellissima!
Red Steakhouse
Carnivores rejoice! Red Steakhouse is a modern Australian fine dining must-taste, famous for its high-quality cuts of meat. With stunning views of the Sanctuary Cove Marina, it’s the perfect winter date night destination. To complement the chilly temperatures, we’re ordering the Beef Wagyu Wellington with mushroom pate duxelles, spinach, prosciutto, puff pastry and a red wine jus with a glass of Castagna Shiraz Sangiovese.
Bistro 19
Dubbed the ‘Best Coffee in the Cove’, you can’t go past a hearty breaky or lunch at Bistro 19. Ok we know we said we’re done with salads, but we’ll make an exception for the signature Asian Salad with greens, fresh chilli, coriander, cashew nuts and grilled prawn in a nuoc charm dressing. Enjoy it with a flat white or treat yo-self to a bottle of Mountadam The Patriarch Shiraz. Wine not!
WIN Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Gift Cards
Sanctuary Cove is excited to announce that Ioesco Cucina, Dragon Cove Chinese Restaurant, Chim Thai Restaurant, Pablito’s Mexican Cuisine and Tequilaria, The Fireplace and Red Steakhouse have joined Gourmet Traveller’s premium selection of Aussie restaurants. Cue the applause! To celebrate, you have the chance to win 1 of 5 $200 gift cards. Cue even more applause!
With all of the above on offer at Sanctuary Cove this winter, we agree with Nelly – it’s getting hot in here (but don’t worry, our clothes aren’t going anywhere – not after all that food). For more information on how you can kick those winter blues at the Cove’s five-star dining destinations, and to get the down-low on how to win a $200 Gourmet Traveller gift card, head here.
Where: 4601 Masthead Way, Hope Island
When: Throughout Winter 2022
Words by Bianca Trathen.
STORY SPONSORED BY SANCTUARY COVE
