Chapter & Verse Surfers Paradise. A cocktail Laced Cathedral of Chill
- The Scoffers
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
The Gold Coast, between Brisvegas and the NSW border has never been known as the last bastion of good taste. Taste on the Gold Coast is like sunscreen on a British backpacker. It is rarely seen and usually applied too late. However, in the gilded lobby of the JW Marriott Surfers Paradise, past the perfumed air and polished marble that whispers money sits Chapter & Verse. This is a bar lounge hybrid, almost part Hemingway and part Hamptons. And somehow it works. This isn’t your average hotel bar flogging stale nuts and average NZ sauv blanc. The décor is all beachside glam meets botanical daydream with cocktail shakers clicking in rhythm like castanets at a flamenco show.
We will start with the High Tea, because this is where Chapter & Verse turns the humble cucumber sandwich into an edible mood board. We were driven here by the very solid reviews online and we can see why it is so positive. It’s a tiered temple to indulgence where the scones arrive warm, the jam doesn’t taste like sweet sludge and even the gluten free version got applause instead of an apology. Expect dainty bites that punch above their weight, like they’re auditioning for MasterChef, Gold Coast.
Drinks here aren’t poured, they are composed, more often than not by a bartender with cheekbones sharp enough to cut citrus. Signature cocktails get particular praise, especially those with native twists and hotel-poolside flair. Expect something with wattleseed, passionfruit foam, or a name that sounds like a yacht. Service conjures one word - Slick! The team knows how to make you feel like you belong, even if your sandals say otherwise. Godwin was on form for our visit, and was both incredibly knowledgeable and absolutely charming. One of our most frequent challenges with service is we feel like we are interrupting people at work. This was the opposite and we could not have felt more welcomed and important. Huge tick.
Now for the food. We decided upon a selection of plates to graze on over a couple of hours. JW duck pate, with cherry jelly and lavosh was super smooth and scrumptious. We added a dozen oysters with a chardonnay vinaigrette and they were super fresh. And at $55 a dozen, very easy on the wallet. We followed this with some bug buns, light fluffy milk buns, with tempura Moreton Bay bugs, kaffir lime aioli and some cos. The bugs were sweet and tasty, clearly very fresh and beautifully tender. They can lead toward a bit rubbery but these were perfectly fried. Chicken bao were also lovely and light, with fried chicken and a chipotle aioli. None of these dishes will win awards for creativity but they will for quality. We could have skipped the truffle chips, they were the only let down in what was a most excellent graze.
If we’re nitpicking, which we do because thats us, Chapter & Verse is not exactly wallet friendly. You're at a five star hotel bar and not surprisingly your gin & tonic costs more than your Uber ride. But the value is here, in the service, the quality of the surroundings and the atmosphere the team create. That is absolutely worth the price and other venues could well learn this lesson. Because of the service and the surroundings it gets busy, so if you roll in expecting a quiet corner at 5pm on a Friday, you deserve the standing room only fate which awaits you.
Chapter & Verse is the kind of place where you can sip a cocktail and pretend you're somebody’s mysterious mistress. It’s polished, a little posh and probably the best place to lose a few hours and dollars in Surfers Paradise. If you’re allergic to elegance, stick to the surf club. For everyone else, come hungry, come thirsty, come fabulous.
Chapter & Verse is at JW Marriot 158 Ferny Avenue, Surfers Paradise. Qld
Open 11am - Late 7 days
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