Birthday Weekend: La Rustica Restaurant

La Rustica Restaurant Review Brisbane

I had intended to blog about our Saturday night dinner which was spent at the Hard Rock Café in Surfers Paradise. We couldn’t wait to get back there after Brody and I went to the Hard Rock when we first took a trip to Surfers in 2010 and we have also been to the Hard Rock Café in Sydney. Both of those times I had a decent amount of gluten free options to choose from, however that was not the case this time.
We arrived, took our seats and opened up the menu. Three options greeted me; entre sized nachos ($20AUD), grilled Tasmanian salmon and steak.

I tend to shy away from heavy red meat dishes; they tend to bloat me and make me feel lethargic, so the steak was off the cards. We has ventured to the local Sushi Train (I desperately want this chain to take off down here in Melbourne, it was amazing to walk down the street and be able to not only have sushi but a sushi train) for lunch, meaning I wasn’t in the mood for grilled salmon. This resulted in me ordering the nachos. For the size of the plate the price was fine however I wasn’t anywhere near finishing the portion; it’s definitely more of a share platter.
After Saturdays’ experience I can’t say that we will be returning to the Hard Rock Café again; I’m not sure why they have removed a lot of the gluten free options from the menu but with only three options left I cannot say I was impressed.

Our last night in Surfers found us not sure where to go for dinner, we had spent the entire day at Movie world and were well past the point of exhaustion.
A few months ago I downloaded the Gluten Free Eating Directory app. When I first got it I spent a whole car ride using the ‘near me’ feature to find new and exciting gluten free venues. Although it does not have EVERY restaurant that caters for gluten free (for example my local Hogsbreath will do gluten free and have gluten free possible options on the menu but are not featured on the directory) they tend to have smaller and less known places, hidden gems.
I gave the app a tap and opened up the near me locator. The first option on the menu was only a kilometre away from the hotel on the strip, easy enough to walk to; La Rustica Restaurant.

La Rustica Restaurant is a family owned restaurant; with two Italian brothers and a Turkish in-law by their own admission.
The restaurant would be hard to find if you aren’t keeping an eye out; it is literally a small hole in a wall of colours with a few tables out the front.

After you enter the store, the front section is a take away counter and then through some beaded curtains to a rustic and quaint little dining area. The décor is mostly wooden, with photos of the family on trips and vacations, the wall next to us was adorned with definitely currency from around the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The menu was littered with tiny little (g) icons, my eyes lit up every time I read one of the options that I was able to eat. Brody begged me to share a starter plate with him, he had been craving Queensland prawns, talking about how fresh they always were.
We shared a gluten free garlic prawns on rice. Brody almost forgot to order the prawns gluten free and after correcting him I heard the waiter speaking to the kitchen “gluten free order, change pans”
The sauce was  delectable, so much so that even Brody was wiping his finger across the plate. We had two prawns each, all around eight to ten centimetres each if stretched out. They were most definitely fresh and incredibly tasty. I’m not a big prawn fan. The rice underneath had soaked up the sauce and was light and fluffy. There was a small side salad of lettuce, tomato and cucumber.

Brody ordered the not so gluten free lasagne (although there was a gluten free option available) for $19AUD and he couldn’t finish the serving size, definitely a great price. I had been searching for a risotto or pasta dish that I didn’t have to cook myself and was tossing up between a gluten free carbornara or a dish called the matthew’s chicken (don’t quote me I might have it wrong).
I ended up ordering the latter, a tomato based sauce with chicken pieces, semi-sundried tomatoes and gluten free penne pasta.

The pasta was perfectly cooked, the sauce was like the usual creamy tomato pasts or risotto and the sundried tomatoes weren’t chewy or hard. I added extra chilli flakes for a bit of a spicy kick.
It was $3AUD extra for Gluten free (total of $23AUD) for mine.

This is a little hidden gem on the strip and it was well worth the visit. I will be returning next time I am in Surfers Paradise.

Ashlee; The Aussie Coeliac. La Rustica Restaurant Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato