Head south for sips and snacks at Kingscliff’s pop-up summer cocktail bar
While days spent in Kingscliff are usually jammed from dawn to dusk with beach swims, coffees and shopping, there’s now a new reason to stick around after dark – a cocktail-slinging pop-up bar is in town for the summer! Like the thought of having a coconut margarita in one hand and a piece of Korean-style fried chicken with kimchi in the other while the sun sets? Please, allow us to shed some light.
Kingscliff’s summer pop-up bar is located within renowned daytime hub Choux Box – which has been an institution on the Marine Parade strip since 1993. While the popular cafe is bustling by day, every Friday night this summer, the long-standing venue is transforming into a seaside pop-up bar (known as Choux Bar), subbing out eggs Benny and flat whites for summer-inspired cocktails, ice-cold beers and top-notch wines, all paired with a flavour-packed menu of Asian-influenced bar bites and share plates.
The Choux Bar pop-up kicks into gear from 6:00 pm every Friday night – and a refreshing summer cocktail is the best place to start. Think Aperol spritzes, coconut margaritas, the Pink Ink (Ink Gin, lychee and blueberries) and Choux Bar’s signature espresso martini, which is crafted with freshly brewed Vittoria coffee and laced with vanilla vodka. Next up, take a peek at the edibles on offer – the Asian-inspired menu, which focuses purely on local produce, starts with smaller bar snacks like sticky pork-belly bao buns, prawn wontons with soy and ginger, fried rice with Queensland spanner crab, and crispy cauliflower pieces with spiced sweet potato and coconut yoghurt.
There’s also a selection of larger share plates (from both the land and sea) to choose from, featuring dishes like black mussels with lemongrass, coconut and rice, miso salmon with black rice and edamame, and tender beef fillet with shiitake mushrooms, which can be sided with the likes of charred carrots, seasonal greens, and spiced potato. You can spend the rest of your stay on the cocktail train (it’s a good place to be) or expand into Choux Bar’s other libations – there’s taps pouring Stone & Wood and Choux’s own house brew, plus bottled beers, cider, a raft of spirits (including local gin and rum) and a diverse cellar list with wines from Australia, New Zealand, France and Spain making the cut.
You can head down to Choux Bar’s summer pop-up at 94 Marine Parade every Friday night from 6:00 pm – it runs each week until the end of January!
This article was published in conjunction with our good friends at Choux Box.
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