Our Brisbane friends first got a taste of Tapworks Bar & Grill back in mid-2017 when it opened in the Westfield Chermside dining precinct. Now, it’s our turn. Though, the Gold Coast version of Tapworks is a little different from its Brisbane outpost, boasting a mammoth seating space of 220 across its two levels and a more refined food offering that leans toward snack-style eats. You’ll still find a selection of larger pub meals like chicken parmagianas, burgers and loaded nachos, though the smaller tasting plates are sure to tempt, with dishes like baked camembert, charcuterie boards, crispy-skin pork belly bites with Japanese pickles, as well moreish hand-held snacks like beef jerky and candied bacon strips.

Much of the restaurant-style seating sprawls across the upper level, while downstairs you’ll find a main bar area with around 32 taps pouring the sweet amber goodness on the daily. Unlike its Chermside sibling, the street-level bar area also (very conveniently) incorporates a boutique craft-beer-only bottle shop. Dubbed the ‘beer bunker’, you’ll find one of the biggest retail collections of craft beers under one roof, with around 200 different craft-beers tins and glass tallies (plus a handful of noteworthy ciders) on offer for you to either take home or enjoy right then and there in the bar. If you want a tinnie to go, but none of the 200-plus varieties in the fridge are tickling your fancy (fussy one, aren’t you) Tapworks also has its own express canning set up, so you can choose one of the tap beers and the bar team will pour it into a 500-ml can, seal it, and pop a label on it so you can take the freshly poured nectar home and crack it open later. Genius, right?

Tapworks Bar & Grill opens at 5:00 pm on Friday March 15. Ongoing opening hours and other details are over in our Stumble Guide.

Food images courtesy of Tapworks.