Tasca brings cocktails, natural wines and modern Italian share food to Coolangatta
Nestled along Coolangatta’s Griffith Street is a glorious new wine bar and restaurant by the name of Tasca – it’s refined, cosy and brings a whole new culinary vibe to the relaxed southern end. If you’re into minimal-intervention wines (you should be), like to sip on well-curated cocktails and appreciate the simplicity of modern Italian food, then it’s time we got you familiar with this new little gem.
Tasca is Italian for ‘pocket’, which perfectly reflects its style and location in the chilled beachside hub of Coolangatta. The new venue, which softly opened last weekend, is the handiwork of Carlee Bufalino – a well-regarded hospitality identity, who has worked extensively across the Gold Coast and Melbourne for the past 17 years. Driven by a deep-seeded passion for natural wines, Carlee created Tasca to give the southern end a taste of what centralised areas like Palm Beach, Burleigh Heads and Mermaid Beach enjoy in abundance. The cellar list takes a shine to small-batch independent wine producers from regional Australia, Italy and Spain. There’s a mix of minimal intervention, organic and biodynamic wines swirled across the menu, along with producers that adopt old-world winemaking techniques, to create a whole new wine experience. While we’re on the topic of drinkables, the cocktail list is unique and vibrant. It’s a tight little list that features everything from the South Coast cocktail, with vodka, St Germain, lemon, soda and rhubarb bitters, to the Gin T with Brookie’s dry gin, Pernod, topped with lemon, soda, ginger syrup and myrtle.
In the kitchen is South American-born chef Nicholas Zas, formerly of Melbourne’s Stokehouse, who has put together a simple and refined menu of modern Italian-style bar snacks, light plates and larger share plates. Start with the Tasca Antipasto (for those that want all of the cheese), then move into lighter share plates like the spiced green beans with parmesan, wild-caught tuna carpaccio with avocado, capers and sesame, and polenta crisps with mushrooms and arrabbiata. Larger share plates feature the likes of pumpkin gnocchi with basil pesto, radicchio and goats cheese, an organic lamb leg with salsa verde, and free-range chicken thighs with corn and roast capsicum. The share-food menu is polished and designed for all tastes – it perfectly compliments the refreshing wine list, which gives a genuine and respectful nod to low-intervention and independent wine producers.
Swing over to our Stumble Guide for Tasca’s location and opening hours.
The Stumble Guide is our comprehensive Gold Coast dining guide with more than 870 places to eat, drink, shop and play.