2QuTe! A QT Hotel Gold Coast and Helm Bar review
When it comes to accessories, us girls have it good. From the top of our hair to the ends of our toes, we can embellish our way to looking gorgeous. With the right accessory, you can make or break an outfit. And the same goes for hotels. With the right touch, a hotel can go from tiresome to totally QuTe. And the newly renovated QT Hotel in Surfers Paradise has done just that.
QT Gold Coast has got to be the most vivacious hotel in Surfers at the moment. As the old Gold Coast International, the hotel has had a makeover which I can only describe as 70s retro meets spring break meets a packet of lollies.
It’s the little touches that make our otherwise standard Ocean King Room fun and exciting.
QT accessories.
The bed looks like a gigantic white liquorice allsort and the mini bar is filled with unusual treats. There’s a Mini Cafe Patron, jelly beans and just in case, a ‘Kiss with Confidence’ pack that includes mints.
The bathroom is compact and candy coloured with a black and white striped feature wall that contrasts with the pink and blue accessories. In the cupboards we find a set of boxing-champ dressing gowns and two pairs of ‘his and hers’ thongs to take down for a stroll on the sand.
| Hot tip: Love that lamp beside your bed? Most of the items in your room can be purchased from the hotel. |
As for the rest of the hotel, it’s clear the QT loves to accessorise as much as I do. Rainbow coloured furniture decorates the lobby and to the right of reception, Fixx Cafe lights up the room with more eclectic furniture and fun, sweet treats.
QT Lobby and lemonade.
A trolley of homemade lemonade welcomes you at the entrance and the concierge offers iPads and various modes of blue transport to rent during your stay.
Beep Beep!
The staff are as bright as the hotel itself; lovely Jess and Ashley.
And no girl’s weekend would be complete without a visit to a day spa– right girls? Spa Q offers all sorts of services from facials, body masks, manis and pedis to tanning and waxing. They also do hens night packages and for those who are super busy, there’s a DIY wheatgrass hair treatment and sauna session available.
Head to Spa Q on level two.
Hungry? There are plenty of places to fill your belly. You can book a table at one of QT’s restaurants like Yamagen or Bazaar, or venture out to Surfers’ newest restaurant, Helm Bar.
Helm Bar has just opened in Surfers and it, too, has been revamped. Gone is the sleazy vibe of the Titanium Bar, and in its place is an upmarket pub-style bistro overlooking the Chevron Island canal. Helm is what happens when lunch turns into afternoon cocktails, and when those cocktails turn into pre-dinner drinks. It’s for the young adults out there who want good, colourful food to eat and cocktails to get giggly on before going out. With a drinks list full of fresh, unusual ingredients that would make anyone hand over fifteen dollars, the Helm Bar is too good for a beeper, but not too good for buckets of Coronas and salty chips as the sun sets.
The restaurant area resembles a boat shed, with waiters flying past in a blur of crockery, seafood and smiles. Our menu for the night includes the Gardeners Board, Tandoori Chicken Pizza and the Salt n Pepa Squid.
With rose buds of capsicum, sundried tomatoes, pumpkin mousse, arancini balls and sizzling haloumi, the Gardeners Board really takes the antipasto plate to the next level. The pizza is large and overflowing with chicken, capsicum, cashews, mango chutney, buffalo mozzarella, rocket and raita. The Salt n Pepa Squid with fries and lime aioli has us licking the salt off our fingertips. And to top that off? Three Jam Donut shots; it’s Saturday night after all.
Jam donuts = Baileys, Chambord and sugar ‘round the top. Cheers!
From both the Helm Bar and the QT, if you’re looking to party, a quick walk into Surfers Paradise is all it takes. The QT is close enough to the beach to hear the waves, but far away enough to miss the street loiterers at 3am. Oh, wait. You hear music? That’s not Surfers; that’s the Stingray Bar.
There are over 50 different tequilas in there. Arriba!
Stingray is the QT’s party palace. On Saturday it’s filled with girls and boys with cash to burn and the place is absolutely heaving. Service is fast for a bar ten people deep andonce we’ve got our drinks, we do what everyone else is doing around us. Dance!
Woo!
Once Stingray shuts its doors at 12am, you can head back out on the town or lie in bed with some macarons and fall asleep. We went with option two.
G’nite!
In the morning, a gasp-worthy breakfast buffet is held at QT’s Bazaar Restaurant. Bazaar is more of a market-style experience than conventional buffet and believe me, this buffet is worth driving down from Brisbane for (which I will be doing btw.)
Strawberries, natural yoghurt and museli, oh my!
With fresh fruit, meats, eggs, smoothies, pancakes, omelettes and a whole selection of fried foods, I’m full after the first plate (but pushed through of course). Even as a vegetarian, there is so much to eat, and although I’m a little distracted by the pigs hanging in the window of the restaurant’s premium meats section, all is forgotten when I see the love heart waffles.
*squeal*
With all of its personality, staying at the QT has got to be the most fun I’ve had in Surfers in ages…
Me, channelling the QT girls.
With its combination of quirk, colour, fun vibe and great services, this lovely addition to the Coast makes QT the perfect accessory for a girly weekend in Surfers Paradise.
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