Inside the stunning Cucina Vivo

Jupiters’ Casino at Broadbeach have once again stepped up the calibre of dining options on the Gold Coast, with their new restaurant Cucina Vivo. Cucina Vivo opened in early 2015 and offers a fresh, modern take on Italian cuisine.
The restaurant setting is absolutely beautiful, giving off a genuine Italian vibe, and is decked out in classic Gold Coast fashion. It has a beachy feel, with lots of wood and blue undertones used throughout the whole restaurant.
The centrepiece of Cucina Vivo would have to be the two metre long wood-fired pizza oven and open kitchen surrounding it. The open kitchen also gives guests a chance to be involved with the cooking process, with children given dough to make their own pizza. Our waitress Ashlee Cowper told us “the parents are normally like – ‘Oh I would love some alone time!’ So it’s a win-win situation for everybody.”
Adding to the genuine Italian feel of the restaurant, organic herbs and vegetables are grown along the bench above the wood-fired oven. As well as being used in the cooking, the fresh herbs also provided the inspiration for Cucina Vivo’s decadent cocktail menu. It was hard to choose just one cocktail off the menu, but whatever you do end up choosing, you can rest assured that it will be full of flavour and taste amazing.
Throughout the restaurant there are a number of different tables to suit all kinds of groups – they offer high tables with bar stools, intimate booths for couples, square tables for families and large round ones for bigger groups of people. There is even a twelve seat private dining room for group bookings and corporate events.
The restaurant opens up onto an elegant but relaxed deck, which overlooks the revamped pool area as well. Both during the day and at night the deck offers customers a special outdoor dining experience, and is the first restaurant at Jupiters’ to offer alfresco dining. Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday there is live music on the balcony as well.
Now to the most important thing – the menu. The meals that Cucina Vivo offer are fresh and delicious, and the menu includes many of your favourite Italian dishes. All of the bread and dough is made in house daily. Resident chef Keegan ensures that people select his breadrolls off the menu, by inventing unique flavours every day. We were treated to pumpkin breadrolls, which were delicious.
The mains were on the smaller side, which was good because it allowed us to have room for entrees and dessert as well. The flavours of all the meals were rich and intense – a prerequisite for any Italian cuisine. There is even a spicy dish on the menu, so if you like chilli I’d recommend you go for the Pappardelle Salsiccia e Broccoli, a pasta dish using classic Italian ingredients.
The highlight of the night however, was receiving our Cioccolato Rosso Ferrari for dessert. We watched as the waiter poured chocolate sauce all over the dessert, and like magic, it started smoking. It was enthralling, and as for the flavour, it is a chocoholic’s heaven.
The pricing of the menu is also very reasonable. The food is fancy without being over the top, and the pricing reflects this. However if you do want to splash out there is a $99 steak on the menu, which we were told is the best cut of steak you can get.

Dinner recommendations:
• Pane (breadrolls) as a side
• Lasagna di Carne for the main course
• Cioccolato Rosso Ferrari for dessert

Cucina Vivo is open for dinner from 5:30pm seven days a week, and also does lunch on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 12 noon.

See the Jupiters’ website for more details Click Here

Erin Ibbott

Erin Ibbott

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