There are restaurants that simply feed you and then there are restaurants that make you feel like you’ve arrived somewhere. Giulia Italian, tucked inside Kingscliff’s beloved Salt Village precinct on Bells Boulevard, belongs firmly in the latter category.
Channelling the spirit and cuisine of coastal Italy, Giulia sits at that sweet spot where traditional Italian cooking meets a breezy seaside setting and for Brisbane visitors making the short drive south, it’s exactly the kind of destination dinner worth planning your evening around.
The menu reads like a love letter to the Italian regions. Antipasti options range from gratinated scallops with cauliflower purée and herb pangrattato to smoked burrata with pumpkin purée and pasta fritta — dishes that show a kitchen confident enough to let quality ingredients do the talking. For pasta lovers, the choices are a highlight: the squid ink tagliolini arrives with Moreton Bay bugs, prawn bisque, nduja and chilli, while the Malloreddus alla Campidanese — traditional ridged Sardinian pasta with pork sausage, saffron and Pecorino Sardo — is the kind of regional find you rarely encounter outside a proper Italian city. Handmade pasta is produced fresh daily and it shows.
The clay oven turns out pizzas that are hard to pass up, from a simple Margherita with bufala and fior di latte to the La Porchettosa — smoked mozzarella, porchetta, oven-roasted potatoes, Caciocavallo and crackling. For mains, sous vide slow-cooking takes centre stage: a braised beef cheek in Chianti sauce, a lamb shoulder in Barolo, and the classic Ossobuco alla Milanese with saffron risotto, all speak to a kitchen with genuine classical training.
Save room for dessert. The tiramisu and the Gianduja torta, an Italian chocolate cake with hazelnut ganache and salted caramel gelato, are the kinds of finishers that prompt return visits. The wine list draws on both Australian and Italian drops and the signature cocktail list, from an Aperol Spritz to a Lemon Pie Martini, is tailored perfectly to long, unhurried evenings.
Diners consistently single out the food’s authenticity and the freshness of the handmade pasta, with many noting it’s the kind of place they return to every time they’re in Kingscliff.
Giulia Italian
1 Bells Blvd, Kingscliff NSW 2487
0478 930 729
Giuliaitalian.com.au
