Andaz Gold Coast names two chefs before its Australian debut

Andaz Gold Coast has appointed Matthew Bentley as executive chef and Rafael Dias as chef de cuisine of its signature restaurant, Nove, ahead of Hyatt's first Andaz hotel in Australia.

The 202-room property on Casino Drive in Broadbeach is taking bookings for stays from 14 December, the clearest signal yet of when it opens. Bookings close on 22 December, which points to a mid-December debut rather than the "late 2026" the brand has used publicly.

Andaz Gold Coast builds its kitchen first

Fire as the main cooking method, not a garnish: that's the brief at Nove.

Bentley is a British-Australian chef who moved to Australia in 2018 after working Michelin-starred kitchens across Europe, among them The Old Vicarage in the UK, Vermeer and De Moerbei in the Netherlands, and Roka in London, plus two years focused on Nordic cuisine in Norway and time in Spain's Basque Country. He has held senior culinary roles in Australian luxury hotels since. At Andaz Gold Coast he oversees four venues: Nove, the all-day Vista Lounge, the cocktail bar Verde and the Andaz Pool Club.

Dias takes the pass at Nove, the hotel's main restaurant. Born in Brazil to a family with Italian, Spanish and Portuguese roots, he learned to cook over an open fire as a child and has spent more than a decade in Gold Coast kitchens, including The Star Gold Coast and the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Nove is pitched as Mediterranean hospitality through a modern Australian lens: local produce, shared plates and fire as the main cooking method rather than a finishing touch. That brief fits both appointments better than it reads as a press line: Bentley's European training, Dias's fire-first upbringing.

A slow brand debut gets a date

The hotel's design, by DBI Architects with interiors by Hachem, plays on a contrast between coast and hinterland, lighter tones by day and darker ones by night. General manager Saraid Carey said the team wants the hotel to feel "unmistakably of the Gold Coast" rather than an import from elsewhere in the Andaz portfolio.

Hyatt first announced an Andaz for the Gold Coast for a mid-2025 opening; it has slipped by well over a year. David Udell, the group's Asia-Pacific president, called the project a milestone for the brand's regional debut. The appointment follows a run of Asia-Pacific chef moves this month, including Nobu Singapore's new executive chef, and lands in the same week as Sydney's Opera Bar reopening under new operators. Two chefs are in place; the building now has three weeks to catch up.