The unassuming cafe sitting on prime real estate

Just 350m from the beach and in a prime dining precinct, this cafe with its huge backyard is a developers dream.

Anooska Tucker-Evans

2 min read

April 8, 2022 - 12:00AM

QWeekend

Eating every Red Rooster roll and burger on the menu

QWeekend

Don't miss out on the headlines from QWeekend. Followed categories will be added to My News.

Given the current price of real estate on the Gold Coast, the modest The Backyard Cafe at Nobby Beach may just be one of Queensland’s most expensive cafes.

The unassuming fibro shack sits just 350m from the surf in Nobby’s popular dining precinct, occupying a sizeable chunk of land with a courtyard at the rear and “the backyard” – a grassy patch next door lined with large picnic tables and benches.

While the space no doubt has developers chomping at the bit, for now it is diners who are lucky enough to enjoy this prized piece of real estate, which operates as a casual cafe by day and a bar and restaurant by night.

Of a morning, it’s the compact, greenery-lined indoor cafe space that has locals flocking, with breakfast options like avo on toast, scrambled tofu on gluten-free bread, and croquettes eggs benny; while after midday, the shaded courtyard and lawn really come into their own as a place to unwind with a beer and a burger.

The courtyard area at The Backyard Cafe.

The lunchtime offering is incredibly simple, in fact, almost reminiscent of cafes and pubs in the early 2000s, with the likes of chicken and beef skewers, deep-fried camembert and lemon pepper calamari.

There are also pizzas, which look like they have come straight off the kids menu at such pubs, with the sans basil margherita version ($15) featuring five slices of field tomato on a bready dough filled with more cheese than a book of dad jokes. While it might be enough to make Italians wince, my lunch date loves it, eliciting nostalgia of after-school treats.

Burgers are the real deal here, though, with five options including a standout beef brisket and bacon number on brioche dubbed the “Shredded Beast”, with some equally good chips to boot ($18).

A Stone & Wood or Twisted Palms beer on tap would no doubt be a solid match, but that would mean to miss out on one of the venue’s top-notch cocktails, with its coconut margarita, and pineapple and mandarin sour, both drinks you’ll be happy to sip well into the afternoon.

Who knows how long it will be until The Backyard Cafe is turned into a block of apartments or flashy new development, so if you’re in the neighbourhood, it might be worth stopping by for a burger and margarita (the drink not the pizza).