Review: The Gold Coast cafe serving cocktails for breakfast

Fancy swapping your morning coffee for an espresso martini, this Gold Coast cafe has you covered with breakfast cocktails.

WHY have a coffee to kickstart your day when that coffee can be spiked with vodka and liqueur in the form of an espresso martini?

Or how about swapping your lemon and ginger tea for Shaky Pete’s Ginger Brew, loaded with gin and ginger syrup. Even better is that 50c from each of the brews goes to charity Act For Kids, which helps reduce child abuse and neglect. Now if that’s not reason enough for a boozy brunch, I don’t know what is.

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I’m at Cross + Feather at Paradise Point on the Gold Coast, which opened late last year, with owners Clark Lynn and Peter Jeary choosing to stand out from the competition by getting patrons liquored up early.

The dark, moody dining space at Cross + Feather, Paradise Point. Picture: Mark Cranitch

While many other coastal cafes have gone down the virtuous, “my body is my temple” route of green juices and spirulina-laced smoothies that taste like choking down a bit of old paddock or making out with a mermaid, here it’s all about day drinking.

Options run from mimosas and twists on the classic negroni to bloody Marys and a signature Long Island iced tea.

There’s also a separate dessert cocktail offering with the likes of a rhubarb crumble martini, Cherry Ripe Old Fashioned and The Sara Lee – built around the iconic frozen strawberry cheesecake with vanilla ice cream, digestive biscuits and strawberries, but disappointingly tasting mostly of citrus vodka and not much else.

Cross + Feather in Paradise Point serves a range of cocktails from breakfast and throughout the day. Picture: Instagram

A compact, but well-rounded wine list is also available plus a trio of beers – two local and a Czech pilsner.

Breakfast is a collection of modern must-haves, served all day stretching from granola with passionfruit panna cotta to chia pudding and corn fritters; while a roundup of Aussie favourites occupies the lunch menu, including a steak sandwich, burger and salt and pepper calamari.

The savoury mince on sourdough toast at Cross + Feather. Picture: Mark Cranitch

Savoury Mince ($15.50) arrives on toasted sourdough and is just like your mother would make, the ground beef rich with the flavours of tomato and thyme and textured with quadrants of carrot, while a crowning fried egg erupts yolky sauce over the dish when pierced with a knife.

Mexican morning favourite huevos rancheros ($17.50) offers a vegetarian, dairy-free and gluten-free breakfast option with a trio of corn tortillas topped with two fried eggs, a dispersion of black beans, and blobs of mashed avo and incendiary chipotle sauce. It’s a tasty but fiery dish that needs a serious sip of dairy to extinguish.

The Mexican inspired huevos rancheros. Picture: Mark Cranitch

Coffee is from Industry Beans, but is made a little thin and watery, while service is rather aloof and mechanical.

Cross + Feather has a terrific concept and with a few little tweaks in service and execution, is sure to find itself a loyal following of those keen to start the party early.

CROSS + FEATHER

2/2 Grice Ave, Paradise Point

PH: 07 5529 5021

facebook.com/crossandfeather/

Open Sun-Thur 5.30am-3pm, Fri-Sat 5.30am-10pm

VERDICT

Food 7.5

Service 6.5

Ambience 7

Value 9

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