Tarte Bakery & Cafe: so popular you’ll have to queue
Serving everything from cookie cups to rhubarb custard tarts, this beautiful new European-style bakery and eatery has diners fighting for a seat.
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“Oh my god, they have cookie cups,” says my brunch date with childlike excitement, ogling the choc-chip biscuits baked into a shotglass shape ready to be filled with warm, vanilla-bean milk.
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We’re at the new Tarte Bakery & Cafe at Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast, where gimmicks are not the only thing luring in lines of hungry diners.
The stunning Parisian-inspired venture with nods to London and New York is the work of former Paddock Bakery owner Chloe Watts. Taking over the space formerly home to Italian restaurant Vecchia Roma, the corner spot has been completely transformed with white subway
tiles on the walls, gorgeous timber detailing, embossed bentwood chairs and stools, marble tabletops and bars, bi-fold windows looking over a paved outdoor dining area, and a brass-trimmed shelf holding the bakery’s array of crusty loaves.
Like at Paddock, bread and baked goods are made fresh onsite daily, and a window into the kitchen allows passers-by to watch the chefs in action.
The multicultural all-day breakfast menu runs from filled bagels and babka French toast to burgers.
Tartines – open sandwiches – are a signature, with four varieties available, including the moreish roasted grape ($14.90). Featuring toasted sourdough, spread with lashings of silken, whipped buffalo ricotta before a crowning of halved red grapes, sprinkling of lemon thyme and drizzle of dark honey, it’s a sweet-savoury sensation.
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For something completely different there’s the breakfast burrito ($17.90), a cheese-crusted tortilla filled with fried egg, bacon, guacamole, diced fried potato, onion and jalapeños ready for dipping into a Tabasco-like hot sauce. Or why not try the popular Turkish eggs, featuring two runny-yolked eggs floating in melted spiced butter on a bed of whipped Greek yoghurt, ready to be scooped up with a side of sourdough?
Coffee is from Single O and boasts a pleasant bitterness to pair with one of the bakery’s sweet treats, such as the uberbuttery croissant-like kouign-amann. Just be sure to get in early; they sell out fast.
With the place only new and a bombardment of customers, service is still finding its feet. But all the staff are friendly and obliging, and it’s sure to become more organised with time.
While Instagram-appealing cookie cups will bring diners in, it’s the quality offering that will ensure they return.
TARTE BAKERY AND CAFE
Shop 2-3 West Street, Burleigh Heads
tarte.com.au
Open 6.30am-3pm daily
VERDICT – Scores out of 10
Food 8
Service 6.5
Ambience 8
Value 8
If you like this, try …
Bam Bam Bakehouse
2519 Gold Coast Hwy, Mermaid Beach
0488 085 802
