Top 10 best breakfasts on the Gold Coast 2017
ACAI bowls, eggs benedict, french toast, bircher museli — there’s so many hip variations as the Gold Coast becomes a brekky epicentre. But where is best? We crown your 2017 winner.
Best of Gold Coast
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IT’S the question everyone wants to know ... where can you get the best breakfast on the Gold Coast?
We’ve crowned our 2017 winner, as voted by you!
Providore Marina Mirage has won for the past two years, will they reign supreme again?
FLASHBACK: TOP 10 BEST BREAKFASTS 2016
Scroll down to see who takes the win!
10. DAARK ESPRESSO
LOCATION: 24/1 Musgrave Avenue, Chirn Park
Daark Espresso will brighten your day with their famous brew, plus a lipsmacking breakfast menu that has recently undergone a makeover. To get you drooling, picture crème brulee French toast, and leg ham and parmesan croquettes with a maple-roasted pumpkin puree.
9. 52 ESPRESSO
LOCATION: 3/2221 Gold Coast Highway, Nobby Beach
Considering owner Camille Gallagher refers to her cafe as “the local’s local,” it’s no wonder they’ve been shown some love in our Best Breakfast poll. Named after the popular No. 52 bus stop out the front, the cafe serves up dishes such as Mexican breakfast burrito, potato and kale rosti and coconut pancakes.
8. ELK ESPRESSO
LOCATION: 16 Chelsea Avenue, Broadbeach
This Broadbeach cafe’s reputation precedes it, with out-of-towners — including movie star Orlando Bloom — regularly making a beeline for the world-class brew and picturesque breakfasts.
One particular skill Elk possesses is the ability to make any dish suitable for breakfast: Breakfast salad, breakfast gnocchi, breakfast pannacotta and even breakfast black pudding, this creative menu proves that breakfast really is the most important — and versatile — meal of the day.
7. THE 3 LITTLE PIGS CAFE
LOCATION: 19 Peachy Road, Ormeau
Taking over their cosy spot in October last year, The 3 Little Pigs Cafe has built a strong local following with a good old-fashioned attitude towards food and service. It’s food without the bells and whistles — all the bacon and eggs combinations, breakfasts of all sizes, pancakes, ham and cheese croissants and toasties, savoury mince and much more. No matter what, you always know what you’re going to get.
6. 42FIFTEEN
LOCATION: 9 Davenport Street, Southport
Just ask the locals — Peter Batley and Julie Rogers are the heart and soul of Southport. Owners and chefs at 42 Fifteen, you’ll see these friendly, familiar faces serving up some seriously good nosh that you mightn’t find elsewhere, including pork and kimchi omelet and gingerbread pancakes.
5. DOUBLE BARRELL KITCHEN
LOCATION: Waterways Village, 4/64 Karbunya Street, Mermaid Waters
This menu has recently undergone a seasonal shake-up, with owner Jessica Winters saying there are a few newbies along with the classic favourites. “We mixed it up with what’s seasonal in autumn and doing things a little differently,” she says. “There’s the warm butternut pumpkin smash with goat’s milk feta, served on pumpkin-seed sourdough. “We’re also doing a smoked trout mille-feuille — mille-feuille is traditionally a sweet dish, but we decided to do it with hot smoked trout, asparagus and tomatoes in between puff pastry.”
4. PADDOCK BAKERY
LOCATION: 20 Hibiscus Haven, Miami
At Paddock Bakery, it’s all about the pastry and that’s quite all right with us. With fresh batches of croissants rolling out of the glass-walled bakery all day, it’s easy to justify a diet consisting purely of pastry, butter and jam. If you prefer to throwback to simpler times, Paddock have two words for you: dippy eggs. Toasty soldiers with perfectly gooey googs served in an egg container with bacon bits, parsley and organic labne will make your day. There’s so much more on the menu, so take the time to sit in the pretty front yard and feast.
3. LE VINTAGE BOUTIQUE CAFE
LOCATION: 1 Kurilpa St, Worongary
They already topped The Gold Coast Bulletin’s Best Coffee list in 2017, now they’re up the pointy end for breakfast, too. On top of consistently delicious Merlo coffee, this cute cafe also has a menu full of breakfast classics — eggs benedict, omelets, fritters, bacon and eggs — combined with a few more recent additions — the new-age breakfast staple acai bowl, chunky avo and Persian feta smash and Bircher muesli.
**Public service announcement: the crew have moved from their famous Highland Park shop to a new Worongary location with a beautiful outdoor garden. They are still pet friendly.**
2. CARDAMOM POD
LOCATION: Ferry Road Markets, Southport
These guys hardly need an introduction, with the plant-based eatery’s explosion of colour and energy practically visible from outer space (not scientifically true). There really is nowhere else like Cardamom Pod Southport, whose breakfasts are more Instagrammed than Kim Kardashian’s voluptuous rear (also not fact checked).
And in this case, the food tastes just as good as it looks, if not better.
Go vegan waffle crazy with the sweet kind, topped with house-made ice cream and garnished with fresh fruit, or the savoury corn waffle with saffron vegan cream sauce and sweet potato shards. The smoothie bowls are works of art, ranging from superfood to acai to peanut butter and the bowls just get better with the veggie packed Buddha bowls.
If you can believe it, everything is plant-based and cruelty free but you’d never know the difference.
1. PROVIDORE MARINA MIRAGE
LOCATION: Shop 34, Marina Mirage Shopping Centre, Main Beach
For the third year in a row, Providore Marina Mirage has taken out the No. 1 spot in the Best Breakfast competition.
The breakfast menu is chef Luke Turner’s baby, who has crafted and nurtured each item from scratch.
However, since he’s gallivanting around Vietnam for a few weeks, his cohort Graeme Lewis explains the latest instalment.
“We kept our traditional items but we’ve played around with a few other items and made them a bit more exciting,” he says.
“Like our Bircher muesli, which we’re very well known for. It’s not your typical boring bircher ... we’ve got fresh fruit, berry compote, coconut and that’s made it into something really beautiful.
“There’s also our acai pannacotta with honey cinnamon yoghurt, granola, shaved coconut, orange puree and baby leaves — it’s acai, which everybody loves, but done a bit differently.
“And we like to keep our vegetarian customers happy with things like our balsamic field mushrooms with goat’s cheese, boiled eggs and roasted tomato.”
The Providore brand is also synonymous with scrumptious baked goods, supplying sweet and savoury treats to cafes all over the Gold Coast.
That means the flagship Marina Mirage store is always packed to the brim with some of the tastiest, freshest pastries money can buy — and if you want to eat a pie for breakfast, nobody’s judging.
“We’ve got our own bakery across the walkway so all of our breads come fresh from the bakery every day,” Graeme says.
“We’ve got pies and sausage rolls, breads, chocolate almond croissants, standard croissants, cronuts, doughnuts, Nutella brioche — pretty much everything you could ever want from a bakery all made in-house.
“The Providore brand is a very self-reliant business.”
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