Gold Coast dining: Highline Palm Beach serving up spray-free goodness

If you’re doing a new year detox, it might pay to make a beeline to this Gold Coast cafe, offering everything from coffee to healthy snacks.

Gluten-free buckwheat waffle with seasonal strawberries, plum, coconut and cocoa. Photo by Richard Gosling

The owner of Palm Beach’s newest cafe knows a thing or two about coffee and has taken the leap of opening his own cafe.

As an Aussie in London, Tim Casagrande managed a coffee house in the lead-up to the London Olympics.

When his visa was up, he and his wife, both from Lismore, relocated to Sydney where he worked for specialty coffee roasters Single O as their training guru.

Tomatoes, pickled nectarines, burrata and basil. Photo by Richard Gosling

They sent him to Queensland and he eventually jumped ship to Marvell Street Coffee Roasters at Byron Bay.

In and out of cafes as part of his job, Tim got the hankering to have a shot at opening his own but, as a sensible country bloke, he realised there was more he had to learn.

Highline Palm Beach owner Tim Casagrande at home on the coffee machine. Photo by Richard Gosling

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“I got a job in Good Day Coffee in Tugun,” he says. “I looked at a lot of cafes on the Gold Coast. Part of my previous role was to help start-up cafes by providing coffee support.”

He kept his eye out for 18 months for a suitable site for his own venture and decided the time was right when he stumbled on a space on the corner of the Gold Coast Highway and Palm Beach Avenue.

“I felt like I had a lot of things covered but the numbers and the figures, that’s entirely not me at all,” Tim says.

Enter Tim’s wife, Candice, described by Tim as a “creative woman” who also happens to be very handy indeed at accounting and bookkeeping.

Marvell Street’s Daily Grind blend being served at Highline Palm Beach. Photo by Richard Gosling

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“The philosophy for the cafe is ‘simple done well’,” Tim says. “I know a lot of places say that but I wanted it to be community based, using quality local produce and just be there for the community.

“And I wanted to be present in that as well.”

It made sense for the Byron hinterland farmer who was faithfully delivering boxes of amazing spray-free and organic produce to Tim and Candice’s door at Kirra each week to venture further up the highway to supply to the cafe as well.

“Farmer Foster from the back of Byron has been delivering his high quality produce to us for the last two years,” Tim says.

“So why wouldn’t we carry that through to the cafe as well?”

Highline Palm Beach’s brains’ trust, from left to right, Tim Casagrande, Candice Casagrande and chef Joshua Garrard. Photo by Richard Gosling

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The coffee will come from Tim’s old employer Marvell Street — its well-loved Daily Grind espresso blend will be the house brew with its hints of orange, malt and chocolate.

The kitchen will be the domain of chef Josh Garrard who has a fine foodie pedigree having worked at Nu Nu at Palm Cove and Gerard’s Bistro and Pearl Cafe in Brisbane.

The concise menu features some nourishing seasonal delights — buckwheat waffles with strawberries, plum, coconut sorbet and cocoa or, for the savoury-toothed, cauliflower fitters served with lentils, quinoa, cashew cream, gut-friendly ferments and wilted greens.

For something a little more left field, it’s hard to go past the Japanese pork curry and mozzarella jaffle.

Inside Highline Palm Beach, Palmy’s newest cafe, on the Gold Coast Highway, Palm Beach. Photo by Richard Gosling

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Highline’s space has a distinct retro vibe thanks to the touch of northern New South Wales architect Marguerite Pollard who, incidentally, Tim went to school with.

“I’ve done a bit of architectural photography so I like that side of things,” Tim says.

“When we found the space, it felt a bit like a 50s/60s garage so we’ve tried to make it a modern version of a retro beach house with curved benches and a laid-back feel.”

The result is not a bad perch for a coffee, some clean food and to watch street life go by in the heart of Palm Beach.

Highline Palm Beach, Shop 5, 1132 Gold Coast Hwy, Palm Beach, open 7 days, 6am- 2:30pm.