WHETHER you’re an early riser or stumble out of the wrong side of bed late and grumbling, here are the Gold Coast’s favourites places for a morning meal as voted by our readers.
AS VOTED BY YOU THE WINNERS ARE:
10 LITTLE MERMAID
MERMAID BEACH
1/2557 Gold Coast Highway Mermaid Beach
pH: 5679 8355
Designed by Studio Workshop and decorated by Village Stores, this was recently relaunched from the bones of beloved K Bar & Meze — and is already a favourite GC Highway haunt. The morning menu is concisely edited and priced.
9 PADDOCK BAKERY
MIAMI
Hibiscus Haven, Miami
pH: 0419 652 221
www.paddockbakery.com
The place to go for woodfired sourdough bread baked daily on site, coffee and fresh, simple breakfasts and lunches. Try the bacon and egg rolls or the legendary Dippy Eggs.
8 DUNE CAFE
PALM BEACH
945 Gold Coast Hwy, Palm Beach
pH: 5521 0951
dunecafe.com.au
Freshness worth framing in one of the Gold Coast’s best breakfast settings. Sample the organic spelt and blueberry pancakes, topped with a natural rainbow of summer fruit and raw Canadian maple, for a meal that suits the colourful Coast setting.
7 DAARK ESPRESSO
CHIRN PARK
2/41 Musgrave Ave, Labrador
pH: 5667 9339
Daark Espresso’s smooth but strong concoctions should pass muster with the serious caffeine lovers, along with the well-rounded breakfast menu.
6 ELK ESPRESSO
BROADBEACH
16 Chelsea Ave, Broadbeach
pH: 5592 2888
facebook.com/Elk-espresso
Part of the vanguard of uber-cool hipster havens, this eatery is literally an evergreen. Dig into a breakfast salad or bite into some burger goodness loaded with jalapeños, smoked bacon, avo feta mash and gruyere cheese on a brioche roll.
5 COUNTER EATERY
MERRIMAC
Gooding Dr & Ghilgai Rd, Merrimac
pH: 5525 3340
countereatery.com.au
This newly opened cafe and patisserie is a welcome return for former Voila owner Olivier Kraft and his French family. The all-day breakfast is a mouthful at any mealtime.
4 MADAM TOJO’S COFFEE PALACE
LABRADOR
23 Musgrave Avenue, Chirn Park
pH: 5532 2874
facebook.com/madamtojo
If you like your breakfast with a serve of OTT, this is the place for you. With a menu to match the vintage, bohemian decor, sample the delights of breakfast probiotic cocktails or honeyed ricotta pancakes and more.
3 CADENCE CAFE
NERANG
75 Nerang Connection Rd, Nerang
pH: 5636 9295
cadencecafe.com.au
Capturing the sense of community — and caffeine appreciation — intrinsic to the cycling culture. Owners Kylie and Mark Skroblin set out to create a social hub adjoining their Just Ride bike shop.
2 LE VINTAGE BOUTIQUE
HIGHLAND PARK
2 Goodman Cl, Highland Park
pH: 5596 6118
levintageboutiquecafe.com.au
This quirky cafe-boutique hybrid offers great coffee, mouth-watering breakfast and lunch as well as an inviting atmosphere. Locals love to browse the boho goodies for sale while waiting for their takeaway toastie, or clustering for coffee on comfy lounges. And you can now take advantage of the cafe’s new Worongary location with drive-through coffee.
1: PROVIDORE
MARINA MIRAGE
37 SeaWorld Dr, Main Beach
pH: 5532 9390
providoremirage.com.au
Forget about saving the best for last, Providore Marina Mirage believes in putting breakfast first.
This may well be the reason why the Main Beach eatery has taken out the Gold Coast Bulletin’s best breakfast top spot for two years in a row.
Chef Luke Turner says it takes much more than basic bacon and eggs to delight diners.
“Breakfast is actually our biggest service of the day — it takes a lot of attention,” Luke said.
“It goes for five hours from 7am, compared to three hours each for lunch and dinner, so you want to make sure you’re looking after that menu.
“You’re also not getting the same tastes at 7.30am as you are at 10.30am, so you need to have dishes to suit all palates.”
Luke seems to have come up with the right recipe for a winning breakfast, no matter the time, with Providore regularly serving up to 600 early-bird diners each day of the weekends.
After five years at the top, Luke says the key is quality and consistency.
“No matter what you order, we want the guarantee to be that it is perfect. That the quality is something you can depend on,” he said.
“Obviously that comes down to using the best ingredients but also concentrating on training and service.
“At the same time, we like to change things up as much as possible. The quality is consistent but the menu changes regularly.”
Luke said popular early dining dishes included truffled polenta, ocean trout gravlax and pancakes. But even simpler options were treated to a fancy tough-up.
Providore porridge, for example, comes complete with churned cream, chocolate and cherry marmalade, meringue, milk jelly and fresh honeycomb.
“People come to us for new and interesting things, not the same old, same old,” he said.
“But even when we do traditional dishes, we make sure to make them special.”
Luke said he was already working on some exciting new additions to his morning menu.
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