best > STABLE COFFEE KITCHEN.
C O M M U NE
Tucked away within the Cornerstone Stores in Tugun, this café is in good company with a fromagerie, pilates studio and organic-leaning boutiques. Drop in for petit dejeuner (small breakfast of fresh juice, coffee and croissant with preserves) or wrap your lips around Stable’s iteration of the brekkie roll, with lashings of coffee and fig jam. Come 10am, you can brunch with a limoncello spritz in hand. stablecoffeekitchen.com
> COMMUNE. You could say Commune sparked the swell of change in the GC’s café scene when it opened in an old butcher’s shop on a nondescript side street eight years ago. The all-day brekkie menu champions bowls (acai, dragonfruit, salad-y), alongside coriander corn fritters and cacao pancakes. Start with an expertly made Campos coffee and kick into true Gold Coast gear with Bucha of Byron kombucha (on tap) topped with berries and mint. (07) 5520 3377
ELK ESPRES S O
for brekkie
> DUST TEMPLE. The café in this former surfboard factory in Currumbin Waters is just the mouth of the rabbit hole. Go past the eatery and spin into an art gallery, mingle with musos in the recording studio and return for jazz sessions, poetry readings and life-drawing classes by night. Order homemade banana coconut bread or a Dusty Croissant stuffed with local smoked ham, tomato, cheese, basil and relish. dusttemple.com.au
> THE PADDOCK BAKERY. The wood-fired oven is at the literal and metaphorical heart of this 70-year-old Queenslander-cum-café in the backstreets of Miami. If you make it past the decadent counter treats (hello, ham and cheese cruffins and twice-baked almond croissants), go old school with ‘Toad in the Hole’ and devour two fried eggs in a slice of semi-sourdough scotch loaf with bacon, smashed avo and chilli sambal, all while sitting under the olive trees and passionfruit vines. paddockbakery.com
> ELK ESPRESSO. Pioneers of the breakfast panna cotta, longtime local fave Elk moved from its original digs to the Oasis Shopping Centre in Broadbeach in 2017. As well as Mandarin Splice French toast and a Moroccan waffle, you’ll find a hearty potato hash with double smoked Byron Bay bacon on the menu to munch among the hanging plants and native blooms while The Beatles and Fleetwood Mac play on high rotation. elkespresso.net
CHILDHOOD FL ASHBACKS Head to Randy Wallhole in Southport for PG-rated breakfast treats such as Coco Pops iced lattes and weekly specials such as Oreo cream cheese bagels. fb.me/randywallhole