"He was a wise man who invented coffee" Plato

                                                             Attention all foodies!

My hot chocolate

The art of coffee

Local little hot spot, tucked away from the tourist areas behind Twin Towns, for your coffee/hot chocolate fix and breakfast/ lunch options. Announcing Bambi Deluxe: brought to you by my friend "Bolster."

She suggested a breakfast at this cosy, relaxed back street cafe to catch up while we were both on our holidays. I don't drink coffee but she highly recommends it, and everyone else seems to as well. Instead I had an enormous glass size cup of hot chocolate. It was extremely good. Do they do take aways? You bet! A constant stream of locals kept heading in to get their craving fix     before work, and I might just have to join them in the future.

Everything is home made, as we watched them making our scrumptious breakfast. We had this sourdough bread layered with avocado and tomato salsa, with a side of scrambled eggs and salad to be healthy, while sitting on recycled timber benches just inside. It was hard to decide on this dish as there were a number of omelettes and scrambled egg variations with bacon and cheese and all sorts of delicious sounding produce that were proving to sway me over. The home-baked goodies on the bench? Let's just say I was lucky to walk out of there empty handed, and maybe because I was so full from breakfast. 

The staff are friendly and seem to know the regulars by name and seem to enjoy having a genuine conversation, questions and all.




So make the stop if you're a coffee snob.
But Shhhhh it's a secret.


Your GC food authority............................................

Oh I am hunger's fool- Romeo and Juliet

MEMO

Attention:  all Gold Coastarians!
Subject: New eating haunt coming right at you- "The Office" in Palm Beach.



1) It's a quirky themed night time modern Italian cuisine restaurant with tapas, pizzas and pastas.

2) Go up the hidden stairs on top of the BWS on the Gold Coast Highway, convienent as it is BYO. You also can sit at a bar that faces the highway and looks out on the night, amongst the array of vintage lamps and candles.

3) You'll want to explore every nook and cranny as it is set out like an "old school office" with black board walls, bookshelves lined with folders and books, communal desks to eat on, lockers, filing cabinets and great photos and signs adorning the walls. Each room is set up differently and attention is paid to detail so your experience will change each time, depending if you're sitting at the bar, or on the lounges, in the library or in the office room.

4) Ask questions to the super friendly waiters dressed in black and white corporate outfits, adorned with the ultimate accessory of glasses- inspired my work wardrobe look!

5) Order the tapas that come in little lunch boxes- huge selection and tasty. Reasonably priced with a selection of fresh antipasti ingredients.

6) Do share with someone a pizza and a pasta as it is hard to decide which to choose. The CEO pizza was a meat lovers heaven with salami and a gorgeous home made base that is the right thickness. The Steve Jobs carbonara was the best I've had outside of Italy- no cream used but instead the authentic use of oil, egg and parmesan cheese, just like the Italians do. All other dishes are inspired by "business names" to carry on the theme. Think the likes of Trump or Treasurer.

7) Save room for dessert- the chocolate lava cake is a popular option and is a gooey choc pudding. I'm looking forward to tasting the cannoli next time I go! See the scissors on the plate?

8) Do reserve as it is getting to be a little hot spot. Plus the reservation card is cute, but I won't spoil it for you.

9) If you haven't heard of it, don't be alarmed as it is relatively NEW! It's owned by Little Saint Kilda and is their night time rendezvous. See my other blog on this spot for lunch.

10) Do eat there and let me know what you think. This little girl will definitely be going back for more.

GC food authority keeping it real!
End of subject matter

A midsummer's night burger

Lounge Burger- patty, beetroot relish, tomato,
red onion, pickled cucumber, relish, aoili

Seems to me all I've eaten lately are burgers and fries! So of course this makes me a veritable food critic. If you're looking for an easy burger option, and you don't want to make them yourself, then you can't go past Burger Lounge in Kirra. It's a unique burger bar with tasty gourmet options that beat the standard fast food burger hands down.

Beef and bacon burger

If you LOVE FERG burger in Queenstown then this is as close as you're going to get..... in this country anyways!


Burger Lounge is a small local little nook with booths and stools to lay back in, right near Kirra beach. It's a quirky little spot- just check out the wall paintings- licensed with wines, cocktails and boutique beers. You can even BYO wine. They even have organic soft drinks! Feel free to sit and thumb through the paper or the magazines splattered around, or just people watch on this busy little corner. The gourmet burgers (and the range is huge) vary from tempting options of chicken, to pork, to lamb to veg, to beef, and luckily for those with small appetites you can get the mini- version as the others are quite large. Not sure how to wrap my mouth around them, but great for the guys. Be prepared to make a mess and have sauces and meat juice running down your hands. Wouldn't have it any other way! Particular favourites are Kirra the pig or Le Grand Fromage with all different cheeses such as blue vein.    You can't go past Crackle and Pop with clumps of coleslaw and caramelised apples, which comes with crackling on the side.  My husbands loves the Nirvana as it has everything on it - bacon, pineapple, egg, cheese, cucumber, relishes, roast garlic, spanish onion etc ....you get the drift!


And for those feeling healthy, there is the option to have it in a lettuce cup- San choy boi style.
A MUST is the onion rings with aioli- bypass the chips but do get these. They are so crunchy and the relish that goes with them is 'delish.'  Everything is hand made here so you know you're getting quality produce, all served with love and pride.

Prices are a little more than average but you get it all back on that plate.

Come hungry!

GC food authority with the burger bard

"Soft burger, warm burger
little ball of meat
round burger, grilling burger
eat, eat, eat!"

ABC burger with chicken, bacon, avocado cream, tomato, red onion, aioli, lettuce

I'll give this ark a miss

Redbull consumption = 0  Food blog= 1   Weight= the same  Marking= 0  Exercise= none :(

This girl can eat. This girl loves to eat. So the food journey once again led us to the doorstep of Nobby's Arc beach bar cafe, which just popped up two weeks ago at Nobby's beach.

 It's name is exactly what you will receive. Think  pizzas (we had the pork belly), chicken souvlaki skewers, meatballs with yoghurt dressing, pork belly and haloumi- it's DUDE food! You're not going to get fancy schmancy meals here, just unpretentious home cooking. No surprise that there were so many groups of men sharing a meal together and a few drinks (great spot if you're single). Coming in two by two perhaps?
The wide variety of beers may have had something to do with this as the range is quite broad (Coopers range, Burleigh local beers, Boutiques such as Stone n Wood), as well as their wines, as they even having matching Pizza wines.
It was a food mecca for those wanting simple flavoured, easy comfort food with some acoustic music playing in the background, without the hefty price tag. A funky casual spot that would be good for a Sunday session to relax with friends and share some food and beverages!

Staff were extremely friendly and prompt. No shortage of waitresses around or smiles. We were surrounded by candles, though the lighting was so low it was hard to read the menu at times and I'm not sure I like sitting my curves on a small metallic stool. It's a "pubby" feel so it is quite loud at times with people at the bar and large groups seated. Yet, it's close to home and flexible with its options, though I still feel it's trying to grasp its identity and figure out where it is heading. It's a little mis matched for me. Yet it seems to be quite popular already with the boys, the young and the baby boomers.

Sitting in the dark at the back of the restaurant!

Not my cup of tea! This girl likes lots of flavour and pretty dishes in a nice romantic surrounding. I mean if I'm going to go out I don't want to eat what I can make at home!

Go check it out and let me know what you think!

GC food authority signing out!

Black Coffee Lyrics

Another GC foodie review coming at you....


There's this little spot I like in Surfers, tucked away down a little arcade, a flight of steps and hugging a corner you have Black Coffee Lyrics. It has an old red door and little windows with Victorian chaises inside and out, vintage decor and ecclectic paintings and posters and customers alike. Very quaint with card games while you are waiting and a licensed bar, with nooks and cranny's you can sit amongst. It's small and cosy and a local hot spot. I love the ambience! Apparently they do a pretty mean breakfast, though I've never had it and they have some great Vegetarian/Vegan  options. My husband swears by their coffee.


The last time we went we had this "pork belly" special pizza and shared some nachos. Savoured every mouthful and it was ridiculously great for a spot of lunch, washed down with some wine. Fairly decently priced in this economic crisis too! We went this weekend and the menu had changed (seasonal) and this time I was a little disappointed with the options on offer. There were some nice looking salads with duck, goat's cheese, figs and other yum yums...but after a night with friends I felt like something a little more wholesome. We had the panini's with rosemary fries- ordered two different ones and shared (best of both worlds). They were nice and had flavour but I couldn't help but feel disappointed that we had driven all that way to have something I could have made at home. I wanted something that excited me a little, something I didn't have all the time. Doh- just when I thought I had found a little niche cafe.....I hope they bring it back to what it was!


I still recommend you give it a go- even just to sit with the girls on a "Sex in the City" expedition or to read the paper and  have a winter warmer. I just hope that when the menu changes they 'spruce' it up a little and bring back some of those great weekend lunch ideas that they had. I'll be sure to re-post my experience the next time I go.
Leave feedback about what you think if you've been!