Dine on the Border

Dine on the Border

With cafés pushing culinary change at the moment, the question always is: where should we dine? We travel south to check out some cafés on the border. Which one is your favourite?

Rockleigh 112 Griffith Street, Coolangatta Ph: 07 5599 1745

A street away from gleaming white sand you’ll come across the white-washed wooden shopfront of the café – fresh and bright yet earthy, reminiscent of the farmhouse where its owner Ben Moffitt grew up.

While Rockleigh’s all-day menu isn’t home-grown, everything is bought from farmers on the Tweed Coast, organic grass-fed meat from a local butcher, with jam, chutneys, sauces and peanut butter, preserved lemons, fermented and pickled vegetables all made in house.

Food Smith Café & Pantry 14 Bay Street, Tweed Heads Ph: 0449 039 440

Warm hearts and busy hands. It’s the feeling we get when we enter Sarah and Glenn Smith’s café in Bay Street. We’re here for brekkie, but our eyes take in the sign above the counter laden with cakes and baked goods: ‘Love small batch taste – local, handmade, delicious’.

Timing. It’s everything! So, we score mushies but miss out on a slice of deliciousness from the maker of Tognini’s famous cakes; the same person whose rosella jam was served to HRH Prince Charles at GC2018! For another day…

Hymn Coffee 99 Kennedy Dr, Tweed Heads

Kaycee and Kelly Hapi opened Hymn at the start of 2018, a fresh new take on an espresso bar. For coffee aficionados, Hymn’s St Ali coffee is a ‘third wave’ take on a classic Italian espresso blend.

Though it’s only a short menu, there’s the scope to go as simple as you like or not, from Eggs on toast to the Asian-fusion Green Omelette or the Hawker Roll – roti wrapped around bacon and eggs dressed with Mum’s apple sauce and Asian sides. Home grown, grounded, quirky and Kiwi-inspired with just the right touch of difference, Hymn, like a beautiful song, draws us into the community.

NOTE: This article was published in The Sun community newspaper on 4 July 2018.