MORNING PEOPLE

Get your day off to a sweet start with Nutella pancakes and breakfast cocktails, writes Sally Coates

THIS new Nobby Beach cafe is planning on making mornings brighter.

Forreal Kitchen, from well-known Coast cafe identities Shonel Alloway and Kylie Simpson, is in the process of applying for an 8am liquor license so it can serve breakfast cocktails and paired breakfast wines.

The sisters say it’s already a trend in Melbourne and Sydney.

“Our wine rep thought we were a bit crazy but we developed a matching breakfast wine list.” Shonel says.

“We’re not going to pull out a pinot grigio for stock standard bacon and eggs — it’s more for our designer breakfasts like the Spanish baked eggs and Nutella pancakes.

“Our breakfast cocktails include a green smoothie with a tequila shot, the traditional Bloody Mary with streaky bacon and chilli lemon and we’ve got the Fluffy Tootsie — a lavender shaken vodka-based cocktail, poured over raspberry sorbet.”

Shonel and Kylie have taken over the spot previously occupied by Barchino — a restaurant they established 14 years ago before moving on to Bellakai Coolangatta, which they’ve run for the past decade.

Ready for a change, they were finally able to realise a concept they’d been cooking for a while.

“We’ve had this idea of Forreal for a couple of years now,” Shonel says.

“We’re pretty big on how life should be balanced, so obviously there’s the healthy way to live, but the key is to make things sustainable.

“You’ve got to have a few naughty things in there as well. It’s all about balance.”

Variety is key, whether it comes to healthy v. naughty options or contemporary v. classics.

“We’ve pretty much designed the menu in two aspects — the bar and the kitchen,” Shonel says.

“The bar for breakfast is where we’ve got nine different smoothie bowls, ranging from general acai to the gracefully green bowl and activated charcoal. We do all our own cold-pressed juices and cold-drip coffee.

“There are a lot of venues opening that are turning off the older market, so while we’ve got out-there options, we have simple options as well.”

The menu bounces from healthy habits to sneaky treats.

“There’s the Hot Green Probiotic Mess, which is a green salad with poached eggs, broccoli and kale, but then we’ve also got Nutella banana pancakes,” Shonel says.

“Then on the lunch menu we’ve got the Forreal Boy, our take on a po’boy.

“It’s a crusty, buttery, fresh French roll and it comes with homemade apple ’slaw and you get to choose crispy prawns, sticky pork belly, karaage chicken or battered oysters and the fresh ‘slaw cuts through the deep-fried goodness.

“When we travelled through the States it was just something we loved eating.

“In New Orleans that’s what they’re known for, they’re everywhere. But then we’ve got a quinoa sweet potato and pomegranate salad or Asian greens with miso caramel for balance.”

Forreal Kitchen, 28 Chairlift Avenue, Nobby Beach