CURRUMBIN COFFEE KICK

Black sheep are supposed to be the outcasts, but this one has everyone flocking to a new location

BLACK Sheep Espresso Baa has added a Currumbin cafe to its existing Coolangatta and Southport locations — by accident.

“We just wanted a little hole in the wall spot like Cooly to do mainly coffees and then the landlord offered a bigger spot and it turned into a full cafe,” owner Dinesh Nair laughs.

“Cooly gets slaughtered with breakfast every morning so this will be like a support store.

“At the moment we’ve got about 20 seats, but I think we’ll keep growing to about 35. It has potential to do great things.”

Its southern sister store has a distinctly different demographic, says Dinesh, but that just means they’ve got room to play around and develop their menu — or “menewe” — even more.

“Compared to Cooly we’ve got a bigger kitchen, which allows us to be more creative with the lunch menu,” he says.

“Down there it’s more graband-go breakfast food and coffee, whereas Currumbin has a different demographic.

“We do more lunch here, the industrial area workers coming in and spending a bit of time getting away from work.

“We’re working for the menu to be the destination, people will be adding us to their places they’ve got to eat.”

For breakfast, grab avo on toast or an acai bowl, or settle in for a crab omelet.

With an almost 50/50 split between salads and burgers, Currumbin’s lunch menu is all about balance.

The Goosebumps Salad comes with the description, “Like our herd barista Goosebumps, this salad is vegan: roasted pumpkin and asparagus mixed with tomatoes, crispy onion and fetta served with lemon and dukkah.” Or this honest admission: “Poke bowl — latest craze around the Coast cafes, so might as well give it a go — marinated salmon with soy and sesame, brown rice, broad beans, crispy onion, avocado, pickled ginger and sriracha sauce.”

The burgers are classics, including an American cheeseburger; chicken and avocado; and Moroccan lamb.

Dinesh says he and his staff pride themselves on being able to offer service that puts a spring in people’s step.

“The way we interact really sets us apart, the jibber jabber and the banter,” he says.