BREAKFAST EMBRACES FINE-DINING REVOLUTION
ADVENTUROUS appetites are fuelling the Gold Coast’s booming breakfast culture.
Elk Espresso’s Andrew Whiting said cafes were employing fine-dining techniques to stand out in the competitive category.
“Breakfast is the new dinner on the Gold Coast and it’s been interesting watching its evolution,” he said. “It’s kind of like you have to shelve all your preconceived ideas.
“My head chef Jeremy McBain has come from one of the top fine-dining restaurants in Sydney, so he’s injecting that background of technique and tradition into the everyday.”
While Elk was a pioneer in a movement that saw us munching on pre-lunch pannacotta, gnocchi, and pork belly benedict with chipotle hollandaise, you won’t find any of those dishes on their latest menu. Now it’s the likes of savoury waffles with buttermilk fried chicken, jalepeno mayo and blackberry butter, or French toast dripping with charcoal white chocolate ice cream.
“What once was new is now old,” Mr Whiting said.
“We’ve jumped on the macadamia meltdown wagon and are doing a macadamia porridge with sour-cherry labneh.
“Activated charcoal is another one. We’ve made it into a white chocolate ice cream, so it’s black but it tastes just like white chocolate.”