First Avenue

Located in Robina Town Centre, the perfect place to recharge in between shopping.
Nestled between the shops upstairs, you can sit facing the mall or on the balcony overlooking the promenade area.

Decor is sleek, chic, sophisticated. Service is impeccable too, almost feels like a five star restaurant.

Good coffee and various desserts on display, but something about this place just screams "drink your coffee quick and get out". Maybe there's just too much going on in the shopping centre and seeing it all makes you uneasy. No, I can't even call it  uneasiness...the best word to describe the ambience here is "lifeless". This may be desirable for some but as I have a penchant for lively coffee haunts this place always puts me in a sedate mood.

Such a shame as I do like their coffee, but not somewhere you want to come back to.
There's just no attraction here...and you can't force chemistry (apparently). what a pity.

Kamikaze Teppenyaki

Kamikaze Teppenyaki @ The Promenade, Robina Town Centre
Ambience
A little dark when you are inside and their attempt at traditional Japanese seating is a bit of a fail as there are shoe marks everywhere on the raised seating area including the cushions you sit on. I turned the cushion over but no luck, even more foot prints on that side :0

Still it is a relatively nice venue and the contrast of their pink lightning against the black is super cute. They also have a feature wall with an anime face painted on...eye catching.
Outdoors is much the same as the other restaurants lining the Promenade area at Robina.
I'd try to get a seat around the teppen for the show but it can also be noisy and smoky for obvious reasons. Unless you are into that kind of stuff...sometimes I am.

Food
I've only ever had lunch here and with lunch specials priced around $10, why wouldn't you?
Hot and spicy chicken is my favourite and it comes with rice, salad and miso soup.
It's tasty but be prepared for the lingering taste of onion and soy sauce in your mouth all day. Also have noticed serving size is a bit inconsistent but still not bad for lunch set menu.

Sirloin steak.

Spicy chicken.

Prawn teppenyaki.

Fried Rice.

 

Book + coffee= Dynamic Duo

A great book and a coffee is the perfect treat for chilly winter day blues.

A mug full of steaming coffee...fragrant aroma of an Americano reaching your nostrils, a book resting on your lap. There's only a few things better in life.

Favourite book to read, re-read and re-read again?...simple.
The little prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. To say I love it would be an understatement. The more I read it, the more meaning and depth I find in this simple children's story about an alien prince finding his way back home while learning about life on Earth and silly little rules of humanity. One downside is that this book always makes me cry..since I was like six years old I'd bawl every time I read it. It's so simple yet so complex. Beautiful sadness through and through. I'd highly recommend it as it's short, amusing and profound. Never reads exactly the same as the time before.

"...what does that mean- 'tame'?"
"It is an act too often neglected," said the fox. "It means to establish ties."
"To establish ties?"
"Just that," said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, when we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world..."

excerpt from book.

Garlic Clove afternoon tea

Garlic Clove @ 

Went for an afternoon coffee at Garlic Clove, and while they specialise in French meals, settled for cake instead.

Ambience
It's spacious, chic, well lit, functional yet pleasing to the eyes. The artificial European ambience is peculiar but still kinda nice. Still the most 'European' vibe on the coast.
It's laidback and perfect for when you want to catch up with a friend with minimal background noise. Plus I really like the funky architecture of Emerald Lakes complex.
The place just exudes an Autumn vibe that I love with leaves falling everywhere on the sidewalk. Love the pseudo-Parisian Autumn.

Food
Had coffee and cake for like $5.90 or $6 (I'm a little hazy with numbers) but cake was one of those catering cakes, maybe from bidvest or people that do McCafe's cakes.
The chocolate cake was rich, if not a little dry with cream in the middle. Didn't like it, but really liked the hummingbird cake. The lemon/cheese icing was delicious! So won one, and lost one on the cake front.

Coffee was Merlo which should be good news but it wasn't as great a brew as the ones you get from Merlo at Ferry Road Markets.
They could do with more dessert in the cabinets but to be fair, I've been here before and they did have a lot more cakes than this time around.
Also, pretty sure there is some French dessert on the menu but coffee and cake for $5.90 is a bargain. The service was great and the atmosphere is just so welcoming, I'd go back just for that. It's a classy affair minus the price tag.

Chocolate cake & carrot cake.

 

Funky Capp.

Vintage Espresso

Vintage Espresso @ 1/43 Alfred St, Mermaid Beach
Ambience
The cutest lil' cafe on the Gold Coast without a doubt. A firm favourite among the locals as you can tell when you turn up on a weekend, there's not a table free.
Having coffee at Vintage is like stepping back into a sitting room of the 50s and even their menu reflect this vintage feel.

Vintage is the perfect café for hanging out with friends on a Sunday afternoon after a dip in the sea. It’s laidback, unpretentious, very retro cozy and everything that a franchise café is not. Most of the patrons are locals who stop by on their way to and from the beach, as it’s about 100 metres away. Located off the Gold Coast Highway, it’s the perfect pit-stop for take-away coffee too.

 

 

Food
Food is simple yet satisfying with seasonal sandwiches and slices with a home-made touch. Served on vintage plates, every coffee and cake date is a nostalgic affair.

In addition, their cabinets are decked out with some of the best sweets on the coast.

In the summertime iced coffee is my beverage of choice. Probably one of the best I’ve had on the coast, it’s sweet, dusted with a generous heaping of chocolate powder and served in a ceramic milkshake cup.

Banana bread served with ricotta and honey tastes like wholesome goodness with bits of nuts, and not like the processed variety packed with preservatives that bigger franchise cafes serve up. I come back to this time and time again across seasons.

My only beef against Vintage is that it is small, so don’t turn up with a massive crowd. 

But that's about the extent of its flaw (if you could call it that). 

It’s the café for those who like ornamental décor and a little bit of quirk served with your latte.

Purrrdiest cappuccino ever!

Buddha's tear green tea.

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