Grocer and Grind

It's time for another Jubiventure! Jubi moved back to the Gold Coast so she's a bit far away now but we're still meeting up regularly for breakfasts together. This is the second time we've met up at the Gold Coast and Jubi gets to call the shots for where we go, as I don't know what is good in the Goldie haha.

It's a bit of a drive down, but its a straight line so it's pretty easy. The day I went it was absolutely bucketing down and also incredibly sunny every other second. At some times, the rain got so bad that I had my wipers on the highest setting and still struggled to see where I was going. Even though I'm a new driver, I don't find myself having much trouble driving in the rain even as bad as it was. I slowed down a wee bit and just kept driving.


The little block of shops that this cafe is in very strange. It's in a strange little block that is so small that there is only one way traffic around the shopping block and then parking spots scattered everywhere. There's another cafe there but it didn't seem half as popular as Grocer and Grind.

The interior of the cafe is very cool. On the right is a little organic shop full of veggie chips, GF flours and pastas, fancy pasta sauces, dips, sauces, nuts, honey, drinks and the shop's blend of organic sugar/flour and museli.

The fridge beckons!

So many chips

Random sauces, nuts, honey and stuff

Drinks, pestos, yoghurts and milk

Their own brand stuff

On the right, there's lots of different places to sit, low and high seats and big comfy chairs, where people waited for juices and coffees. The furniture is all metallic, lots of browns, blacks and brass. The fans they have are interesting, two semi twisted blades. Check them out if you're there.

Interesting layout

They have a nice glass display cabinet with a lot of trendy stuff, like protein balls and a whole range of raw cakes.

Brownies +_+

They sell a lot of coffee and juices. Their Reboot Bar of healthy/organic/super food smoothies seems to earn a mint, cause I kept seeing lots of girls in gym outfits rock up to get them.

All the drinks!

The coffee choices are very good too, they have all the usual stuff, plus a choice of how many shots and they make sure to ask you this. They also have a large range of milks that you can choose from, organic milk, rice milk, coconut milk, soy milk, skim milk and almond milk. After my meal, I got a small mocha made on coconut milk and it was honestly the most delicious mocha I've ever had, so rich and creamy with a gorgeous coconut smell. There was a noticeable thickness from the use of the coconut milk, however it was still very light and silky. The mix between mocha and chocolate was perfect with neither flavour dominating. It was a strong coffee too and had me buzzing.

Here is their menu. They do all day breakfast! Oh and counter service! Their food comes out when its good and ready, which was actually really quick. I personally prefer counter service as then I can easily stagger out my photos without having to force people to wait. People HAVE to wait as they're waiting for everyone to get their food before they eat. When all the dishes arrive at once, I feel pressured to take photos as fast as possible so everyone can eat.

I really like their table setting, rock salt grinders and ORGANIC COCONUT SUGAR. I was fascinated, I didn't have anything to eat it/drink it with initially but I was so fascinated as I had never had it before. Jubi and I ended up tipping a little in our hands and trying it. The coconut sugar has a large grain than caster sugar or white sugar, like raw sugar. It has a fresh and toasty coconut smell. There is a good sweetness and nuttiness to the sugar, and its slightly less sweet than regular sugar. It does add a certain coconut flavour to whatever it is added to however. We didn't get a pepper grinder but other tables had one.

Oooh fancy

Did you notice the table? It's got coffee beans in the top!

I wonder if they're real? They seem to be

I got the strawberry slushie as my drink, it has strawberries, coconut yoghurt, lemon and ice. The drink is very thick and served in a jar with a handle on the side. I found it wasn't as sweet as I thought, Jubi loved it as a result, she commented that it tasted like real tart strawberries and it was really enhanced by the lemon. There was a strong coconut flavour from the yoghurt used. 
 
Can you see the glass how its faintly brown in the corners? That wasn't from the drink, as I stirred it wondering if something had settled. I ended up only being able to get rid of the brown stuff by scratching it off with my straw. Slightly dodgy I think. The other thing I disliked was that there was a fair bit of ice and large uneven chunks of frozen strawberries, I'm not sure why they added ice cubes when its a slushie. Perhaps it wasn't blended long enough.

Perfect for Jubi, not for me though

Jubi ordered a piccolo, it had a strong punchy hit of expresso. It was a lovely coffee, robust with an appetising aroma, it was also quite sweet and nutty even without sugar added to it.

A piccolo!

Our waitress gave us some water after she gave us our drinks. Jubi was enamoured with the glasses, they have a much larger top than expected even though they look like highball glasses.

What an oddly shaped bottle

Jubi's meal arrived first, a sauteed wild mushroom stack with crushed avocado, goats cheese and your choice of toast! YOUR CHOICE OF TOAST. I have no idea why I was so excited by this and am still excited, maybe because they had fancy toast available? They had an ancient grain sourdough, organic rye bread and a gluten free bread. Jubi picked the rye bread. 

My god, it was a good combination of flavours, the meaty juiciness of the mushrooms, lots of caramelised garlic, a creamy and perfectly ripe avocado cushioning the perfectly crisp toast with a still beautifully fluffy bread interior. Oh and that goats cheese, it was so damn good. It didn't look like there was much initially, just three pieces but it was a beautifully mild and delicate goats cheese. It was rolled in some crunchy seeds and crushed nuts that added a nice contrast to the creamy texture of the avocado. Oh good god, this was a good veggo breakfast. Jubi was immensely happy with her meal and kept muttering, "these mushies are so good. So goooood." She adds that she thought the goats cheese was a bit strong for her taste, but it was essential for the goats cheese to be in every mouthful to add a bit of saltiness to the dish. She thought there was too much but we ended up nibbling it all at the end.

Can you see her body language is all like, YESSSS

I fluffed over whether or not to get the chorizo baked eggs or the black truffle scrambled eggs and got the chorizo baked eggs. It came in a thick, rich and slightly spicy tomato sauce, with chunks of tomato, roasted skinless capsicum, zucchini, onion and garlic. The chorizo acted as a perfect foil to the richness of the sauce, cutting through the flavour, I think it was from a fresh chorizo sausage rather than the dried ones as it had a nice bouncy texture. The eggs were perfectly oozy gooey and popped for me when poked. The bread that I picked was the ancient grain sourdough, it was slightly sweet, a bit nutty and had a mildly grainy texture, I wondered what the ancient grains used were. My bread was also perfectly toasted, crisp yet fluffy.

Oooh baked eggs

Pow!

Grocer and Grind
Atmosphere: 8, gorgeous, bright, airy with lots of things to talk about. I really liked our table setting and the coffee bean table. I really liked the brass tree sign in the back wall of the restaurant.
Service: 6, I think this place is still quite new but they have their heart in the right place. They were very enthusiastic and energetic, quick to clear tables and easily to find. Our waitress forgot to give anyone water until Jubi loudly said if there was any table water and started peering around the room. We also noticed a lot of the waitresses looked a bit lost trying to find the tables.
Food: 9, absolutely beautiful. I hope I can go here again in the future to try other food from them. The food was beautifully presented, with interesting ingredients that worked well with each other and well seasoned to boot. The ingredients were also all lovingly chosen and very trendy I think.