Gold Coast Eats: MOS Burger, Miami Marketta Street Food Market and donuts from Blackboard Coffee and Paddock Bakery

There's one way to explore a city, and that's to track down its finest donuts. What greater reward is there than sinking your teeth into a soft and pillowy donut, a ring of sugar sticking relentlessly to your lips. It's how we ended up criss-crossing our way across the Gold Coast two weekends ago, finally arriving at Blackboard Coffee in Varsity Lakes.


Blackboard Coffee at Varsity Lakes

There is no greater sense of panic than entering a cafe and desperately scanning its cake display counter from behind the queue at the coffee counter. We arrive at lunchtime only to realise that all the donuts were sold out for the day. One cannot describe the disappointment on our crestfallen faces.


Buttermilk pancake, maple pecan butter and caramelised pecans $18
with crispy pancetta $3

Suze finds consolation in the buttermilk pancakes, freshly made and strewn with caramelised pecans and rivers of maple pecan butter. The real star of the show is the crispy pancetta, super thin and rendered of fat so it tastes more like crackling with every bite.


Wagyu burger, smoked cheddar, crispy pancetta, BBQ sauce and hand-cut chips $19

I resist the black pudding apple fritters, the American hash and the coconut chia pudding and stick with the classic burger and chips.


Hand-cut chips

The hand-cut chips are pretty amazing, fried with the skin on for extra flavour, and made even better with a dunk in a rich garlicky aioli sauce on the side.


Wagyu burger with smoked cheddar and crispy pancetta

The wagyu burger is a fine specimen too, the thick patty slathered with barbecue sauce and crammed with smoked cheddar, salad and that incredible pancetta in a toasted bun.


Barista at Blackboard Coffee

Ain't nothing gonna stand between us and our donuts. We had no choice but to return bright and early the next morning.


Salted caramel donut $5

At 8.45am there is one solitary salted caramel donut left on the counter. Don't people believe in Sunday sleep-ins around here?


White chocolate and pecan cronut $4.50

We also nab the white chocolate and pecan cronut.


Cronut layers

The cronut has lots of promising layers but the crust is a little hard and crunchy for the deep fryer, must chewier than the Dominique Ansel original. I do like the abundance of pecans though.


Salted caramel donut

The salted caramel syringe adds an element of childish glee as we debate where exactly we should inject the sauce.


Injecting the salted caramel

Attempting to inject the sauce into the donut itself doesn't get us very far so we settle with filling the well in the middle. It wells up in the middle, gushing forth when we cut it open. Thankfully the sauce isn't overly sweet although I do wonder how anyone eats one of these on the run!


Nutella cronut


Paddock Bakery


Garden seating at Paddock Bakery

We make it all the way to Vivre a Vie Organic Bakery at Mermaid Beach before discovering their sourdough starter perished the day before so no donuts are available. We battle on undeterred, hopping back on the bus to Paddock Bakery at Burleigh Heads. The place is heaving, the front garden filled with patrons and the counter area clogged with people queuing to order.

The menu is on-trend with acai bowls, creme fraiche scrambled eggs and roast beetroot and zaataar on wood-fired 7 grain toast. I also love that they have fairy bread with naturally coloured 100s and 1000s. Single Origin roasted coffee and Pepe Saya butter make us feel like we're back at home too.


Baby Nutella bot $4

We end up with their baby Nutella bot, a little pricy at $4 for a two-bite affair but sandwiched so generously with Nutella we don't really care.


Semi sourdough donut $4

Their semi sourdough donut is a revelation.


Fluffy innards

There's an incredible crumb to the donut, a seemingly impossible combination of satisfying density with a light springiness to every bite. It's not doughy nor oily nor sickly sweet. Quite frankly, it's one of the best donuts I've ever eaten. I want another. Now.


Hipster barista essentials: tatts and an impressive beard


MOS Burger


MOS Burger at Surfers Paradise

And because Queensland is the Australian state in which you can find it, we head up to Surfers Paradise for a Japanese MOS Burger.


MOS Burger $4.95
with cranberry iced tea $3.95

I'll admit I really was flummoxed when the cashier asks for my order in English and not Japanese. MOS Burger evokes so many fond memories of Japan. It's the only place in the world where the stylised burgers in the pictures really do end up appearing on your tray. Perfect slices of tomato. Bright green lettuce. A neatly constructed burger that doesn't look squashed or lopsided!

Sadly this wasn't the case at Surfers.


Cheeseburger $3.40

I do dig the cranberry iced tea, loaded with real cranberry fruits that are sweeter than you'd think.


Oyster mushroom rice burger $4.95

And I always end up ordering the rice burger for novelty's sake. The oyster mushrooms have a decent chew which give it a sense of meatiness.


What's it called? Monorail!

We had a wave of nostalgia when we spied the monorail trundling its way through the city. The monorail only recently started again after closing for repairs for more than a year.


Riding the monorail through the Oasis Shopping Centre

There are only three stops on the monorail circuit. We rode a full circuit (the conductor was a little confused) and I may have gotten a little more excited than I should have when we realised the monorail runs through the upper floor of the Oasis Shopping Centre.


Kurrawa Beach

Mother Nature was exceptionally kind to us that weekend. clearing initial grey skies to glorious shades of cerulean blue. The uninterrupted expanses of sand are pretty surreal.


Lifeguard


Surfers Paradise


Highrises along Surfers Paradise


Miami Marketta Street Food Market



Probably my favourite stop on the weekend was Miami Marketta Street Food Market. Admittedly we ventured here in search of French-style proofed donuts by Donut Forget I Love You - how awesome is their name?! - but again were thwarted. They'd been there the week before but not the week we visited.


Food stalls

Tucked in the middle of an industrial area, the space is jumping on a Saturday night, clogged with food stalls, charcoal smoke and hordes of locals soaking up the live music.


Giant paella

It's one of the most energised places we visit. If I returned to the Gold Coast on another weekend, this would definitely be top of my list for a kicking Saturday.


Vegetarian nachos

Giant Kransky sausages

Chocolate lamingtons and white chocolate passionfruit lamingtons


Chocolate raspberry smash cakes



Grab Your Fork was flown to the Gold Coast as a guest of Jupiters Hotel and Casino for a dinner at Kiyomi, however all visits in this post were individually researched and paid for personally.



Blackboard Coffee
7/240 Varsity Parade, Varsity Lakes, Gold Coast, Queensland
Tel: +61 (07) 5575 7538
Open daily 7am-4pm


Miami Marketta Street Food Market
23 Hillcrest Parade, Miami, Gold Coast, Queensland
Tel: +61 (0)488 590 599
Open every Saturday 4pm-10pm

MOS Burger
Shop T1.05A Soul Retail, 4 The Esplanade, Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast, Queensland
Tel: +61 (07) 5570 2228
Open Saturday to Thursday 10am-8pm, Friday 10am-9pm


The Paddock Bakery
20 Hibiscus Haven, Burleigh Heads, Gold Coast, Queensland
Open daily 6.30am-3pm (food 7am-2pm)



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Kiyomi by Chase Kojima at Jupiters Hotel and Casino