Best cafés and restaurants in Palm Beach

Palm Beach has quietly become one of the better places to eat on the Gold Coast, largely because it never tried to be. The strip along the Gold Coast Highway either side of Palm Beach Avenue — roughly Third Avenue through to Eighth — carries most of it, and it starts about 150 metres from the front gate.

Mornings are the suburb's strength. There is a dense run of cafés within a few minutes' walk doing proper coffee, and the routine most guests settle into is a walk along the beachfront path, coffee at the highway end, and back along the sand. Bakeries in the area sell out of the good things by mid-morning, so an early start pays.

For lunch, the surf club is the reliable option, and at 300 metres along the sand you can walk to it barefoot: unfussy food, cold beer, and a deck that looks straight down the beach. It is the kind of place that works for a large group with children and nobody minds sandy feet.

Between breakfast and dinner, the highway strip carries bakeries, a couple of good sandwich shops and takeaway that is a step above what the beach usually offers. If you are heading to the creek or the beach for the day, it is easier to pick up lunch on the way than to come back for it. Most places here open early and close by mid-afternoon — Palm Beach is a morning suburb.

For dinner, the surf club deserves more credit than it gets. It is a four minute walk along the sand, the flags out front are patrolled through the day, and the deck looks straight down the beach — the easiest meal of your stay, with no car and no booking.

Dinner is where Palm Beach has changed most. The strip now carries small-plate restaurants, wine bars, pizza, Japanese and Italian within a few hundred metres of each other, and the standard is high enough that booking on a Friday or Saturday is sensible rather than optional.

If you want to go further, Burleigh Heads is ten minutes north and James Street is the southern Gold Coast's busiest eating precinct. Book well ahead there — the well-known rooms fill weeks out in summer. South, Currumbin and Coolangatta have their own smaller strips, and Currumbin RSL and the Coolangatta surf club are consistently good value.

A rough rule for planning: breakfast and coffee in Palm Beach, lunch wherever the day has taken you, and dinner booked. The southern Gold Coast has more good rooms than it has seats, and walk-ins on a weekend evening in summer generally end in a longer drive than anyone wanted. Midweek is a different story and worth taking advantage of if your stay allows it.

For cooking in: the cafés and restaurants start 150 metres away and Coles is a two to three minute walk. The Palm Beach Farmers' Market runs every Saturday morning, 6am to 11.30am, at Palm Beach Currumbin State High on Thrower Drive. The kitchen and the outdoor terrace are set up for a long table.

Our picks, a short walk from the house

Coffee and breakfast

• Roots and Culture Cafe, 1073 Gold Coast Highway. Specialty coffee made with real care, from 5am most days.
• Paris Brest French Bakery, 1073 Gold Coast Highway. Proper French pastries, and baguettes still warm in the morning.
• Cafe Bar DokiDoki, 7 Fifth Avenue. Japanese soufflé pancakes and good coffee, a block from the gate.
• Canvas Palm Beach, 1328 Gold Coast Highway. A relaxed brunch spot a little over a kilometre north, worth the stroll.

Dinner and drinks

• Balboa Italian, 1069 Gold Coast Highway. The local favourite for pasta and pizza; book ahead on weekends.
• Madame V, 6 Palm Beach Avenue. Asian fusion with a generous banquet menu, good for a group.
• Las Palmas, upstairs at 1097 Gold Coast Highway. Latin tapas and cocktails on the balcony, Thursday to Sunday.
• The Collective, 1128 Gold Coast Highway. Several kitchens under one roof, easy when everyone wants something different.
• Tank Bar & Dining, 1166 Gold Coast Highway. A casual local with a good happy hour.

Opening hours change with the seasons, so check before you go.