Bean and Gone Café

The milk bar-style café is a dying breed, especially on the Gold Coast.  Independent cafés veer towards upscale, gourmet, organic – simple, functional food is the domain of big chains and multinationals.

But Bean and Gone Café is a survivor, a local-focused eatery that delivers good coffee and tasty chow without the puffery.  It’s the kind of place you can pop into for a quick bite without getting dressed up – and, in a café scene dominated by influencers and Instagram, that’s a selling point.

Best For …

Quick, high-calorie meals when you’re hungry or on the way to work.  Ideal for casual catchups and early starts.

Place

Bean and Gone is more than a stone’s throw from the usual Gold Coast café haunts.  It’s located in Ormeau, fronting a small shopping plaza a few hundred metres from the M1.  Typical café territory?  Definitely not – but it does position Bean and Gone perfectly for the morning tradie rush.

Ormeau Junction Shopping Village sits on the corner of Eggersdorf Road and Arthur Way.  The view: a sprawling roundabout, a skyline dominated by power poles and fuel station signage, a smattering of council-planted tuckeroos and figs that leads into suburbia.  It’s not attractive, but there’s street-side parking and a reasonably spacious lot out the back of the shopping centre, making Bean and Gone a good pick if you’re after a quick bite.

The actual café is straightforward: a small al fresco area fighting the sun with Piazza D’oro shades, and then a handful of tables in an old-school diner setting.  The cooks and baristas work out of a stainless steel galley, fronted by coffee equipment and hot cabinets.  The most notable design element is a trisected wavy mirror at the back of the dining room; combined with the bright red walls, it creates a slightly retro feel.  

People

The experience of a café is made or broken by its staff – and the three staff on deck at Bean and Gone didn’t disappoint.

Order-taking was warm, welcoming and efficient.  My coffee came out in four minutes (although it’s worth noting that I was the only customer), and my food in 10 minutes.  For a café focused on functionality, it was a near-perfect experience.

When I asked for a menu post-meal for the purposes of this review, the barista was even kind enough to give me two.  It’s the little things.

Product

What’s On the Menu

If Bean and Gone has a clear advantage over the bougie cafés of Burleigh and Broadbeach, it’s the sprawling menu.  With 66 listed items, and additional references to cabinet food, daily specialities, and salads, this is an establishment designed for tradies.

The breakfast staples are eggs, bread, bacon and sauce.  Standouts: the Manwich (an English breakfast stuffed between two pieces of bread), the Piggy (a double bacon, cheese and egg monster), and the Tradie Turkish.     

Burgers, wraps and sandwiches comprise the affordably priced lunch menu, although there is an aptly named ‘Healthy Options’ section with salads, smoothies and acai bowls. 

Vegans, beware: this is not the café for you.  Even traditionally vegan dishes like salads come with cheese and meat, the açai smoothie contains yoghurt, and the only true vegan dish I spotted was the seasonal fruit salad.  Stick to the Cardamom Pod instead.

The Bean and Gone drinks selection is nicely varied.  There are the usual tea and coffee options, a few different teas, and a range of milkshakes, thickshakes, and frappes.

What I Ate

In a café with such a clear focus, I couldn’t go past the Tradie Turkish.  It came wrapped in greaseproof paper, perfect for quick bites behind the wheel on the M1.

In some dishes, execution is key – enormous skill is required to take bare-knuckle ingredients and turn them into something exceptional.  In others, artful composition is enough.  The Tradie Turkish falls into the second category.  After all, how can you ruin a premise like bacon, fried egg, a hash brown, and cheese, smothered in barbecue sauce and toasted in Turkish bread?

Thankfully, I didn’t get the chance to find out – Bean and Gone’s Tradie Turkish was delicious.  It delivered exactly what was promised, without excessive sauce or grease.  It’s definitely going on my list of motorway pitstops.                   

What I Drank    

To wash down the sandwich, I ordered an iced long black.  There’s nothing special to report here – a fairly mild medium roast, made well and served with the standard paper straw.  If you want a coffee that gets the job done, this is it.

Featured Dishes

Review	Bean and Gone Café
Summary	Bean and Gone Café delivers simple, feel-good brunch food executed well.
Author	Duncan Croker
Rating	4 out of 5