Daark Espresso — Restaurant in Gold Coast City

Let's start with the bad to get it out of the way, and move onto the good (FYI I'm not quite sure how to star rate this because of the stark contrast in good and bad parts about this place. I'm giving it 3 stars because it's half good, half bad, food / coffee wise).

The bad:

I ordered the DAARK Hash Benedict with chorizo and house lime hollandaise ($24.9). While the eggs were perfectly poached and the flavor profile was decent with a unique touch from the truffle oil and lime hollandaise, the dish fell short in execution. The herbed potato hashes, advertised as crispy, were a major letdown—essentially just basic cooked potatoes with no crunch. For the price, the portion was disappointingly small, making it feel like poor value for money. My partner’s Chilli Scrambled Eggs ($20.9) were similarly underwhelming. The dish, served with sautéed spinach, onion chive, and house chilli oil on sourdough, sounded promising but lacked flavor, coming across as mostly bland. Overall, the food was just okay, with potential in concept but not in delivery. I won’t be returning for the meals. Personally, one visit was enough to gauge the kitchen’s inadequacy for me, especially since I'm not willing to risk another $20-$25 on something we can make much better and cheaper at home.

The good:

On the other hand, the coffee at DAARK was a revelation. I ordered the pumpkin spiced latte, one of their unique latte offerings, and it was insanely good—rich, perfectly balanced, and bursting with flavor. You can tell the coffee station is operating on a different level compared to the kitchen. It’s clear where their passion lies. I’ll definitely be back for the coffee alone and highly recommend it to anyone looking for a standout latte experience. If you’re visiting DAARK, my recommendation is to skip the food and head straight for the coffee.

Also, the decor and atmosphere is wonderful here. I mean, there IS of course a slight hint of that snobby rich and perhaps even 'influencer' vibe, but that could be just because it's winter time. Everyone is snobbier in winter. And most cafe's are now influencer cafes on the GC anyway so 🤷‍♂️ I'm one myself, so I'm not complaining about that part, but no one likes the snobby ones, right?

Anyway, overall if you're after coffee in particular, this joint is worth the trip. Hope this review helps others make an...

Update - October 29th 2023: Came back here with the whole family and family dog, had another nice brunch at a table on the patio in the corner by the ramp for my mum (who was recently injured). The staff were very accommodating and patient with us during seating and ordering.

BUT there were a couple of things that need to be addressed:

My brothers and I ordered the same dish and all agreed that the sourdough toast was very dry and lacked butter or maybe needed more hollandaise sauce because there was very little sauce on the eggs. It just needed something extra. My fried chicken was crispy and very good, however my poached eggs had a large piece of egg shell in it, but I didn't realize it until I was chewing on it and half swallowing it. Kinda gross.

My mango smoothie was delicious and refreshing, everyone else was mostly happy with their food.

Septemer 2023: I've been trying different cafes for brunch in this area and so far Daark Espresso has been the best one yet. Lovely atmosphere, nice outside shaded deck, very friendly staff, nice variety on the menus, great coffee and refreshing smoothies. Love that their hollandaise sauce is actually good quality and not artificial from a jar or box like a lot of other cafes do. We had breakfast and lunch dishes, the southern fried chicken burger was spot on delicious. The poached eggs, potato rosti, roasted mushrooms and crispy bacon were perfectly cooked. We will...

After always seeing this cafe packed whilst driving past, we decided to try it on a Sunday morning. Surprisingly, we were able to get an outside table in mins, as after our arrival a line started to form outside.

Food We ordered a flat white, soy chai latte, herbed mushrooms and the crispy potato hash benedict. flat white was average +/- chai was nicely presented however had an additive (?vanilla) which was too overpowering, I believe they took down my order wrong presentation was appetizing for both dishes, with a range of vibrant colours and textures lime hollandaise was a pleasant surprise in the hash benedict however, potato was crispy but bland and needing seasoning herbed mushroom dish had components of different temperatures which was not enjoyable to eat. The pumpkin mash was cold and rest were varying degrees of luke warm with the exception of the eggs.

Service ignored by a staff member who was standing at the front with his back turned and chatting to another table for a few minutes when we first arrived Otherwise table service was fast and friendly Staff kindly accommodate young children and dogs

Ambiance Comfortable outside, well shaded

Cleanliness Table wiped before...