Like a Taste Tester

Tucked away from the heavy tourist flow of Gallery Walk or the bustling Main Street, Gabby’s Café has long been a hidden oasis of taste and atmosphere for the further side of Tamborine Mountain. Husband and wife team Phil Brandolini and Lorraine Connon have just acquired this local stop, and they’ve got exciting plans to elevate its status— and its stomach-satisfying selection— to the next level. Find out more as we ask Phil a few questions.

by Kyle Hitchmough

How long have you owned Gabby’s Café?

We’re the new owners, this is a rescue business. It was previously owned by a husband and wife, who were in film and teaching. We bought the business on the first of July, and a house up here on the same day. We’re coming up with a name change shortly, the new name will be “Willow & Sage”. It just fits both the mountain and our personalities better. We’ll rebrand it with photographs of the mountain, the beautiful lookouts and places to go and see, so it’ll be more of a Mount Tamborine stop. It’s like a taste tester—dip your toe in here, get your bearings, and then with our blessings go and enjoy yourself, and maybe come back for a coffee in the afternoon.

What has the experience of taking over been like for you?

The experience we’ve had has been absolutely positive. The Tamborine community has just been so lovely. Everybody is extremely welcoming and wishing us well, they really want to see this side of the mountain have a successful café. There’s about 4000 people on this side of the mountain, trudging up through the roadworks, past the hang-gliding lookout all the way into North Tamborine, up to a 25 minute drive with the roadworks. We’ve turned the business around from quite a heavy loss to being a healthy, successful, profiting business in a couple of months. We’re also doing a fair bit of catering now and we’ve had a lot of inquiries. Mainly weddings, or the day after weddings, where people will hang around at whatever accommodation they’re staying at.

What kinds of food do you offer here?

We’re not a restaurant, but we do strive to have some decent, high-end meals. We do specialties with barramundi and chef’s salads and pastas but we’re famous for our burgers. We have kahuna burgers and the mountain burger on beautiful brioche buns. It’s got everything you can think of in there. They look impressive and they taste great. We also do pizzas, and we have some really exotic options. It’s all made fresh, we don’t even prep anymore. We cater for the kids after school with fish and chips and that sort of thing. Coffee’s huge, of course. We do all of the plant-based milks and cater for vegans on all of our menus. We also have a liquor license. 

Are there any notable trends in your clientele?

As a local, what’s your opinion on the Tamborine Mountain area and community?

It’s really all walks of life. There’s lots of mums and dads, and we’re looking at putting a Tesla charging station in, so people can come and sit for half an hour, have a coffee and charge their Teslas. We have a lot of regular locals who range from 90-year-olds to children. We get a lot of school kids coming in the afternoon. They love it, because they can hang out on the couch, park their bikes… We know most of them on a first-name basis. The children are so polite up here! I was a teacher for many years, and their politeness is really notable. Breakfast clubs are becoming quite a thing. It’s a central, relaxed, chill spot where the quality of food is good and the service is excellent. We’re getting lots of 5-star reviews because we take the time to say hello, and a lot of the locals want to have a chat, so we’ll happily do that. 

We love it. You get these glorious mountain views, ocean views, Gold Coast views… the air’s fresher, there’s less traffic and congestion. Most people are up here to enjoy themselves. There’s a lot of retired people who have been here for 20, 30 years, and they’re really lovely people. And we live literally four minutes from work.

What do you think Gabby’s Café really provides to the area?

Comparatively, if you look at a lot of the cafés up here on the mountain, ours is spacious. A lot of them are great cafés with great owners but they are quite confined areas. I think what people like here is they can come and relax, sit their dogs out here, the kids can go and have a play, and it’s safe. Smokers can head outside and they don’t feel like they’re marooned, they’ve got picnic tables. We also own the corner store, so in conjunction with the café we’re able to offer all the groceries too, milk, bread, cigarettes. The idea is for people to see it as a conglomerate where you can get whatever you like from the shop, something from the café, fill up, rejuvenate, and then go and enjoy yourself on the mountain, and maybe come back for a coffee in the afternoon. We also run music on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons.

What do you enjoy most about doing this?

We do 15,000 steps a day each, just in the building. There’s a certain element of fitness. It’s not laborious work, but it really teaches you to cope with the stress of customer service. I enjoy that challenge, I enjoy meeting people, talking to them and hearing their stories. It’s not a boring job. On the first day open, we probably met at least 200 people who came in to say “hello, welcome.” We feel like we’ve got this massive circle of friends already. 

Gabby’s Cafe

8 Siganto St, Tamborine Mountain QLD 4272

We are always looking for new topics for our blog. If there’s something you like to see more of, email your suggestions to: social@professionalsserendipity.com.au, or email the writer at kyle.hitchmough@hotmail.com.