Shady Palms

Overview

Shady Palms boasts decor that screams vintage tropicana meets Queensland backyard. This place has a laid-back vibe with a relaxing colour scheme smattered with mismatched chairs, tasseled lamp shades, grandma-floral recliners and greenery. Lots of greenery. Larger than first meets the eye, the front open room winds its way back to an equally large rear space before stepping out into the large back courtyard – complete with palms of course.

Shady Palms is serving up Pan American and Mexican influenced cuisine with the likes of fried pickles, sliders, tacos and pulled pork everything making an appearance. A fun quirk of shady Palms is its table numbers – or should we say table people. Upon serving you'll be handed a celebrity – from Kanye to Marilyn to lesser-known philosophers.

Having been before for a Thursday night tipple we can assure you beats, vibes and beers are all good. They also do a mean set of milkshakes, and if you're lucky the salted caramel and peanut butter number will be on the menu. If it's not, request it and tell them we sent you.

With such good foundations we were left with mixed feelings after a morning meal there. First cab off the rank was the Bagel Boys bagel ($10) with smashed avocado and spiced labna. This guy was the perfect size and the fancy cheese worked beautifully with the avo smash.

It is hard to screw up an eggs Benny, but a single egg was a bit of a letdown with the Americana eggs benedict ($16). It is served with 'I would murder my mother for this' delicious maple bacon and a side of, what seemed to be, deep fried/oiled kale. My dining partners noted that deep frying kale was equivalent to eating ice cream while jogging or smoking during a lung operation. This #superfood has lost its powers. Overall, the dish had a bit much going on for the hollandaise to shine past the cheesy pork arepas.

It took a bit of convincing to pay $3.50 for a side of avocado, but we were assured it was generous. Being the perfect accompaniment to a simple poached eggs on sourdough ($10) with a tomato relish, sadly the avocado was overpowered by a distinct lemon flavour. Otherwise the relish was spot-on good and the eggs perfectly poached.

We hear the sliders are fairly off-the-hook and with an atmosphere like that of Shady Palms, there's no good reason not to go back for cheeky beer or two and a taco or five.