Doughed is the latest addition to Hope Island Marketplace. It’s not hard to spot at the far end of the carpark – just look for the stream of people carrying blue boxes and looks of chuffed satisfaction and you’re on the money. Doughed is the handiwork of pals Alannah Bell, Kyle Davidson, Yuki Soga and Jay Jeon, who collectively realised there wasn’t a place on the northern Gold Coast where you can get everything you crave in one spot. “People love their coffee and matcha, but they also enjoy sinking their teeth into delicious sandwiches and treating themselves to chunky NYC cookies and doughnuts – it just made sense to create a place where you can satisfy all those cravings at once,” Alannah says. “Our vision was to create a gathering place where people could come together to enjoy dough-licious treats and foster a sense of connection.” It’s still early days for the venue, which officially opened on March 16, but so far, the response has far exceeded anything they could have imagined.

As for the menu, Doughed has you covered on both the sweet and savoury front. Creating the selection was a meticulous process, Alannah tells us. “Over the course of twelve months, we dedicated ourselves to perfecting our menu…despite the demands of our pre-existing full-time commitments.” Plenty of late nights baking, tasting and refining has led to a concise but satisfying selection of sandwiches that are designed to leave an indelible impression on every diner. For those in the mood for a substantial bite, the sandwiches offer a succinct-yet-satisfying selection ranging from the Early Riser Breakfast sandwich to the Mortadella Medley, which is layered with mortadella, salami, mozzarella, rocket with balsamic glaze, semi-dried tomatoes, green pesto and a drizzle of chilli honey. The reuben is another crowd favourite. As for the treats, all of the sweet morsels you find lining the cabinet are crafted with love in the doughed bakehouse. Among the selections you’ll find cookies in mouth-watering flavours such as salted-caramel pretzel, red velvet, NYC (classic choc chip with walnuts), ‘Funfetti’ (sprinkles and white chocolate filled with Milky Bar) and Ferrero (milk and dark chocolate filled with Nutella and hazelnuts). Doughnut delights range from Biscoff and Creme Brulee (torched vanilla glaze filled with custard) to Gaytime (chocolate glaze and biscuit crumb filled with caramel) and strawberries and cream, which includes a fun strawberry-filled pipette to squeeze the flavour into the cream in the middle. Rounding out Doughed’s offering is coffee by Industry Beans and a TikTok-famous strawberry-matcha latte. Crafted with a strawberry puree base topped with a creamy matcha cold foam, Alannah describes it like ‘heaven in a cup’.