Cafe helps transform Murwillumbah’s Sunnyside Mall complex

TAKE A Break Café has become a fixture in Murwillumbah, serving up affordable meals and drawing regulars into its space beneath Sunnyside Mall.

Since opening in 2015, the family-run business has built a steady following, with its pies becoming a local staple and the café evolving into a gathering place.

Located beneath the mall, the café might appear modest at first glance, but for many it has become a familiar place to eat and meet.

At the centre of it is cook and manager Jason Shadbolt, who has lived in the region most of his life.

The business is owned by his mother Tanya Matheson and is shaped by a focus on keeping things accessible and consistent.

“We try to keep the prices as low as we can – that’s our thing,” Shadbolt said.

“Just good, honest food.”

“Nothing too fancy.”

At a time when eating out can be costly, Take A Break has built a strong reputation among customers.

Before joining the café, Shadbolt worked as a butcher at Sunnyside Meats, an experience that now underpins his approach to cooking.

“It’s a bit of a different pace,” he said.

“It’s just go, go, go in the café.”

“In the butcher shop you’ve got a bit more time to get things done.”

His knowledge of meat has helped refine the quality of the café’s food, particularly its pies.

“It helped knowing the right cuts of meat to use,” he said.

“I also have a good relationship with the Sunnyside butchers from my time there and they look after us.”

The pies have become a reliable favourite, with classics like steak, bacon and cheese alongside flavours such as steak with jalapeño and queso cheese.

“My personal favourite is steak and pea – that was a childhood classic for me,” Shadbolt said.

The café now prepares its peas in-house, mashing them to achieve what Shadbolt describes as a “tangier” flavour.

“Originally we were buying pies from elsewhere, but I thought we were paying too much for the quality,” he said.

 

“I knew I could make a better one for the same price.”

Shadbolt developed his recipes through trial and error.

“I just worked on a good base of the pie mixture – the plain mince and the chunky,” he said.

“Then you make your flavours from that.”

Despite being encouraged to enter pie competitions, he has little interest in chasing awards.

“I’ve had people ask me if I want to do that, but I just like to keep it low key,” he said.

Beyond the food, the café has helped reshape the space beneath Sunnyside Mall.

Once a quiet area, the precinct has evolved into a social hub, with nearby businesses including Lucid Pure Vegetarian and The Bio Organic Farm.

“It used to be a bit dead down here,” Shadbolt said.

“But then we opened up, Lucid opened up, and then The Bio Organic Farm as well, and now it’s become a cool little area.”

The café has become a meeting place for regulars, particularly older residents who gather throughout the week.

“It brings a lot of the oldies together,” he said.

“We’ve got little groups of people that met because of the café.”

“There’s one table that started with one or two ladies, and now there’s about 15 of them.”

Longtime Murwillumbah local Debbie Kaehler said she regularly attends the café.

“It’s a very good atmosphere here,” she said.

Even as cost pressures begin to rise, Shadbolt said the focus remains on keeping prices affordable.

“We’re just waiting to see the effect of everything before we make any decisions on price rises,” he said.