Just a few steps from the volleyball courts at South Melbourne beach is cafe Pineapple Palm. The gleaming spot is at the base of an apartment block on Beaconsfield Parade. The staff doesn’t care if you come in with sandy feet or without shoes on.

The menu blends Asian and South American flavours. There’s Korean chicken bao with house-made chilli sauce; a Chilean-style hot dog with chorizo, avocado and tomato salsa; chilli scrambled eggs; and nasi goreng.

If there’s a standout, it goes to the Brazilian cheese bread. The round palm-sized dough balls are Brazil’s answer to a Cheesymite scroll. Each serve of three arrives hot with a side of St David’s Dairy butter and a dollop of Vegemite. They’re dense but the use of tapioca flour (gluten free) keeps them light.

Freshly squeezed juices arrive in pineapple-shapede glasses, and there’s Vietnamese-style coffee, and breakfast cocktails. Coffee is by specialty coffee roasters St Remio.

A stretch of bench seating and whitewashed timber walls envelop the beach box-feel interior, and pier-rope light fittings stretch over the dining area. Floor-to-ceiling windows overlook a beachside playground, splashing the relaxed space with light.