Mojitos for breakfast? The cheeky Brisbane cafe serving cocktails all day

If you love a casual cocktail with your morning meal, this Brisbane institution will satisfy your thirst.

Restaurant years are like dog years – each one in operation equates to roughly seven due to the stress, anguish and constant demands of running an ever-changing business afflicted by uncontrollable issues such as food price hikes, wages and staff shortages.

Great kudos must then be awarded to Brisbane’s Kettle & Tin in Paddington, which is celebrating 10 years since it opened the doors to its quirky and colourful old Queensland cottage along Given Tce.

Kettle and Tin, Paddington. Picture: David Kelly

First established as a community hub in 2012, the all-day eatery, which runs from morning to night serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, is still very much that – a place for locals to come together over a meal or a drink.

Around 11am on a Sunday the place is heaving, with diners filling the front sun-lit courtyard, while groups line uncomfortably hard timber banquettes inside surrounded by contrasting artwork and a nursery of potted plants.

At lunch and dinner the menu is all about pub-style mains like fish and chips, smoky pork and slow-cooked brisket, plus tapas inspired by seemingly every country around the world, such as Japanese gyoza, American buffalo wings and Mexican charred corn.

The dining room at Kettle and Tin. Picture: David Kelly

But it’s the breakfast offering that has long attracted the crowds at Kettle & Tin.

Just as multicultural as the other menus, diners can choose from the likes of a Buddha bowl packed with veg, haloumi and a poached egg to daily omelette specials and even chicken and waffles.

Bringing a taste of South America is the Colombian breakfast ($25). Here scrambled eggs are given a flavour infusion by cooking diced tomato and onion into the mix, ready to be scooped up and loaded onto melted cheese-covered arepas – though the corn meal cakes are a little on the dense and stodgy side.

Keeping in the Americas is the Mexican breakfast ($25), with two firm, dry tortillas overflowing with sunny side-up fried eggs, black beans, guacamole and a vibrant salsa roja. A softer, more pliable tortilla and this dish could be a fine example of why simple is often best.

The Colombian breakfast. Picture: David Kelly

The cafe is fully licensed, which means you can have a mojito with your morning meal, or perhaps a glass of wine from the tight, affordable list, with nothing over $14 a glass.

There’s also liqueurs and spirits, plus a great range of local and overseas beers.

But if it’s all too early for that, quality Bear Bones Coffee is served in cup, mug and jumbo portions for the true caffeine fiend, alongside milkshakes, smoothies, cold-pressed juices and mocktails, with a chai-infused banana smoothie a winning combination for cinnamon lovers.

Making ordering and service simple and easy is the use of an app, with diners scanning a QR code on the table with their phone which brings up the menu. Simply select what you like and pay on your phone, before it’s delivered by a smiling staff member.

After 10 years, Kettle & Tin in reaching institution status in Brisbane, and by moving with the times implementing technology driven ordering systems, it may just see it stay around for another decade.

KETTLE AND TIN

215 Given Tce, Paddington

3369 3778

kettleandtin.com.au

Open Mon-Tue 7am-3pm, Wed-Sat 7am-late, Sun 7am-4pm

Verdict – Scores out of 5

Food 3

Service 3

Ambience 3

Value 3

Overall 3