New Farm's buzzing new bakery cafe sees queues down the street
A new cafe/bakery is attracting clusters of people to this New Farm corner. And it’s easy to see why.
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Why is there a queue out into the street and clusters of people milling around the corner of Merthyr Rd and Brunswick St in New Farm?
What is going on? Idle, the new cafe/bakery/market from the Anyday group, an evolution of their popular Fortitude Valley bakery Agnes, opened in late June.
The bakery began life as a pop-up in the now lauded Agnes restaurant in the Valley before it officially opened during the dark covid lockdown days of 2020.
Once the restaurant got underway the bakery moved to a rustic old Queenslander corner shop in James St. Now it’s moved again. Rather than go for a repeat experience, the team has upped the ante with its new digs in a just-completed, brick, multi-shop development on the busy corner site.
Idle, which seems anything but, boasts a lengthy cafe menu, a vast array of sandwiches, pastries, biscuits and assorted varieties of bread as well as shelves of pantry items including house-made granola, dips and relishes. Coal-roasted rotisserie chickens and salads are available from 11am as well.
The contemporary interior features custom terrazzo tiles, shelves of pantry items on one side and a row of glass cases displaying a bakery fiesta of harissa egg danishes, hot dog croissants, pies, fruit tarts, a hybrid almond florentine croissant that looks lethally alluring, macadamia miso cookies, jam sourdough donuts, pain au chocolat and croissants on the other. Shelves of artfully displayed sourdough – seeded, spelt and so on – climb the wall behind. To be honest, I couldn’t even see half the items on offer it was so busy inside.
With seating for 36, a patio with a long line of tables runs down one side and more are streetside at the front. The metal tables are small but adequate size-wise, with brick “banquettes” on one side and small stools on the other, all quite comfortable but not so plush as to encourage people to settle in for hours.
You can’t book and at first glance the queue suggests a table could be out of the question. But most of the line up is to buy baked goods, while would-be diners can leave their name and mobile number and texts confirm when a table is ready. On a hectic Saturday, we are told the wait might be half an hour but it turns out to be less than 10 minutes.
From a fruit plate to granola to eggs your way, toast with avocado with pistachio pesto, a bacon and egg roll with waffle fries, a green bowl or a Euro plate with a boiled egg, baguette, asiago cheese and prosciutto, the menu covers most bases and pastries are available too.
Service is personable and swift. We have coffees (from Single O) pronto and Baghdad eggs ($28) and crab omelette ($36) not too long after. The Middle Eastern-inspired Baghdad option sees three soft-centred eggs sitting amid a delicious lemon-accented mix of labne, cumin burnt butter, a rubble of smoked almond and sprigs of mint. It comes with a pot of flaky flatbread, a welcome accessory for swiping up every last bit.
The steamed, gently flavoured omelette has a seam of crab in the centre, and is blinged up flavourwise with a cloak of silky choron sauce (béarnaise with a hint of tomato) and a pop of salty cod roe.
On a Sunday, it is also no trouble getting a table, service is swift again and I opt for porridge ($17) and an espresso – a bit bitter for my liking – and after sampling a couple of takeaways other days as well, they don’t seem to have consistently nailed the coffee yet.
But the white miso porridge is another matter entirely, a warm and creamy winter warmer topped with chunks of cinnamon-poached quince and a toasted coconut and walnut crumble.
The greens pie ($16) and lamb sausage roll ($13) I took home for lunch were also very good.
This is a polished operation blending the operators’ restaurant and baking skill bases. And it’s easy to see why people are queuing.
Idle
84 Merthyr Rd, New Farm
Open
Mon-Sun 7am-2pm
Must try
Baghdad eggs
Verdict (out of 5)
Food 4
Service 4
Ambience 4
Value 4
Overall 4
I polled my lady friends – we all agree this gives us the ick
Women are now being allowed to do this – the only problem is they don’t want to be anywhere near it.
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