Popular Brisbane cafe Willow & Spoon reopens after horror stint

After being plagued by a series of devastating issues, a Brisbane cafe is fighting back, relaunching stronger than ever.

Anooska Tucker-Evans

2 min read

May 19, 2022 - 4:00PM

QWeekend

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Keith Nunns is a man with awe-inspiring resilience. The owner of Willow & Spoon cafe in Wilston, in Brisbane’s inner north, had his business hard hit in February’s freak flood event, with a power outage causing him to lose $10,000 worth of produce, while the entire outdoor area was flooded. To make matters worse, the power wasn’t reconnected for more than a week, delaying the clean-up process and costing the business tens of thousands of dollars in lost revenue as the cafe wasn’t able to operate.

If that wasn’t devastating enough, it came on the back of a series of break-ins at the venue, which resulted in huge losses and his insurance premiums more than doubling; plus all the dramas that come with running a hospitality operation in a pandemic.

Wilston cafe owner Keith Nunns at Willow and Spoon has faced a horror spate of challenges including floods, blackouts and break-ins. Picture: Annette Dew

But on a busy Sunday morning at the cafe, you would never know the heartbreak and challenges Nunns has endured, with a big smile plastered across his face as he welcomes diners with charm and enthusiasm. You would also never know the damage caused to the cosy timber cottage’s deck. What was in February a swimming pool, is now a covered outdoor area filled with diners and their pooches, leading to a grassed area with a small kids’ zone.

The cosy upstairs dining room at Willow & Spoon. Picture: David Kelly.

We sit on the footpath outside the cosy upstairs dining space, with fluffy blankets thoughtfully draped across the back of wooden stools for those who feel the cold.

The staff, who are every bit as hospitable and convivial as their leader Nunns, soon take drink orders, with a cappuccino and a flat white made with Supreme Coffee Roasters beans as smooth as a freshly polished bowling ball. While a chai latte, which sits alongside smoothies, thickshakes, cold-pressed juices, and beer, wine and cocktails on the drinks menu, delivers a beautiful cardamom and ginger hit.

The Dirty Bird burger with Southern fried chicken. Picture: David Kelly.

As for the food, this is breakfast that moves well and truly outside the box. Think nacho bowls loaded with chipotle chicken, a mushroom cassoulet, and the signature dish of cured pork belly with truffled scrambled eggs, malted barley toast and buttered leeks.

The Dirty Bird Burger ($25) scores rave reviews from my dining companions, with the bird in question a piece of succulently centred Southern-fried chicken with a perfectly crisp coating wedged in between a fluffy potato roll with lettuce, tangy, vinegary buffalo sauce, sour cream and a just-hot-enough mojo salsa, served with a basket of quality beer-battered chips.

The knackwurst sausage wrapped in bacon with cheddar hash brown, onion jam and poached eggs. Picture: David Kelly.

A knackwurst sausage wrapped in bacon ($26) is exactly that with the cheddar-infused hash brown on the side the star of the plate; while the big surprise is the house-made toasted muesli ($15). More like a granola of nuts, oats, cranberries and seeds topped with stewed and fresh blueberries, it forms a crescent around a puddle of dark chocolate-crowned coconut yoghurt and it’s utterly more-ish.

Willow & Spoon is a cafe which has endured tremendously hard times, but its fighting spirit is what keeps it at the top of its game.