Rave reviews for new suburban bayside cafe

With two chefs at the helm, this new bayside cafe is delivering restaurant-quality food at terrific prices.

If there has been one small upside to the life-altering, paradigm-shifting Covid pandemic, it’s the boom in quality local cafes – especially in outermost suburbs.

No longer are those working from home outside the city ring forced to endure insipid, milky black tinctures that taste like a Year 9 science experiment gone wrong or five-day-old cabinet sandwiches with bread dryer than a desert winter. There’s now a feast of terrific eateries popping up on neighbourhood corners.

The dining room at The Mailman, Alexandra Hills. Picture: David Kelly

One such welcome addition in Redland City is The Mailman in Alexandra Hills.

Chefs Jasmin Zhu and Myles Hartley (ex-Todd & Pupp, Penny Coffee Co. and Ocean View Estates) saw a gaping hole in the area for an enticing breakfast and lunch spot and went to work converting a humble tenancy alongside a FoodWorks, bottle shop and hairdresser into a community hangout. The fit-out is nothing flashy, but they have done a good job with simple bones, adding warmth and homeliness to the white walls using blond timber tables and chairs, cushioned banquettes, dried flowers in a variety of upcycled vases and a cake cabinet filled with delicious house-baked treats from elegant, precisely executed lemon meringue tarts to colossal sugar-dipped doughnuts erupting with custard and cream.

The Mailman sits alongside a set of shops in Alexandra Hills. Picture: David Kelly

What really puts the cosy into the diminutive space, however, is the service. From the moment you approach the doorway past a trio of outdoor seatings, warm and engaging, experienced staff deliver cheery greetings, eager to find diners a table and welcome them in.

They’re assisted on the floor by an obsequious, smiling teenager, for whom this is certainly her first job, reinforcing the community spirit the place embodies. Then there’s the food – an all-day menu of familiar fare donned with unexpected, contemporary accoutrements. Think coconut chia pudding with strawberry granita and compressed pineapple and peach, or garlic mushrooms on toast with candied pepitas and romesco; or perhaps a basil-loaded savoury mince joined by chive labneh, green mojo, pickled chilli and crispy garlic.

The French toast. Picture: David Kelly

The French toast ($21) is a statement in technique – delicate pipings of rich chocolate cremeux (a thick chocolate custard), splashes of raspberry compote and a snow of shattered almond fennel praline, alongside a dollop of thick-set ricotta. It’s richer than Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and as intense. Although just a few bites is more than enough for me, my breakfast buddy and the lady at the table next to us, who also ordered the sweet treat, devour it like lions to a fresh carcass.

Considerably lighter are the smoked trout rillettes ($24). The terracotta-hued fish – soft and moist from confit-like cooking – is spread on to a trio of delicate, house-made crumpets, with slivers of pickled beetroot and fennel adding vinegary zing, while the yolks of two poached eggs spill from their whites to provide an avalanche of sunshine-tinged sauce. Delicious!

The smoked fish rillettes. Picture: David Kelly

With a tall glass of passionfruit iced tea with peach pearls ($7), it makes for a salubrious start to the day. For those who need a more forceful kick along, there are creamy espressos on pour using Raspberry Candy blend from Ona coffee, batch brews and single origins. There are cold-pressed juices, iced drinks, teas and milkshakes such as a Biscoff caramel number.

The Mailman has all the pizzazz of a big city operation, but the soul of a suburban hangout.

THE MAILMAN

2 Bluebell St, Alexandra Hills

0480 470 023

linktr.ee/themailman. social

Open

Tue-Fri 6am-2pm;
Sat-Sun 7am-2pm

Verdict – Scores out of 5

Food 4

Service 4

Ambience 3.5

Value 4

Overall 4