The new Sunnybank Hills cafe serving a $28 duck croissant

This Brisbane cafe’s signature dish – duck croissant with fries – is a little unusual for a breakfast offering. Then again, most of the dishes on this menu are.

Fancy fish and chips for breakfast?
How about carbonara, or maybe a caesar salad to start your day?
New Brisbane cafe The Cornr in Sunnybank Hills is throwing convention out the window when it comes to the typical morning meal, with a menu that reads more like dinner. Think burgers, lobster rolls and salt and pepper calamari too.

The culinary switch-up is the idea of owners Gregory Foo, Henry Chin and Kenny Nguyen to bring contemporary brunch fare to the southside suburb, and the bold move seems to be paying off.

On a late-morning weekend visit, the cafe – our polite waitress says as she explains the menu – has been flat out, with two of the dishes already sold out, while their signature duck croissant with fries ($28) is now sans French pastry, with a milk bun taking its place after they ran out of croissants.

The soft, golden bun is a fine substitute, balancing a generous handful of crispy-skinned, slow-cooked duck.

The well-executed protein deserves to be the star of the show, but a super-saccharine onion jam and crumble of salty, squeaky feta are competing a little too hard for attention.

The aforementioned carbonara ($22) is another popular choice looking around the starkly appointed, monochrome room, with the option to add a single butterflied king prawn for an extra $8 (a relatively fair price given current food and freight costs).

The crustacean is the undeniable hero – its sweet, just-cooked flesh effortlessly relinquishing itself from the shell with just the gentle tug of a fork, while the pasta is made the authentically Italian way with eggs rather than cream and is a solid version of the favourite.

It’s the coffee that will have customers returning, however, with the cafe using Brisbane roasters Voyage for their brews. Both an iced coffee on cow’s milk and a flat white on oat milk using the Pearl Kao blend deliver smooth-yet- strong cups.

From its minimalist, grey and black fit-out to its out-of-the-ordinary menu, The Cornr is a cafe unafraid to take risks, and that alone is something to be applauded.

For more reviews visit delicious.com.au/eatout

THE CORNR

8/22 Gowan Rd, Sunnybank Hills

Open Tue-Sun 7am-3pm

Verdict – Scores out of 5

Food 3 

Service 3.5

Ambience 3

Value 3

Overall 3