Three mates open new cafe, The Depot Deli, Bolsover St Rockhampton

The new hospitality business offers seven day dining with wholesome, high-quality food on offer from French sausage rolls to Italian subs. Check it out.

James Bahnisch, Julian Daniello and Joshua van der Ley have opened a new cafe, The Depot Deli. Pictured on the right are items from their menu.

Depot Hill residents would have noticed renovations and new signage popping up on the old cafe on the corner of Bolsover and Stanley streets over the past few months, as a new business brewed behind closed doors.

After long days of hard work by the new leasees, The Depot Deli has officially opened, serving everything from smoko fare through to Italian specialties.

A group of mates from around Central Queensland who connected in Brisbane - James Bahnisch, Julian Daniello and Joshua van der Ley - took up the lease three months ago and since then have been putting in 20-hour days to get the building up to scratch.

The new look cafe at 300 Bolsover St.

“All of the equipment needed fixing, walls needed to be patched and painted… The tradespeople who we know have all come and helped us out, we’ve had a lot of community support trying to get us off the ground,” James said.

The idea to open a cafe was Julian’s, and he convinced James and Joel to join.

“I saw the opportunity and dragged them along on the wild ride,” Julian said.

“We couldn’t really ask for a better space for what we want to do, it’s perfect.”

The group has roots in Central Queensland with Julian from Mackay, Josh from Agnes Water but completing his schooling in Rockhampton, where he met James, who is from Rocky.

The trio has lived and travelled all over the world and are enthusiastic about bringing culture to Rockhampton.

“I have been cheffing down in Brisbane in semi-fine dining for six years so learnt a lot of things there,” James said.

“I’ve worked in Canada and over the world, pubs, pizzerias, cafes, delis, and I am half Italian so I grew up eating a lot of the food we are cooking,” Julian said.

“We’re in love with Rockhampton, leaving and coming back, 10 years in the city really makes Rocky look really a beautiful place,” Josh said.

The Depot Deli's French sausage roll and Mandarin Ricotta Crème Cannoli - with port glazed walnuts and bush honey.

The menu is an “Italian and American concept” with hot box classics taking a fancy twist such as the beef tallow hash browns, house made egg and bacon English muffins and French sausage rolls.

With all-day dining, the space transforms into a restaurant at night, with other menu items including lamb shoulder ragu, carbonara and spaghetti alla puttanesca.

“Our main agenda is we make everything from scratch, so all our sourdoughs from scratch, our sauces, cutting our own chips,” head chef James said.

“Everything is made with traditional techniques but with our little spins on it.

“It’s a bit ambitious but we are trying to cater to every demographic, tradies, tourists, families, a date spot.”

“We’re not cutting corners with quality and produce, we want to make good stuff,” Julian said.

The menu will also constantly evolve.

“The menu is going to be kind of small but we hope to cook fairly seasonably and be constantly changing and bringing out new things, working with the times,” Julian said.

“We will run it and see how we go, we will change anything we need to but so far it’s seven day dining, three meals a day,” Josh said.

James Bahnisch, Julian Daniello and Joshua van der Ley at their new cafe, The Depot Deli.

They officially opened on June 2 and had Caitlyn Jamieson performing live music.

“Eventually we would like to do a lot more of that, live music scene over dinner,” James said.

After only being open a week, positive reviews have already trickled through on social media.

“We just want to make some really good food and see what happens after that,” Julian said.

James Bahnisch, Julian Daniello and Joshua van der Ley pictured in front of their new business venture.

THE DEPOT DELI

• Open Friday to Saturday 7am to 9pm, Sunday to Thursday 7am to 7pm
• Book for dinner on Instagram
• BYO $5 corkage per head
• Phone [phone]