Best cafes?

It’s perhaps telling there are just three venues on the below list you might call a traditional full-service cafe – maybe four.

In a post-pandemic world where food and beverage operators are getting specific with what they offer, nowhere is that more the case than daytime eating.

Why open a cafe when you can drill down on sandwiches, say, or pastries? Both have blown into town in a big way in the first half of 2023.

Elsewhere, Adelaide Street in the CBD welcomed a cracking Italian grab-and-go, and a popular Paddington operator opened a light-filled cafe in Fortitude Valley.

Here’s what to check out as we head into the last few months of the year.

Corner Deli, Woolloongabba

When Ben McShane saw a need in Woolloongabba for a quality grab-and-go breakfast and lunch spot, his solution wasn’t to open something new. Instead, he and business partner Matt Kuhnemann knocked a hole in the wall of their restaurant, Clarence, through to the neighbouring tenancy and installed an all-electric open kitchen with a cooktop, an oven, a counter with heat lamps, and a coffee machine.

The twin premises now open as Corner Deli for breakfast and lunch Monday to Friday, and as Clarence for dinner Thursday to Monday and lunch on Saturdays and Sundays.

Corner Deli’s breakfast menu features a blood pudding roll with brown sauce and a fried egg, a maple-smoked bacon roll with a fried egg and green-bean chutney, and congee served with a spring-onion pancake. For lunch, the menu is split into cold sandwiches, hot sandwiches and a couple of soups. There’s a chicken schnitzel sandwich with lettuce, chimichurri and peri peri mayo; a sub with house-made pork meatballs, mozzarella and green sauce; and a corned venison sandwich with special sauce, pickles and onion.

For drinks there’s coffee by Kelvin Grove’s Bancroft Roasters, Strangelove sodas, and a short selection of local wine and beer.

Otherwise, the opening of the deli has allowed the team to better formalise the layout of the twin spaces. The previously 26-seat Clarence can now take 44 diners across the conjoined tenancies, and the new archway and open kitchen with its wide stone-rendered counter-act as eye-catching design features.

clarencerestaurant.com/Corner-Deli-Home

Sorelle Eatery, St Lucia

From the team behind Tognini’s in Milton comes this classy cafe on Hawken Drive in St Lucia.

As you might expect, the food leans Mediterranean. For breakfast, there’s Sicilian chilli scrambled eggs, spicy merguez sausage with fried eggs and tomato relish, and a tiramisu cruffin with shaved chocolate and seasonal berries. On the lunch menu there’s calamari fritti, burrata with heirloom tomatoes, black olive crumble and charred bread; and pork and fennel sausage casarecce with radicchio and Parmigiano Reggiano.

The venue is bright and modern with light Mediterranean accents. It’s a much-needed daytime local for the area, and a nice spot to dwell over brunch or browse the natty homewares that line the shelves.

sorelleeatery.com

Eat at Billy’s, Paddington

Godspeed actually purchasing a sandwich at Eat at Billy’s: despite the listed 2pm closing time, Bill Gibney’s sister business to his hugely popular Meat at Billy’s (the Rosalie outlet of which is just next door) can sell out well before 1pm, making a trip to try its sanwiches a slightly tense experience.

But persistence pays off. Eat at Billy’s sandwiches are some of the best going around – particularly a variation on a reuben called Not A F*$&en Reuben that combines wood-smoked wagyu brisket with red cheddar, pickles and a generous squirt of signature sauce. The masterstroke here is the soft, thick-cut white bread that accompanies each sandwich, which makes them easy to eat and helps soak up the saucier flourishes.

The digs themselves aren’t much more than a hole-in-the-wall with some high tables and chairs out front, and the beer and wine on the drinks list are a peculiar fit for a venue that barely serves into the afternoon. Still, nab one of these brilliant sandwiches and you’ll hardly care.

instagram.com/eatatbillys

Mitch & Antler, Mitchelton

This open-air charmer was unveiled in February on a sleepy corner in suburban Mitchelton. It’s an inviting, naturally lit space defined by a brick and weatherboard exterior, bi-fold windows and pendant lights.

Owner brothers Tze-Huei Choo and Chewie Choo have an extensive background in hospitality and that shows in a menu a cut above your typical Australian brunch. You might order a rolled oat and pearl barley winter congee bowl; an enormous croque madame with mustard-leek cream, manchego and Egmont cheese; orecchiette pasta with green peas, mascarpone, chives, rosemary, preserved lemon and caper butter; or a breakfast burger with a beef sausage patty, streaky bacon, egg and American sliced cheese.

For drinks there’s Providore & Co coffee, signature mocktails, freshly squeezed juices, Strangelove sodas, and a selection of smoothies.

mitchandantler.com

Colin’s Specialty Coffee, Fortitude Valley

From the creators of Paddington Social comes Colin’s Specialty Coffee, which in June moved into a light-filled Fortitude Valley tenancy previously occupied by a Coco Bliss outlet. Colin’s takes Social’s brunch menu, popular pre-made sandwiches, bagels and sweets, and adds made-to-order sandwiches and specialty coffee powered by Melbourne’s Zest Coffee.

The new sandwiches include house-smoked brisket with mustard relish, sauerkraut, pickle and cheese; a wagyu cheeseburger; a breakfast bagel served with avocado, relish and herbed cream cheese; and an enormous panko-crumbed chicken burger with herbed mayo, lettuce and cheese on a house-made milk bun.

The space itself is a sanctuary away from Wickham Street outside, with timber floors, brick walls, a VJ-board lined counter, and fetching tiled features.

colins.com.au

Ham on Rye, Paddington

The PopMega group (Hai Hai Ramen, Remy’s) is behind this Paddington Central sandwich shop, which has been brightly fitted out in yellow and blue subway tiles, concrete floors and playful pop art.

On the menu are four fresh and four toasted sandwiches, all made with custom-baked bread from Bakeologists in New Farm. There’s the Toona Melt with tuna, capers, ranch sauce and extra mozzarella; a reuben built with pastrami and mozzarella; and the Deli Salad, which comes stuffed with lettuce, tomato, red onion, cheese, cucumber, beetroot, carrot, alfalfa, mayonnaise and mojo sauce.

Accompanying the sangas are a couple of house-pressed juices and a selection of San Pellegrino soft drinks.

hamonrye.com.au

Beurre Pastries, Milton

Beurre opened in June and was an immediate hit with inner-west locals – so much so it’s sometimes been hard to get there before owner-patissier William Leung sells out of product.

Creating the fuss is a menu of imaginative spins on classic pastries. You might order a tonka bean and apricot danish, a black sesame and yuzu morning bun, or a salted caramel pistachio scroll. There are also monthly specials: at the time of writing, in August, you could order a gingerbread morning bun, a classic pain Suisse, and a kimchi crescent.

Accompanying the pastries are Bear Bones coffee, a sparkling yuzu drink, and a range of cold lattes (flavours include dirty matcha, banoffee and black sesame).

The setting is a slick glass-enclosed spot designed by Clui Designs, with stone gardens, glass benches, and the day’s pastries displayed on an eye-catching granite counter.

instagram.com/beurrepastriesbne

Sunny Side Sandwiches, Paddington

The game of musical shops on the corner of Collingwood Street and Latrobe Terrace in Paddington finally settled in June when Mack Bowers and Charline De Conto opened Sunny Side Sandwiches in the adjoining space previously occupied by Eli Rami and Sam Holman’s bakery project, Misspelt (which has been reopened in miniature form by the Chouquette team in the original Blackout space – on the opposite side of the new-ish Blackout. Confused? Yeah, us too for a while).

This is version two of Bowers and De Conto’s Windsor sandwich shop (which opened in 2021) and you can expect more of the same here: hearty, relatively unfussy sanwiches alongside a short menu of cold drinks.

In the morning, an enormous toasted breakfast sandwich is the star – it comes stuffed full of scrambled egg, kewpie mayo, dill, parsley, chives, smokey bacon, kimchi mayo and caramelised onion – backed by a pair of smaller milk-bun options.

Later in the day, Sunny Side serves a menu of classic deli sandwiches – 20-hour Wagyu pastrami with shredded lettuce, tomato, pickles and sweet mustard, say, and a panko-crumbed schnitzel sandwich with herbed mayo, pickles and lettuce – and toasted numbers such as a pastrami, pickles and relish with Swiss cheese, and a shaved leg-ham sandwich with cheese and tomato.

Drinks are a freshly squeezed orange juice and a clutch of soft drinks.

eatsunnyside.com.au

Scugnizzi, CBD

Little more than a hole-in-the-wall among the tiny food tenancies along Adelaide Street in the city near the intersection with Edward Street, Scugnizzi is the brainchild of Simone Presta (Doughcraft) and chef Carmine Guarino. The concept is simple: ready-made Roman-style pizza by the slice and a handful of house-made pastas cooked to order.

For pizza, there are slices such as salamina (mozzarella, salami, olives, stracciatella), prosciutto ripiena (fior di latte, prosciutto, rocket, parmesan), margherita, and pancetta and truffle. You point, the team heat it for you, and you’re on your way.

Pasta includes dishes such as a classic carbonara, pappardelle with mushroom and truffle cream, gnocchi with slow cooked duck ragu and porcini cream, casarecce with zucchini ragu and crispy zucchini, and bolognese served with fusilli.

For snacks, there’s a couple of different arancini and truffle chips. For drinks, it’s espresso and a short list of soft drinks. In the morning, from 7am to 11am, Presta and Guarino are serving Doughcraft pastries, and a range of breakfast panini and focaccias.

The space itself has been given a bright yellow paint job and lined with a handful of stools. Otherwise, this is very much about takeaway – just try not to get there in the middle of lunch, when Scugnizzi regularly has a queue out the door.

scugnizzi.bitebusiness.com

Hawthorne Coffee, Hawthorne

Tom Wilcock opened Hawthorne Coffee in a light-filled weatherboard shopfront in May and it proved an immediate hit with east-side locals.

They’ve been drawn in by the Bancroft Roasters specialty coffee, which comes as espresso, batch brew and cold brew, but also a tight menu of elevated sandwiches and muffins.

There’s a breakfast toastie with fried free-range eggs, streaky bacon, mozzarella and barbecue or tomato sauce; a mushroom truffle toastie with thyme, garlic and truffle mushrooms, spinach and house cheese mix, parmesan and chives; and The Classic, which slams together ham off the bone with vine-ripened tomatoes, Mercy Valley cheddar, a house mozzarella and aioli.

Elsewhere on the menu, there’s avo on toast, acai bowls and a range of cabinet items.

The digs are an inviting hideaway with large windows that overlook Riding Road. The fit-out is all tiled floors, fetching white cabinetry and a leather banquette piled high with comfy cushions.

hawthornecoffee.com.au

Rise Bakery, Hamilton

From patissier Adrien Marcinowski and chef Maxime Bournazel comes Rise, a French-inspired boulangerie and patisserie that was unveiled at Portside Wharf in August, following a Sanctuary Cove original that opened last year.

The premises suit the flashiness of the surrounding precinct, and are decked out in marble benches, fancy chandeliers, Parisian bistro furniture, and a cream banquette framed by vintage photos.

In a long glass cabinet is a stack of products, both sweet and savoury: almond croissants, pain au chocolat, flaky beef bourguignon pies, ham-and-cheese croissants, lemon-meringue tarts and chocolate eclairs, among many other items.

For drinks, there’s Bear Bones coffee, Tavalon tea and champagne by the glass.

risebakery.com.au