A lot can happen in 12 months and thus it's time to update my previous review of The Lodge. Now a…read moreresident on "this side of town" I find The Lodge a great local spot to have up my sleeve and have grown to appreciate the healthy menu items, the fact they pour Odyssey Project beans (a personal favourite) and the opportunity to see an array of customers come in and out as they go about their day. Their all day menu gives plenty of options and all items feature a focus on fresh ingredients and a good dose of wholesome nutrition. I had the brekkie wrap this morning with mushrooms, spinach, eggs and onion relish. For less than a tenner it set me up for a day of errand running. There's no effort from the staff to rush you and it's become a great spot to bring my notebook for a session to gather my thoughts before really getting into the day. Lani of 2015 really thinks Lani of December 2013 was being way too harsh.

Whenever I'm in The Gap I'll grab a coffee from here. Always happy staff ready to take my order and…read morealways a top tasting coffee and breaky!! Can also grab a bag of beans for the home machine while I'm there too!

I came here last week for brunch with the girlfriends on an incredibly hot 35 degree summers day…read more(all Brisbanites know what I'm talking about) and although not having aircon Fox and Rabbit was worth the sitting! Tucked away in back streets, there was so much parking around the cafe and it was an easy find. I got the 'fancy avo' which included sour dough toast, avocado, dukkah, feta and it was supposed to have cherry tomatoes (however I think they forgot). I also added a fried egg on the side. I can undoubtedly say that this was one of the best avo toasts I've had in a while, mainly because the amount of avocado I got was ridiculously heavenly and it didn't drain my bank account! I also got a mango, banana and watermelon smoothie which was amazing, completely cooling me down. Will most definitely be coming back here.

Finally made it to this little cafe and it was definitely worth a visit and wish I'd visited…read moresooner. Good menu for breakfast and lunch and nice coffee. Loved our meals - breakfast burger and pumpkin & dukka on toast. Very tasty and enjoyable brunch. Friendly staff and delightful decor inside and nice seating outside too.

Friendly staff, great service and coffee. Fantastic location…read morewith plenty of space, not the usual urban Cafe - a real surprise! Picnic rugs are provided to sit anywhere.

Really good coffee-they use Rogue Coffee Beans. Friendly staff, always chatty and helpful. Haven't…read moretried the food in the cabinets yet but it always looks like a good morning tea addition. The added bonus is they are open from 5.30am so those early morning commutes are made just that little bit easier with a delicious coffee in hand. A must try for the locals!

Apart from the great coffee, the biggest drawcard for this cute little coffee shop is the friendly…read moreAmerican owner who always has a smile and a joke early in the morning. As well as beverages you can get pretty good sandwiches, muffins and cookies and did I mention the coffee is fantastic? With a 'big' coffee at only $4 even with soy milk, vanilla flavour and an extra shot its good for the wallet too. While waiting for your caffeine hit, you can check out the seriously ugly mugs adorning the shop.

I walked over to the Ugly Mug from the B&B where I am staying and got one of the best lattes I've…read moreever had. I also got a small quiche which I enjoyed on the little back deck area. The barista was charming and efficiently handled the folks queued up for coffee. The only thing lacking for this American is free WiFi. But, then again, the place might loose its charm if filled with MacBook-staring jerks like me!

This cafe, awkwardly positioned in a pocket of Pickering Road, might seem familiar. Their interior…read morehas been done before - mismatched plates and cups, famous people as table numbers, kitsch china figurines and oddly, many lifesize jars of Nutella. But give it a chance. What gives this spot a point of difference, in my opinion, is their choose-your-own-adventure style breakfast menu. They give you the base (eggs and toast - $8.90) and the rest is up to you. Pulled pork (china town style, hoisin meets char siu and dances with soy), vegetable fritter, Haloumi, mushroom, hollandaise? The list is seemingly endless. I arrived to try it all out at 11:30ish on a Friday. It's not overly busy but noisy. You've been warned. The concrete shell of this store means sound proofing isn't an option. Their specialty drink appears to be a cappucino (Genovese beans) with weird and wonderful flavours like nutella or such mixed through. I stick with a flat white that's easy to drink but lacking any oomph. I had read a review previous to going that said ask for a double-shot if you prefer a real coffee kick and I'm inclined to agree. As tempted as I was by the sides menu, I opted for a 6-in Steak & Philly Sub ($10). I've never had a philly steak before but when my plate is served I'm a little lost as what to do with the second slice of baguette. Served as an open sandwich, I'd happily pay a little less for not having the lonesome slice of bread or pay a little extra to have more topping to use on the other slice. I'd actually also love to know if I could have swapped the baguette out for it all served on a bed of spinach. I quite like what's going on at Hansell & Gretel. It's not new but it is a new take on breakfast for this particular area which (and they're directly across the road from iconic Grub Street) I think makes it an interesting game of play for locals! I liked that it wasn't stuffy or pretentious, just familiar food done reasonably well.

Hansell & Gretel is a fairly new spot in Gaythorne, open for breakfasts and lunches every day of…read morethe week. It's small, unpretentious but a bit quirky, and does good food and coffee with friendly service and reasonable prices. The menu selection has some interesting things on there (each has a fairytale-themed name - cute), with a mix of savoury and sweet options, but what is excellent is the long list of extras that means you can tailor your meal to suit. I like being able to add avocado and haloumi to everything! There is also a small, slightly more lunch-focused section of the menu which has things like a burger, philly cheese steak sub, and banh mi. I'm told the philly cheese steak sub is good, it definitely is big! I haven't tried any of the sweet menu options yet, but so far the savoury things I've tried have been yum. They have a decent looking selection of cakes/muffins/etc, many of which are gluten-free or dairy-free (or both). Hansell & Gretel is right next to train (Gaythorne station) and bus (390), but free street parking is also available down nearby side-streets. Seating is both inside and outside, I just wish the outside seats got sunshine in winter! It should be a cooler outdoor spot in summer though to make up for it. Latest update: something has changed, and it's more than the refreshed menu with higher prices (that now exceed the value for money tipping point in my opinion - I know the Woodchopper's Breakfast is huge but it's also $28 and for breakfast I just can't bring myself to pay that). I can't quite put my finger on it but H&G is definitely not as great as it used to be, unfortunately. The coffee is still good, they still play good music, and the sweet treats cabinet still rates highly, but my brunch devotion has waned in favour of other places in the area.

Call it a left over side effect of having visited most new openings in Brisbane post haste for…read morealmost four years but it is taking some "rehab" to rediscover a love of exploring new cafes and leaving the comfort zone of my local weekend haunt. On a recent inspired Sunday, remembering hearing many good things about Neighbourhood Coffee Roasters, which calls the old Rainworth General Store home, friends and I gathered and spent a leisurely breakfast. For the first time in many moons I looked at the menu with genuine excitement. Of course there's the obligatory cafe items, and comforts with modern twists like a fig glazed ham and cheese toastie, but then it's mixed with surprise additions like a green tea soba noodle salad (yes I went there for breakfast), splashes of kimchi and a tumeric iced chai latte. Tumeric is so 2016 it hurts. As the cafe filled with weekend brunch hunters, we were never rushed as our group of four grazed through our breakfast and stayed on for another round of coffee. Coffee while we're talking that is roasted by the cafe and consistently turned out a exceptional cup both as a long black and flat white. Add in the chat we had with one of the owners about the history of the building and their discoveries of old advertising signs as they renovated the space and you've got me giving this local gem two thumbs up. Pro Tip: there's heaps of space in the back room for prams and kids (especially out in the back vege garden) and for those of us dog loving cafe hoppers - the four-legged patrons are welcomed with ample footpath seating.

I've only been to Neighbourhood Coffee Roasters once. It's usually my practice to review after…read morevisiting at least twice, to see if the first time was a fluke or one-off disaster. This place gets an exception. First visit, I know this place is going to be hugely popular. The put your name on a list and wait 45 minutes popular. I had the Japanese cheese toast with miso emulsion. Was pretty amazing. The coffees were great. The staff are attentive (and good looking). The owner could tell we were coffee drinkers, so brought us over some cold drip to compare with the iced filter we had bought. The only downside - the building seems to get quite hot.

What a little daydream this spot is!…read more It's a vintage, hipster cafe with a furniture store attached. Not sure if they sell actual antiques or things that look beautiful and old. This place is famous with locals, I stopped by after a real estate listing bragged that the house was near local favourite, Nowhere Cafe. It's in a rustic old shop front with geraniums in pots and lots of outdoor seating. They fast and friendly, with delicious food and coffee. I'm sorry I didn't get to spend more time here. I will try to have brunch here again whenever I'm in Brisbane. This is exactly the type of cafe I love!

Nowhere Espresso sits in an unassuming pocket of Toowong and over hearing a conversation this…read moremorning, one cafe patron hit the nail on the head: "It's funny when you see the community come together at a new business. There's just that kind of vibe here." And she's right. The two mornings I've been to Nowhere this week have been broken up by locals dropping in and out being spoken to by name and hearing updates of their lives, their children and more. It's a very similar vibe to when you visit Antonia and Brad at PUK Espresso in Kangaroo Point. It's this that makes your Mambo coffee that much sweeter. They're still waiting on a food licence, so for now, it is a selection of cakes and some sandwiches. There's complimentary Wi-Fi too and a kitchen table in the shop next door perfect for a work session surrounded by beautiful things.

I've made a few trips to Penny, some just for coffee (takeaway and sit down) and a few with food…read more Across the board, Penny is outstanding in terms of Brisbane's cafe scene. The baristas are exceptionally skilled, and there is a selection of roasts to choose from. While I normally like my coffee black, something that isn't too hard to make, I've had a few flat whites from Penny which have been excellent. A friend of mine asked if they're able to pull a piccolo using soy milk, without the milk splitting. Despite indicating that the barista don't need to try if they haven't made one before, they produced one (after two failed attempts) by slowly adjusting the extraction to the point where they could add a shot to soy milk without producing soy cheese. Doing this despite explicitly not needing to is the sort of above and beyond that earns long-term customers. The food is similarly stellar. The avo on sourdough may at first blush seem like a pricier version of what everyone else is doing. The flavours in Penny's version are, however, inventive and balanced to a point I haven't had elsewhere. There's a nice balance between the feta, dukkah and pomegranate where you can taste all of them without one overpowering the other. The vegetabowl is similarly great. There's just enough of each ingredient that you can taste them, without the dish being overpowered by one note. Penny's interior makes maximal use of the space. There are comfortably sized tables out front and inside, and some bar seating by the espresso machine. The best seats in the house, though, are out back, and include a few longer tables. The staff at Penny are attentive, friendly and great at pulling a coffee and making food.

What a gem! Penny is the best cafe in the area by far. It is rare to find a cafe that provides an…read moreexcellent choice of coffee (try the home brew) and delicious breakfast. The staff is friendly