Brisbane

Idle is the successor to Agnes Bakery, and the tonka bean kouign-amann alone justifies whatever New Farm had to give up to get Tamsin Johnson to design the room. Coal-fired rotisserie chicken lands on the dinner side of the menu — order it if you're staying past noon.

Order Baghdad eggs with smoked almond crumb and labneh, cross-laminated pain au chocolat, tonka bean kouign-amann, coal-fired rotisserie chicken

Newstead finally got a bingsu specialist worth the visit — the taro and black sesame is the combination that's been circulating, and the Earl Grey variety lands better than it sounds. Semi Semi has brought Brisbane's Korean dessert scene north of Sunnybank for the first time.

Order Taro and black sesame bingsu, Earl Grey and Thai tea varieties, plant-based coconut mango chocolate

Thirty square metres in the Bunnings carpark, and Speed Dial is consistently doing better espresso than half the sit-down cafes in Newstead. The toastie with marinara dipping sauce has no business being this good from a shipping container.

Order Coffee Supreme's South blend, toasties with marinara dipping sauce, daily batch brew, matcha drinks

Named the world's eighth best coffee shop in 2025, Coffee Anthology runs a multi-roaster rotation that changes week to week — the cup you had last Thursday isn't the cup this Thursday. Caramelised banana rice pudding sounds like a stretch for a cafe menu; order it anyway.

Order Rotating coffee roasts matched to brewing methods, caramelised banana rice pudding, pandan waffles, croissant eggs benedict

The yellow facade on West End's Boundary Street isn't pretending to be anything other than visible, and the Bangladeshi-Australian kitchen inside backs it up. Gerald Ong called it his favourite bite of the year; come before the lunch specials are gone.

Order Bangladeshi-inspired breakfast dishes, lunch specials blending two cultures, evening cocktails

Scarborough's newest bakery from Anytime Coffee and Riser Bread alumni runs gochujang scrolls from a space that faces the water, and the citrus morning buns have given Moreton Bay a proper morning reason to visit. The sausage rolls are better seasoned than they need to be — that's the whole point of those pedigrees.

Order Gochujang scrolls, citrus morning buns, perfectly seasoned sausage rolls

Brisbane's first Thai vinyl cafe, buried in a Little Street laneway in The Valley, has a khao soi that holds its own in any conversation about where to eat in Fortitude Valley. The Single O coffee is the reason people arrive before lunch and don't leave quickly.

Order Khao soi, congee, kao lao sets, kai kon (Thai-style scrambled eggs), Single O coffee

The beef rendang toastie is the order at Alby's, and Wavell Heights has been pulling regulars to Daniel Bowles's suburban room specifically for it. The iced tiramisu drink with cold vanilla foam is the chaser nobody comes for and everyone orders.

Order Beef rendang toastie (the icon), iced tiramisu drink with cold vanilla foam