New Brisbane

Sisco
1/500 Boundary St, Spring Hill
Ph: 3839 4995
Open Mon-Fri 7am-3.30pm Sat 8am-2pm. Unfortunately not Sundays.
15% surcharge on public holidays

Sisco has everything I want in a café: the food consistent and notches above most for choice and price, the staff charismatic, the décor aesthetically pleasing. The proximity to my house is merely a bonus. I’ve probably eaten breakfast out in Spring Hill once a year for the five that I have lived in this woefully foodless suburb. The music? Wait.. I don’t remember. That’s a good thing because I’m often painfully aware of what offensive tracks are ruining my appetite and raining on my weekend gossip parade with whichever girlfriend is also nursing a Sunday hungover.

On this particular occasion the friend is Mel and we visit Sisco on a Monday; hence we’re particularly worse for wear after prolonged drinking in the Queen’s honour. Our waiter Dan notices and is especially attentive to us lest we forget to order before storytelling begins.

As testament to our mental deficit we order frappes in winter, but are well rewarded for our stupidity. Mel has a raspberry, cranberry, lemon & mint frappe and I have a fresh espresso frappe (both $4.50). They are great. Frappes aren’t hard, but 9 times out of 10 you will get watery juice with chunks of ice rather than a harmonious blend of flavour and brain freeze. The beverage list also offers fresh juices with optional noni, goci or acai shots, smoothies, milk shakes, health shakes (protein shake with banana, whey, raw egg, wheatgerm, yoghurt & milk), t2 teas and gorgeous belaroma coffee any way you like it.

The breakfast menu looks good -in particular the bircher muesli, yoghurt & raspberry apple compote ($5.50) - but we choose from the lunch menu. In hindsight the tasty vegie sandwich with haloumi, caramelised onion, parmesan, tomato relish, rocket & mayo ($10.50) seems like a superfluous conglomerate of cheese and dip, and I’m glad Mel isn’t as pedantic when it comes to ordering, because it could easily be the holy grail of hangover sangas. There are too many rules I’ve designed to govern my meal selection that in theory offer consumer protection from ill-conceived flavour combinations, but the truth is that I often suffer plate envy as a result. Luckily my open Turkish with smoked salmon, cream cheese, capers, red onion, rocket & lemon ($9.50) doesn’t disappoint. I usually regret smoked salmon at breakfast but this fresh combo proves to be a fantastic means to reintroduce solids into my post-party diet.

When the plates are cleared and conversation has run dry, our affable waiter, as if by telepathy, offers us a sample of the chocolate mousse tart that Mel has been eyeing off. We hang around the counter picking at the tart and discuss with him organic beers which sadly they aren’t licensed to sell. In another display of vagueness (and probably from spending all my coin the night before) I forget to tip the guy for such a pleasurable café visit, so I hope this review will suffice.

Decent serves, prompt wait times, personable staff.. in short, the team at Sisco do everything right. It’s such a rarity to find a Brisbane cafe that ticks all the boxes, which means I get doubly excited when I do. Definitely a newcomer to my Top 5 Cafes and they get the gong for best frappes in Brisbane.