New Brisbane

Its nice to have a routine sometimes. Something to look forward to every week. I used to always find my self at The Family Nightclub on Fridays and in The Sunbar on Saturdays. The Family never got boring, The Sunbar did. Times have changed, I am not at Family as much as I used to be and I am hardly ever in Sunbar since the novelty wore off. However one recent trend that has started in my life is my routine sunday breakfast in West End. I have been going to West End for breakfast for a good year now and having tasted what is on offer I thought it would be good to write a summary.

There is a great deal on offer in West End. One of the best places for breakfast in west end has always been The Gunshop cafe, not only breakfast, but the food in general is of fantastic quality at the Gunshop cafe. I’ve heard some rumours of the Gunshop cafe having some chef troubles, I didn’t believe it at first, but then the cafe stopped opening on weekends, however they are now opening on Saturdays.

The Gunshop cafe
53 mollison street west end
Phone : 38442241
fully licensed - byo wine only - $5.oo per bottle corkage
Tuesday to Saturday : 7am - 10pm

I would highly recommend breakfast at the Gunshop Cafe, however, if you have never been, you might not realize that booking is almost essential, the Gunshop cafe is one West End’s most popular restaurants and finding an empty seat on a Saturday morning is not an easy task.

The Three Monkeys is across the road from the Gunshop Cafe and also presents a less costly alternative to the Gunshop cafe, however the quality has never been the best when it comes to food and I wouldn’t recommend it as a venue for breakfast.

Spoon
220 Melbourne St
West End 4101 QLD
Phone: (07) 3255 2442

Across the road from Three Monkeys is Spoon. A venue that has broken the trend in West End, generally labeled the Coffee Club of west end, Spoon presents a clean, conservative approach to breakfast on a Sunday morning. The basic breakfast starts from $10 including coffee/tea and despite Spoon’s appearance as a more, upper class venue, the prices are hard pressed to reflect this. In fact Spoon is perhaps of the cheaper places in West End, and although perhaps not the best place to eat, I would recommend Spoon for a cheap and quick breakfast of respectable quality.

If you stand in front of spoon and look directly across the road to your right, you will notice Kafe Mez. Now here is a place where not only is the food expensive, but it ain’t really that great, so lets skip it. As we move forward, we come across Yallah, the middle eastern part of west end, want breakfasts? move on. Before we get to Cibo, lets cross the road, walk a bit further are we come across The Pavilion.

The Pavilion
123 Boundary St,
West End, Queensland
Australia 4101
ph : 07 3844 6272

I would have never ever gone to breakfast at the pavilion if I knew I wasn’t going to write this review, but so I had to, I couldn’t leave one of Brisbane’s largest bars and venues in general out of this review, that would have been a little bias. So one fateful Sunday morning not too long ago, my girlfriend and I decided to try the Pavilion, despite her attempts to change my mind and head to our usual place at Espresso Head.

What did I think? It was the absolute worst experience I have ever had at a restaurant for any meal, any time of day. I have had better service, better food, better hospitality at McDonalds. I do seriously mean that without any hesitation what so ever. We sat outside under the heater (the only bonus) given that it was a cold day this made us feel slightly more comfortable. Having ordered our “Breakfast on Boundary” we started what turned out to be the longest waiting period I have ever had to wait in my life, I kid you not, we had the food on our table 1hr and 13 mins later. What was the reason? 2 of the chefs had called in sick that morning and the head chef had to come in. That would be understandable if they had told us BEFORE they took our order and BEFORE we had waited for an hour. Offcourse they didn’t because its the Pavilion, and thats how things work.

At around the hour mark, I was about to get up and leave, my girlfriend was more keen than I was, I approached the manager and explained to him that we have been waiting for literally an hour and that not only had the coffee that we requested to be brought out with our meals already came and gone some 30 mins ago, but that I was seriously, seriously about to get up and leave. As the manager was apologizing and giving me the same story as the waiter about the chefs, breakfast arrived.

Thank God! We were starving, anything would or should have been good by then! No, not the breakfast at the Pavilion, for the $14 or so dollars that we each paid for breakfast, I can honestly say that it was possibly worse than a continental breakfast at a cheap motel. The eggs were not even cooked, the bread was burnt, it was just horrible. So we ate as quick as we could and left. The only saving grace was the manager not charging us for the coffee, its okay though, I was glad I went to The Pavilion, I learnt one important lesson. Never go back!

So lets put The Pavilion aside for a second and focus on the good things, down the road from the Pavilion, the road is full of restaurants and restaurants offering breakfast. Amongst the crowd, the likes of Zomba, Tempo and Espresso head are worth mentioning. Click for a review of Zomba Bar West End.

ESPRESSOHEAD
169 Boundary St West End 4101
Phone (07) 3844 8324

Espresso Head is West End’s best choice for breakfast. There I said it, its done, if you have never gone to breakfast in west end, start with Espresso Head. The place can be best described as a little alternative. With posters of upcoming events plastering the walls, with the waiters and waitresses dressed better suited to a freak convention, Espresso Head wouldn’t appear as a viable option for breakfast to most people, but as you walk past it on Sunday the whole place is packed. Seats are hard to find, but not impossible if you want to wait a few minutes. You can sit inside, outside, it doesn’t matter, because at Espresso Head, it isn’t about the venue, its about the breakfast, and my god can they make breakfast.

There is so much to pick from at Espresso head, usually when a place has a massive menu like that, its not the best sign in the world, so initially when I first started going to Espresso head, I was a little conservative with my orders, sticking with the Aussie or Canadian breakfast was usually the way togo, but lately, I have have been keen to try all the other options on the menu, and I have to say the Eggs Benedict is simply divine. I would absolutely and utterly recommend Espresso Head to anyone for breakfast.

I have been meaning to go and try Breakfast at Uber and I might get the chance to do just that this Sunday, so I shall update this then. There is so much choice in West End for a lazy all day breakfast on the weekend, if you are not used to breakfast in west end, or simply having breakfast made for you, do give it a go, there is nothing like having a good breakfast on a laid back lazy Sunday, it really makes your day. Just remember, don’t go to the Pavilion. If you know any good places around West End for breakfast, please contact us, or add your comment.