This 100-year-old building on Logan Road started life as the National Bank, and has seen service as a bird hospital, record store and garment retailer. A faded slogan on an inside exposed brick wall offering "dresses for $1.50" testifies to a storied past.
Since 2010, however, this has been one of the great cafés of Brisbane – a big, airy, sophisticated place with a cool lightbulb chandelier, mismatched mirrors and olive green banquettes. Seven or so outdoor tables are on hand to deal with the overflow, and on a sunny Sunday they're all full, with a small queue of customers happy to wait it out. And so they should.
We're in the mood for dessert for breakfast, and we don't have to look any further that the first item on the menu. It goes by the unassuming name of ricotta blueberry pancakes, so we did not expect to be served something akin to magical unicorn food.
A stack of three blueberry ricotta flatjacks is flanked by yellow lemon curd dollops and fresh blueberries. On top: a scoop of burnt butter ice cream hidden under a proud canopy of pink rose Persian fairy floss, garnished by a single bright marigold. When this came out my eight-year-old dining companion's jaw hit the table. Gitchie, gitchie, ya-ya, da-da!
It's certainly a dish for the sweet of tooth, its sugar highs mollified by the acid curd and two dollops of double cream standing by like safety wardens. But in case you like to live dangerously (or are a magical unicorn), there's also a little pot of maple syrup to drizzle over the lot.
It's a dish of pure joy, the kind that can sometimes come with a ridiculous price tag, so we're pleased to report that's not the case with Lady M. We paid $24 in April of 2023 for the pancakes. The most expensive item on the menu? A confit duck waffle, which would not deter us at $32. If you're feeling less flashy a standard two eggs on sourdough is $16 and smashed avo, $20.
Breakfast and brunch are the go here but lunch is a small but exciting menu of fish tacos, cauliflower florets, fried chicken burgers and a Reuben. We also appreciated the presence on the drinks menu of mini 'milk jars' for the littlies that are cheaper and less elaborate than a full milkshake. The Lady Marmalade crew understand their audience, and indeed the café sits right across the road from both the Stones Corner Library and the Hanlon Park playground, so it's popular family choice as well as a drawcard for SINKs and DINKs.
Hats off to the service: attentive, friendly, and despite the full house, fast. Lady Marmalade is a class act, the kind of place you'd happily take visitors to town, and one of the neighbourhood's absolute essentials.