The 13 best breakfasts in Brisbane right now

Must try: Espresso waffles

The New Black is a bright, stylish café right opposite the Beat nightclub in Fortitude Valley. It's one of the main puzzle pieces in Bakery Lane, the design and hospitality development that is one of the nicest things ever to happen to a grungy part of town. Breakfast really is the main meal of the day here, because the place pretty much shuts at lunchtime (1pm during the week, 2pm weekends). They make a fantastic cup of joe and the love of the bean extends to a menu star – the Espresso Waffles. Fresh off the iron, two large, springy triangles are layered with mascarpone, topped with meringue shards and dusted with cocoa powder. Vanilla ice cream and sliced banana join the fray, unified by lashings of sweet and strong espresso syrup made with the Parallel Roasters goods. This is a breakfast indulgence to be sure, but it's not writing a sugar cheque your body can't cash. It's a gem, and its composition of browns and off-whites looks bloody nice on the plate too.

Must try: Shakshuka

What do you get when you serve authentic Middle Eastern fare in a quintessentially Queenslander-style corner café? The answer is Naïm, one of Brisbane’s favourite all-day breakfast spots serving modern Australian takes on Arab-world classics. Perch yourself up in the quaint dining room overlooking Paddington’s jacaranda-lined streets and be transported to Tunisia with their most popular dish, a traditional shakshuka (baked eggs). Other Middle Eastern-inspired meals include a brekkie pita board with light and fresh housemade hummus and a souvlaki octopus skewer plate – add zhug for a spicy hit. If it’s something closer to home you’re craving, Naïm also serves a mean smashed avo toast with an unexpected pomegranate gel, plus quality coffee by Blacklab. There’s also the option to turn any of the dishes into a plant-based alternative – yep, even the meatballs.

Must try: Smoked Paprika breakfast

Take a stroll through the tiny locality of Rosalie on a Saturday or Sunday morning and not only will you encounter three ice cream shops within 140 metres (yes, really) but an unassuming café that’s proven itself to be one of Brisbane’s busiest. Smoked Paprika doesn’t need fancy marble countertops or trendy letterboard signage to win over the hearts and stomachs of the discerning Brisbane diner. Generous servings of high-quality Hungarian-style breakfast is all that’s required to draw a crowd. The Smoked Paprika breakfast with a rich Hungarian beef stew, Turkish bread, grilled halloumi, poached eggs and hollandaise sauce is naturally the most popular dish on the menu. Belly-filling breakfast classics can also be found in the likes of zucchini fritters, eggs benny and even a Vegemite and cheese toastie for the littlies.

Must try: Ricotta blueberry pancakes

Truly, this is 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. 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. In case you like to live dangerously (or are a magical unicorn), there's also a little pot of maple syrup. Lady Marmalade is a class act, the kind of place you'd take visitors to town, and one of the neighbourhood's absolute essentials. 

Must try: Seasonal French toast

Cosy up to Gramps, Red Hill’s home of comfort food and damn good coffee. Unpretentiously delicious dishes make up the menu, like the seasonal French toast which starts with a base of sweet spiced and fried sourdough, topped with stewed fruits and all the sugary stuff. Breakfast mince and beans isn’t the most beautiful dish at the best of times, but Gramps challenges that with the addition of a sweet capsicum chilli jam and fresh Asian slaw. On the run? Treat yourself to a Single O coffee and one of their famous cookies that are as big as your face. Plus, any café that’s dog-friendly is a winner in our books.

Must try: Breakfast burger

We're not here to make lifestyle judgements, believe me, but if you happen to eat at Deli Dakota after a big night and order the Breakfast Burger, you'll soon be wondering what the heck happened to your hangover. This chunky thing is a proper burger: a soft toasted milk bun piled with bacon, thick fried egg, melted cheese, caramelised onion jam and barbecue sauce, with a little aioli for good measure – but the masterstroke is the addition of a cheeky hash brown. It might not be health food, but it's hard not to admire the sheer craft that has gone into it. Goodbye, existential angst! Your single origin flat white on the side might even have a cute seahorse crafted into the crema just to soothe your soul that little bit more. 

Must try: Breakfast carbonara omelette

If you like your breakfast with a side of solid Instagram engagement, Morning After is for you. While the food and venue may look as pretty as a (perfectly styled Instagram) picture, the team at Morning After are also serious about good food and big flavours. Take their breakfast carbonara. A wobbly 63-degree egg is dying to burst and coat fat ribbons of pappardelle in rivers of yolk. And if it truly is the ‘morning after’ you can wash down your sustenance with some hair of the dog in the form of a Mimosa or Bloody Mary. Just a heads up: Morning After is almost always busy, so be prepared to wait for a table.

Must try: Green eggs and ham

Those familiar with the Dr Seuss classic will know it's not just the eggs that are green, but the ham as well (hence the reluctance of the main character to give them a try). At the Gunshop Café, an icon of the Brisbane café scene if ever there was one, luckily it's just the eggs that are this colour: a light pesto scramble positioned on fried slices of leg ham on top of seedy quinoa and soy sourdough toast. Housemade tomato relish cuts through the heaviness while lashings of peppery rocket on top add extra greenery. I do so like them, Sam I Am.

Must try: Prawn and chilli jam open omelette

Woolloongabba's Paw Paw café manages to celebrate the nuances of Asian cuisine while nailing contemporary breakfast all at once. The usual suspects – from omelettes to fritters – take on an Asian variation with ingredients such as Worcestershire caramel and spicy chilli jam dressing. If a slow start is on the cards, the lunch menu – available from 11am onwards – includes a Malaysian yellow curry complete with potato, eggplant and roti. The venue itself is light, bright and modern with ample space for groups or cosy corners for two. You can’t miss the white weatherboard cottage located conveniently on Stanley Street, just a few kilometres southeast of the CBD.

Must try: Brekkie Bagel

You know those rare dishes that you randomly get cravings for at 3pm on a Tuesday afternoon? Just us? Try the Brekkie Bagel from Scout and you’ll know exactly what we're talking about. Gooey golden egg melts over the top of thick-cut kaiser bacon that’s accompanied perfectly by fresh tomato, rocket, cheese and a sweet relish made in-house. If eating in, it comes with a good serrated knife that cuts through the chewy bagel like a scalpel. It's a small thing, but small things make a big difference here at this essential Brisbane café, such as service so smiling and helpful that you'd swear the staff were about to ask for your autograph.

Must try: Ham and cheese croissant

The French classic is done extravagantly well at Flour and Chocolate, masters of bread and patisserie on Wynnum Road in Morningside: crisp, flaky pastry, creamy bechamel, excellent ham. Get a flat white to go with it, grab a seat in their refreshed outdoor dining space, and you'll be happy as a Sun King. Before you leave, stock up on baguettes and patisserie items for afternoon tea. In late 2022, the Morningside bakery reopened after an impressive renovation with double the shop space, an innovation that was sorely needed given the queues to even get into the old premises were very long.

Must try: Pork belly benedict

Someone at Sister is doing double duty grating spuds, mark our words, as the rustic potato cakes are huge, plump things, crumbed and fried but with a little bite left in them to differentiate from the flat, frozen variety. Two of these hash browns sub for bread in the Pork Belly Benedict. Asian pork belly is the sticky, savoury-sweet protein here, handily cubed so it doesn't become unwieldy. There's a buffer of wilted kale, and a poached egg sits on top of each one, bright and shiny with Hollandaise. Stab the egg and yolk soaks through luxuriantly. The richly flavoured result is a kind of street food-meets-café classic, and understandably popular. Sister's waffles have also attracted renown, while crumpets come courtesy of Wholly Crumpets in next door Bulimba. The coffee is Single Origin, the venerable roasters from Sydney's Surry Hills, and it's a kick-ass, earthy, eye-opening cuppa using Single O's Killerbee blend.

Must try: Dog's Breakfast

This Mount Gravatt coffee shop has a low-waste ethos and a large number of vegan and meat-free options. That doesn't stop Time Out from ordering the carnivore version of the signature Dog's Breakfast, designed to be a big feed. Belying the name, this is not a messy dish by any standard – it's a crowded but orderly-looking plate. Chipolatas sliced lengthways, housemade baked beans in tomato sauce, nicely crisped-up Gotzinger bacon, two hefty slabs of halloumi, two shiny confit cherry tomatoes and a swirl of scrambled egg on toasted rye sourdough are arranged around a thicket of wilted baby spinach. Flavours are nicely balanced between salt and umami hits and mollifying greens (there's no particular need for any seasoning here) and the dish is equal to any wolfish hunger. While canines are not allowed near the kitchen, your pooch isn't neglected: the menu lists meatballs and warm puppyccinos to please them.