Matcha lovers, it’s time to look beyond green tea-flavoured delights for your next Japanese-inspired brunch feed. Yes, we know, it’s both aesthetic and delicious, but if you’ve ever been to a Tokyo department store food hall, you’ll know that there is so much more to Japanese sweet treats and snacks than matcha—and all of it lends itself extremely well to breakfast (or lunch).
To help broaden your horizons, we’ve rounded up the best Japanese cafes in Brisbane where you can get acquainted with everything from onigiri and tamago to hojicha tiramisu and thickshakes. Don’t worry though, there’s still plenty of matcha on the menus—and no judgement here if you still decide to stick exclusively to green-hued eats and drinks.
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Mountain River Patisserie
84 Mango Street, Runcorn
Mountain River Patisserie is a little slice of Japanese zen in the heart of Brisbane’s south side—no really, it even has its own rock garden out the back. While the stunning, traditional interiors and artisanal Japanese pottery are worth a visit alone, the menu of sweet treats made entirely in house from scratch and Japanese teas sourced directly from select farms across Japan come in a close second.
Owners Befian and Sing have created something truly special here, and they’ve been quietly building a cult-following since opening in 2017. Alongside regular menu items like onigiri, okonomiya quiche, hokkaido cheesecakes and caneles in flavours like matcha, yuzu and lychee, they do a new dessert special every single week—and they have to be seen to be believed. All this AND it’s dog-friendly? Say less.
Supernova
89-91 McLachlan Street, Fortitude Valley
Get your fix of sandos and soba at Supernova—Fortitude Valley’s modern Japanese-inspired cafe packing satisfaction into every bite. Their sandos combine Japanese milk bread with fillings like crumbed wagyu, soft truffled egg, and the classic chicken katsu, all served with shoyu BBQ dipping sauce and pickled ginger. Other crowd-favourites include their crab omurice and chazuke—a Japanese rice dish with wagyu and dashi base broth for you to generously pour over.
As for their drinks, Supernova basically doubles as a Japanese specialty heaven with plenty of matcha, hojicha, and kuromitsu to go around.
Hikari
22 Gowan Road, Sunnybank Hills
Image credit: Hikari Cafe | Instagram
Not to be confused with the Teneriffe restaurant of the same name (though we do love their bao buns), Springwood’s Hikari Japanese Kitchen & Cafe offers up a menu of sandos, omurice, onigiris, rice bowls, Japanese pastas and sweet treats, which have you covered from morning right through until dinner. Bonus, while you wait for your order (sipping on an iced honeycomb toffee latte of course), you can pick up one of their cute DIY Resin Kits and whip yourself up a trinket to take home.
Kimino
71 Wardell Street, Ashgrove
Japanese-style interiors always seem to nail the combo of minimalist but warm and homely, and that’s just what you’ll find at Ashgrove’s Kimino. Here they dabble exclusively in coffee, ceramics and baked goods, with the former sourced from both Japan and locally, and extracted via pour-over for the most flavoursome sip—though you can still grab a cold brew (in tea form too) or almond latte if you’re yet to be converted.
On the snacks front, savoury bites come in the form of toasted sandwiches, but what you’ll really want to have an appetite for is the sweets. As well as a selection of pastries from Danny’s Bread, Kimino is always well-stocked with house-baked goodies like caneles, cookies and their signature financiers, a light and moist French almond cake. And yes, of course they do matcha.
Wuta Cafe
52 Merivale Street, South Brisbane
Image credit: Wuta Cafe | Instagram
If you’re a matcha addict, you probably already know about Wuta Brewer in the CBD, but the home of the famed matcha soft-serve also has a sister spot in South Brisbane, Wuta Cafe, that serves up omurice and ochazuke doused in your choice of tea or broth all day long.
The presentation here is immaculate, with everything served on delicate wooden trays, and the cafe itself is an oasis of atmospheric calm in the midst of bustling Merivale Street. Also, they do a Biscoff hojicha—just saying.
Eight Ounce Cafe
2/10 Fitzgerald Avenue, Springwood
You’ll need more than one visit to Eight Ounce Cafe to properly appreciate their entirely Japanese-inspired menu of brunch feeds, let alone the lengthy list of matchas, artisanal teas, mochas and coffees on offer. From chashu and onsen tamago and ebi katsu sandos to matcha-infused bagels and hojicha tiramisu pots, there’s enough here to have you umming and ahhing over your order for a while.
Luckily, you’ve got plenty to sip on while you make your decision, including iced pistachio matcha lattes, extra dark 85% hot chocolates and hojicha thickshakes. We hear the queues can get lengthy and the menus can sell out well before closing time, so set your alarm bright and early for this one.
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Cafe Mori
803 Stanley Street, Woolloongabba
Image credit: Cafe Mori
How do you like your matcha? Whatever the answer, you can bet Cafe Mori has it covered across their menu of matcha lattes, baked goods and milk rolls—but they don’t just stop there. This cosy Japanese cafe serves up a decadent breakfast menu too, so you better come hungry.
While the brunch plates aren’t overly Japanese-inspired, they are damn delicious—think breakfast burgers, pistachio-loaded French toast and eggs benny. The real treat though, is their creamy lattes in flavours like vanilla, matcha and Biscoff, laden with cream and ready to sweeten up your morning.
Koto Sanpo
1/62 Charlotte Street, Brisbane CBD
Matcha lattes, frozen matcha milk frappes, matcha floats and iced matchas - you name the drink, Koto Sanpo is doing it matcha form. You could honestly try a different one of their matcha sips every day for a month—though I always make a beeline for the watermelon matcha latte float.
Tucked away down Elizabeth Arcade, the CBD Japanese cafe also specialises in lava omurice, katsu curry and udon, with their beef katsu lava omurice a lunchtime favourite. Just make sure you always get a side of Japanese curry chips—I don’t know what they dust on those, but they are as addictive as hell.
Souffle Japancakes
4/588 Logan Road, Greenslopes
Image credit: Ranyhyn Laine | Urban List
We couldn’t write a list of the best Japanese cafes in town without including our favourite spot for souffle pancakes, a Tokyo cafe scene essential. The fluffiest pancakes you’ll ever have the pleasure of eating, these jiggly stacks come in flavours of creme brulee, Philadelphia berry cheesecake, matcha, Oreo and Nutella, as well as savoury options like eggs benedict and smoked salmon avo.
If you need something more substantial first (though trust me, they won’t leave you hungry), Souffle Japancakes also offers up Japanese sandos on the weekends, as well as mochi gelato. Also good to know? You can find them at Eat Street from Friday to Sunday at the Fluffy Japancakes container, with the same flavours on offer.
Looking for more morning inspiration? Head here:
Image credit: Mountain River Patisserie | Facebook