Ugly Coffee

Graceville’s new cafe from a mother-and-daughter duo is blending authentic Korean flavours with contemporary drink trends and all-day dishes. 

Ugly only in name, the cafe takes the trends on your feed and spins them on their head—from house-made Yakgwa-inspired cold foams to specialty lattes and matcha affogatos. “As a Korean-Australian duo, we wanted to step away from the "basic" cafe model and create a space where our heritage informs our menu,” said Heeji Noh. “We wanted to challenge expectations, both in our drink creations and in how we define what a cafe can be.”

On the menu, Korean-inspired savoury dishes offer a flavour-forward start to your day. Customer favourites include the bulgogi baguette with flame-grilled bulgogi marinated beef, caramelised onions and a layer of oven-grilled cheese, and the Mayak corn egg drop—a take on Korea’s iconic sweet corn and mayo combo served with fluffy eggs. 

Don’t forget to peek in the cabinet too, where you can snag ingeolmi (a traditional Korean rice cake) and hotteok pound cakes (a sweet street snack) before they inevitably sell out. The most popular? The pull apart Yuküok garlic and cream cheese brioche that’s technically meant to be shared but we’ll be keeping to ourselves. 

“Our specialty at Ugly is the intersection of craft and culture,” said Noh. “We are always brainstorming, testing and refining new flavours to bring to our menu.”

Image credit: Ugly | Supplied