Gunshop Café @ West End

Gunshop Café was probably the one of the earliest cafes that had been recommended to me by friends. My sister also went to try it sometime last year and recommended it. Every time I walk past it on a Saturday or Sunday, there is always a huge line of hungry patrons waiting. I never really got why they were willing to line for an hour or so to get brekkie.

I finally got to visit Gunshop Café today. It wasn’t too busy at all. The café’s indoor seating area is small, but out the back, it opens up into a nice and cosy courtyard area where you can escape from Brisbane for a little while.

I met up with a friend for brunch on a weekday and when we got there, the courtyard seating were already mostly occupied so we opted for indoor seating. By the time we left, most of the indoor seating was occupied. And this was on an ordinary weekday.

My friend and I were caught by the attention of one menu item, and that item only: potato feta hash cakes, spinach, tomato and herb sour cream. I remember this being highly recommended by my sister when she came.

Because each serve of the hash cakes as a meal came in threes, we decided to get 2 sides of the hash cakes, to spare our stomachs a little.

Because so many people had recommended the hash cakes to me, my expectations of it were already high. However, the hash cakes did not disappoint me! The lightly battered hash cake was crunchy on the outside and when you bite into it, the aroma of the feta and herbs just melt away in your mouth. The herbed sour cream complemented the hash cake because it didn’t make hash cakes taste dry.

We both also shared the Swiss brown mushrooms, herbed ricotta, spinach, heirloom cherry tomatoes, olive oil and olive sourdough. Even though they were simple breakfast items, the quality of the produce used was amazing!

 

The mushrooms were juicy, the tomatoes were sweet and juicy, the herbed ricotta not too overpowering and just right, and the olive sourdough itself was quite special and went extremely well with everything.

We both got smoothies: I got the mixed berry smoothie…

 

…and my friend got the banana and passionfruit smoothie

 

You could really taste the fresh berries used in the smoothie. They use Barambah organic yoghurt and this really did make a difference as well!

Even though I don’t usually drink things other tea, coffee and water, this smoothie left me wanting for some more!

Avocado, Barambah quark, flaked sea salt on sourdough was petty average – not that special.

Overall, I think the quality of Gunshop Café’s food is topnotch and when they are not busy, the food quality turns out better as well. However, for the portion size of the food, I think the price range here is too overpriced. With what you’re paying for, you could easily get something very nice and more in quantity at other cafes e.g. Campos Coffee.