You know the coffee is going to be good when there's a roastery in the house.
The Roastery Cafe has its home in same building as Rouge Coffee Roasters, wrapping itself around the shiny Probat roaster which can be seen from the cafe through a glass window. Of course the cafe's house blend comes from Rouge Coffee.
There's a couple of large communal tables at the front of the cafe and many more smaller tables in the long walkway out to the back section.
If you want to take your favourite pooch with you, make sure there's space out the front.
Out the back a vertical vegetable garden turns a boring wall into a green oasis with street art enhancement. I love the giant fish that appears to be swimming out of the garden.
The menu has some nice touches, like the citrus infused mascarpone that goes on the pimped up banana bread or dill pickles and limed zucchini with the smoked salmon on toast.
The lunch menu is heavy on sandwiches and rolls with diversions like house relish, lemon mustard mayo and tomato basil sauce to add flavour direction. There's pulled pork, of course, and an epic steak sandwich that sounds worth trying.
Rouge Coffee pride themselves on sourcing the best quality green beans and carefully roasting them to bring out individual flavour characteristics. If you love the house blend like I did, take some home to enjoy again.
And for all those budding baristas or coffee nazis, Rouge Coffee have Barista Classes in three levels which will help you perfect your home coffee or start your coffee career off in the cafe world.
The Roastery Cafe is open for breakfast every day and for lunch during the week. Find it at 25 Glenelg Street, Brisbane.
Best tip: Parking can be troublesome in this part of town but if you are lucky you can grab a park on the premises.
Bottom line: Breakfast prices start at $14.90 up to $19.90.
Kerry Heaney
Disclaimer: Ed+bK was a guest of The Roastery Cafe.