The Gunshop Cafe

Such a great place — always delicious, inventive food and friendly service. A standout café in Brisbane — today I had the most delicious fruit plate with coconut yoghurt and dukkah.

Came here with my sister and brother-​in-​law for breakfast. Had the tolouse sausage with poached eggs, sweet potato hash cake, rocket and tomato jam. Overall, it was pretty good. The egg was poached perfectly and the hash cake has a pleasant crispiness on the side where it was grilled. The sausage itself was good. The only problem I had with the dish was that it was a bit bland and the tomato jam overpowered the rest of the ingredients. The whole dish was crying out for a little spice. The rocket isn’t enough bite to go up against that tomato jam and sweet potato hash. The place itself is cute and in a fun neighborhood too.

I had dinner with a friend at the Gunshop Café. The gnocchi was incredible, as was the panacotta I enjoyed for dessert. Highly recommended!

I’ve had some ‘meh’ visits to the Gunshop in the past but really enjoyed the last one. I went there with a friend and my kids and had a nice brekkie in their courtyard area. The waiter made us feel very at home and I was surprised to learn that they had highchairs.

Lovely place to eat with a bunch of friends! They have a lot of inside and outside seating, food is amazing you get what you pay for. Definitely buy their chips best thing there!

Went here for a special lunch with boyfriend and was a little underwhelmed. Very pricey and sharing a pizza special they had is what saved us forking out 50 $ for lunch. My orange juice cost $ 7 and was equivalent to about 3 oranges worth of juice and a hellava lotta ice. Ok but would not return.

Terrible staff I’ve never been treated so poorly in Brisbane. The coffee was only average as well.

Great food and service. I especially loved the juicy pulled pork omelette that packed a lot of flavours!

I ordered the potato & feta hash cakes with tomatoes and baby spinach. It was a LOT of food, which was excellent, and the tomatoes were perfectly cooked so I was also happy. But, the potato & feta hash cakes themselves weren’t exactly rocking my socks off.
The food was okay, nothing really stood out to me this time round which was unfortunate as all the other meals I saw coming out looked amazing.
Coffees took forever to come out, and the time to get a menu was several minutes after seating, a bit too long for my liking. They were quite busy though as it was around 8am on a Thursday.
I will definitely be coming back, as its got a great atmosphere and the staff are so friendly, albeit slow today, and that warrants another shot.
The new items on their menu look scary good, so I will order again, then resubmit a review!

Always great. Service is fantastic, food delicious. I also got given a ceramic cup as a memento of the one I accidentally broke. Best breakfast place in west end.

I was extremely underwhelmed with Gunshop. The service was below average. Staff were distracted and don’t seem to really care about the customers.
I had heard rave reviews about the food so I was really excited to check it out. The only way to describe the food is gross… Soggy toast, hard poached watery eggs and sausages that tasted and looked like they came out of a can. Breakfast for two cost over $ 60 with coffee and I could’ve made it better myself at home. Wouldn’t feed that food to my cat… Definitely not heading back. I think Gunshop operates on being ‘hipster’ but has forgotten people actually have to eat the food they serve… I would rather good food and less of the ‘cool’ pretence.

Awesome little breakfast place out on the edge of West End. I ended up getting their eggs benedict; bacon with poached eggs and sourdough toast. Delicious. They also do a bloody mary that uses pureed tomatoes instead of the traditional tomato juice; not quite as salty and spicy as what I’m used to but it was quite pleasant. Sweeter, a little more floral tasting than what I usually expect from that morning cocktail.
The décor is gorgeous, well appointed with antiques and artwork. Highly recommended for a weekend brunch or for evening cocktails — they do have a full bar!

10/​10, will visit again. The staff were very accommodating when I asked to change tables after our drinks arrived — the women on the table next to us were insufferable, and although I probably threw out the whole table plan for the busy night ahead, I would have been filled with such disdain that everything that touched my mouth would have turned to ash.
I’m glad it didn’t, though. Mostly because all of it was absolutely delightful. We ordered way more than is necessary, as the tapas-​style share plates came out much larger than we anticipated. We chose one of each of the vegetarian options, and all that could be faulted is that the bowl of olives was absolutely enormous, and although we finished them, it was in beautiful agony on account of how full we were.
I’m very excited to try the infamous breakfast/​lunch/​brunch menu when I get the chance, but dinner definitely gets a high score from me.

I was staying in South Brisbane and reasonable walk from here and went a couple of times over 10 days or so. Really well put together food in a relaxed, comfortable and kind of funky atmosphere. The garden area out back is really pleasant in the mornings. Orders are taken quickly, coffee is pretty but otherwise rather unspectacular. The food is always interesting in both ingredients and presentation. A little on the pricey side, but a very pleasant dining experience.

This place has a good rep, but I haven’t eaten here yet, so I suspect this review will require updating later.
We were in West End looking for a late night coffee, and this was one of the few places open. We got in just in time, saw people being turned away not long after we got our drinks, although they may have been after a meal.
You can sit on the footpath, in the small dining area, or I saw a rather lovely garden area out the back I wouldn’t mind trying next time.
I had a hot chocolate and it was quite delicious with marshmallows on the side.
The staff were friendly, and over all, just a lovely spot to pop into. I’d definitely like to come back.

I had one of the best breakfasts I have ever had.
The Mooloolaba prawn omelette was absolute creative fusion genius. It was a delicate roll on a bed of seaweed and covered with Japanese kewpie mayonnaise toasted sesame and just the right amount of wasabi. A side of soy was an accompanying touch to add to taste.
I ate here over a decade ago and the memory of the sesame encrusted seared tuna, prepared by the founding owner chef Matt Christensen still remains one of the best seafood dishes I have ever had. Despite the changes in hands it appears that the gun shop has maintained a high standard.
For those that reminisce of the Gun Shop’s hay day you will find Matt and his brother Benn at the Crosstown Eating House which you may want to try out.

Décor: gorgeous. Food: delicious. Coffee: disappointing. Price: a little bit on the expensive side. Friendly service: a little bit lacking. Maybe we came at a busy time. They confused our drink orders, which they took first, and took quite a long time between that before taking our food orders.
My friends and I hit up this café just after a night of partying drunk and the food cured any and all hangovers we had. The weekend brunch menu is lovely and they seem so small when they arrive at your table, but they really fill you up. I would recommend coming at a less busy time though.

You could be forgiven if you get lost in the rustic experience of the Gunshop Café and forget you are sitting in an inner city café. The menu is inviting with it’s adventurous combinations of locally sourced faire.
On this occassion I enjoyed breakfast with a large group of workmates. We were well accommodated and our drinks orders were taken and delivered quickly. My coffee was tasty. I ordered the Fruit salad w/​mango and mint sorbet.
My dish was an explosion of flavours which teased my taste buds with sweet and sour contrasts. The mint sorbet was the perfect compliment and the overall portion was generous.
Gunshop Café staff were friendly and helpful.

If this veteran of West End café heritage is anything to go by, the halcyon days of quirky unique dining have truly died (thank god you only have to walk 20 meters to have your faith renewed).
This once great West End institution is starting to feel worn around the edges, trading off its history and not adding anything worthwhile to their repertoire. A dozen years ago, this was one of Brisbane’s best café’s and now it feels like well rehearsed same-​same dining. The coffee like the food feels soulless, top dollar for mid level just isn’t what we are looking for these days. The staff are nice, but it is simply not delivering at the previous level we were used to. Even the signature dishes such as the Canadian Brioche has shrunken down to a diminutive shadow of it’s former self… anyway… enough bitching, this is a coffee review.
The coffee is well enough extracted from Merlo beans and offers a full bodied flavor that you would expect from a fresh brew, but for over $ 5 for a double shot it’s a complete farce. I’d expect that pricing if the beans were individually hand picked from the anus of an exotic relative of the mongoose but not from a roaster two suburbs away, get over yourselves PLEASE!!! If it’s coffee you’re after with some real West End character, you would be better served elsewhere.
I guess the upside to this slow demise is you wont need to queue for a seat like you did a few years ago. The Gun Shop is shooting blanks as far as this reviewer is concerned.

Patience is a virtue. A virtue I lack most days. So lining up for anything, especially breakfast, has meant I’ve often shaken my head at the number of folks lining up for breakfast on a weekend at The Gunshop. Sure it’s a good meal, but to line up for? Different folk, different strokes!
But I digress for this review is not for breakfast. This review is for dinner. In the area one Saturday eve, my group and I were in the mood for something simple and fuss-​free but not take-​away. We tried the Spaghetti House but they were fully booked. We wandered down and were pleasantly surprised to be able to be seated immediately at The Gunshop. A one-​page menu meant decisions were easy to make and in a split second we’d decided upon toasted sourdough with confit garlic and cultured Pepe Saya butter (anything with Pepe Saya gets my vote), house made potato gnocchi with beef + wild mushroom ragout, pinenuts, parsley & shaved grana padano and Tasmanian Clover Creek lamb shoulder tagine served with cous cous, pickled fennel, mint yoghurt, toasted almonds and coriander.
Calm your farm and know that seated in the magical courtyard of this Brisbane stalward one of the best local dinners I’ve had in a long time was placed before me. The flavours were rich but satisfying, the portions perfect to have eaten ample but not feel overwhelmed, the service top notch. It’s casual dining with an affordable price tag without compromising on quality of food.
Gunshop, I’ve misjudged you and that courtyard you’ve got going on is something beautiful. If you’re planning a special ocassion this could just be your spot!