REVIEW: Brown Dog Cafe



You go get that salted caramel milkshake, Max.

When plans to exercise fall through, it is always best to console yourself with a delicious breakfast. The mid-morning breakfast club, formally known as the early morning yoga club, met at Brown Dog Café in Woolloongabba. Brown Dog Café had been on my list for a little while as I had heard it was a dog friendly place and planned to bring Puppy Cakes, once the weather was cool. But I was happy to go their for a preview.

Nice selection of baked goods.

Brown Dog Café sits on a sun drenched corner, just outside the main café drag of the Logan Road cul-de-sac. It's popular with bicyclers, who come resplendent in their too tight lycra, sharing more about their downstairs mix-ups than I care to see. But don't let that put you off, it's easy to escape the bait shop inside.


Stay cool, indeed. I see you up there, Bud.

Inside is small and very warm, a fact which I'm sure the staff would agree with but stick with me here cos Brown Dog is about to blow my mind. The menu is small as is the kitchen but it's better to do a few things well than a lot of things sucky. Also there are a selection of sandwiches and slices in the cabinet. For drinks, we ordered a Pineapple and Mint Frappe ($7.50) and a Salted Caramel Milkshake ($7.50).

Max! Leave that dog alone!

The pineapple and mint frappe with tangy and fresh, perfect for a warm morning cool down. But here's where things get interesting. Remember 5 sentences ago when I said Brown Dog Café was about to blow my mind? Well here's what they, specifically the milkshake master named Jay, did...

He made me...


See all that ice cream, visible and delicious? Take note, milkshake makers!

...the BEST milkshake EVER. Since starting this blog, I have ordered a milkshake wherever I can and you know, they're always pretty good, cos milk and ice cream is pretty good but Brown Dog Café took it to the next level. Thick? Tick! Ice cream-y? Tick! Sweet but not cloying? Tick! Flavourful? Tick! The best milkshake this side of Pashen Street? Ti-freaking-ck! In fact, I have decided to start a ranking of the best milkshakes I've had and Brown Dog is going right on top. Check out my ranking here.

The Dogs Breakfast...lucky dog.

From there my hopes were pretty high for the meals. First up, we ordered the Dog's Breakfast ($13)which comes with haloumi, avocado, lemon, spinach, tomato and toast, but my dining companion swapped out the toast and tomato for ham instead. The modified meal looked incredibly appealing and would make any haloumi lover happy. There was a good amount of avocado. Personally, I would have wanted some toast but no carbs before marbs and all that. The diner did say it was a little salty but given the combo of both ham and haloumi, she accepted that might be expected. Am I rhyming?

Scrambled eggs. Dang that buttery toast looks good.

Next up was the Free Range Scrambled Eggs on Toast ($9) which did exactly what it said on the box. The eggs were fluffy and the toast was toast! This was a straight up, simple dish and for $9, I think it looked pretty good. When pushed, the consumer said she thought it would have been nice to have some "green stuff" on the plate but we all agreed that it didn't say that on the menu so there wasn't anything to complain about.

Yummy avo on toast!

I ordered the Avocado and Lemon on Turkish Toast for $9. Again, it was straight forward and simple. And delicious! I would like to know where they got their avocados from as the were so creamy and unblemished by any dark spots. The toast was nice, crisp and buttery. It was a nice size too and I was very satisfied.


Will you look at that sky! Gorgeous, Brisbane!

For the quality, simple fare, I'm a big fan of Brown Dog Café. The endearing Jay and his milkshake prowess are reason enough to visit. Puppy Cakes and I will have to come and visit together soon!

Food: 4/5
Service: 4/5
Price: 4/5
Atmosphere: 3/5