Hugs Brisbane — Restaurant in Brisbane City

Awesome almond croissant and savoury slices. Love the occasional variety of flavours available.

Just tucked away in an innocuous corner of the industrial estate, but a spot known to locals.

I first heard about it in hushed whispers between two men at a cafe, "yeah, the croissants are good, but not as good as Hugs." "hugs?" Replied the other man. "yeah it's down near the Bunnings there. They're the best." And by God that man was right. In my opinion the best croissants in Brisbane.

The are a few drawbacks, but none to do with the quality of the food. It is a bit expensive for the slices and the croissants. The Almond croissant is $12 if I recall correctly. At, say, Lune, which is in South Brisbane (higher rent) from a fairly famous brand (tacking on $ for the premium), providing a menu that's twice as large ($ in food waste), the croissants are $6.60 to $10.20. The idea that an industrial unit in Stafford requires charging 50% more than that is just confusing. And the slices are $16+ if I recall. You're getting into breakfast territory at a cafe, for a single large baked slice.

There is also very limited casual seating if you're waiting for the slices and coffee, or just want to quickly eat them on a small table. The queuing/ waiting situation is a bit uncomfortable. If there's more than 3 people waiting, it gets crowded, and it's hard to hear someone calling your name deep within the shop. You're paying quite a premium, but I can't quite see that the cost matches the...

I’ve come here about a dozen times in the last year or so. I used to love it. The food is very good, but the range is a bit limited. It depends on the luck of timing as to what is available. My main gripe is the slow or nonexistent service. The staff are friendly, but they seem more interested in talking to their friends than service customers and take orders. I’ve had to leave without ordering about 3-4 times now, because of lack of service or lack of decent selection at the time. It’s a small business that can make good stuff, but they don’t seem to be very efficient or commercial. Regardless, I just can’t waste my time trying my luck here anymore. The experience is at best inconsistent. That being said, if you time it well and can be patient, you might be lucky and they have something really good that you’ll like. For me, it no longer makes up for the occasional...

Firstly, I wouldn’t say staff are bounding with energy to serve customers - it was a rather dry experience being served by the older lady.

Unfortunately they had run out of plain croissants (so get there early!) but the spinach and ricotta buddy was super duper delicious. The almond croissant was nothing to cry home about, it may be other people’s cup of tea but it’s more cakey than croissant-y.

The coffee was excellent.

Look, it’s pretty expensive, $10.50 for the almond croissant, but that just seems to be the artisanal bakery landscape at the moment, so can’t really fault them there. It’s similar pricing to Lune, but it’s a small business, so I’m happy to support them.

I would come back to try the...