Outside In Cafe — Restaurant in Brisbane City

Hubby and I went out for a quick lunch recently, and chose Outside In, which is not far from us. Hubby went for the sweet corn and pumpkin fritters, while I chose potato cakes with smoked salmon and poached eggs. He drank a white chocolate milkshake, and I had my usual cappuccino. My coffee went down well - strong, with some cute artwork on top plus chocolate powder - winner! Hubby's shake was "nice and cold", said he. Always a bugbear with him, that the milk is never cold enough, but no worries here. Then came the fritters, and the potato cake (aka The Favourite on the menu). The hash cake (makes me giggle every time I write that) was a little grainy, nicely herby and crispy-browned on the outside. I wasn't sure of the overall flavour? Hubby thought it may have been blue cheese, but on checking the menu I see it was fetta and chive. I was expecting something more like a rosti, but it came as a soft-textured mash/hash (as per the menu - my bad). My eggs were nicely runny (just the way I like 'em); there was zucchini and spinach and a tasty (mustard?) sauce over the top. All up, a fine and tasty lunch. And then a couple of weeks later ... "Let's do lunch!" I urged hubby, so off we trotted to Outside In again. Like every café these days, you order at the counter, and your food is then brought to your table. You can grab yourself some water at the water station, and find your own seat. Cappuccino again for me, while the hubster had a strawberry thickshake this time. (He reminded me here that the lady behind the counter did in fact bring us a carafe of water with glasses.) He went for the sweet potato cakes special of the day. I chose deluxe smashed avo, with beetroot hummus, bacon and fetta. His dish had a generous amount of sliced avo, with two eggs and the dreaded kale. Neither of us are fans of this leaf (cowfeed, my friends, cowfeed) but he said it wasn’t too bad and he scoffed it all down. The sweet potato cake looked a wee bit over-browned and over-crisped for me, but hubby was happy. I loved the beetroot hummus - a little bit chunky/creamy/earthy and a delightful hot pink; eggs once again perfectly runny, nice and crispy bacon, plus smashed avo and dukkah! Not sure what sort of bread it came on, but it did the job. And I think you can say it is a pretty healthy and enjoyable lunch. They do have a beef burger, and a healthy salad, and a goodie bowl with quinoa so you can indulge in the healthy stuff too, if you so desire. You can add extras like smoked salmon, bacon, mushrooms or halloumi to your meals for $4 a pop. And there's coffees, and frappés, and smoothies (spinach anyone?) and teas galore. It has bike racks, and room for kids and dogs, so everyone...

I’ve been a regular customer, but after today, I won’t be coming back. I came in to grab my usual four coffees, and the experience was nothing short of frustrating. After waiting 30 minutes, five random coffees were placed on the table with no explanation. None of them were what I ordered.

When I brought this to the staff’s attention, they were dismissive and rude. They admitted they substituted different drinks because they were out of certain ingredients – without informing me. When I asked for the correct drinks to be remade, they acted like I was the problem.

In the end, I asked for a refund, which they reluctantly gave – but only in cash, even though I originally paid by card. It felt shady, like they didn’t want management to know.

It’s disappointing to see a place I used to enjoy treat customers this way.

Would recommend Husk...

We had a mixed dining experience for breakfast this morning. Positives - orange, ginger and apple juice was lovely; coffees were good temp and soy milk frothed well; atmosphere was quite nice and cushions on chairs was a comfy addition; service was pleasant. Needs improvement - the green smoothie was flavourless, it may as well have just been coconut water; coffees were weak - even my double shot smaller coffee (paid extra) - hubby noted that instead of pouring straight from the machine, they were pouring into shot glasses (why???) so this probably reduced the amount of coffee; fritters needed to get rid of the aioli and serve with a relish for a bit of extra flavour; bacon was too salty, like they had added extra salt...