The Smug Fig

THE SMUG FIG HAS DEPARTED FROM EAST BRISBANE IN 2021 AND HAS A NEW HOME IN STONES CORNER.

The Smug Fig is a gorgeous garden café that shares its leafy East Brisbane corner with a nursery, antique store and fashion and accessories shop.

The Smug Fig premises, which in the past have been home to chef Gillian Hirst’s café and The Secret Garden Café, have been given a cool makeover, with the high-ceilinged garden shed opened up to the spacious courtyard and walls decorated with some funky artworks. 

By the entrance, a blue shipping container serves as both coffee kiosk to passers-by and the place for customers to place their food orders, keeping things streamlined service-wise.

The food menu comprised an All-Day Brunch, and all of the dishes are positively top-notch in both taste and presentation.

For something a bit more substantial, there’s Pig and Potato (American-style potato hash, pulled pork, smoky BBQ sauce, smoked salt and fried egg, the Breadless Benny (potato and beetroot fritter, free range eggs, thick cut leg ham and seeded mustard mayonnaise) or BAE (free-range eggs your way, bacon and multigrain sourdough).

For the works, go for the Smug Fig Brekkie – eggs, bacon, chorizo, balsamic roast tomato, potato hash and multigrain sourdough, or for something sweet, try the weekly French Toast or Rice pudding Waffles.

It’s the little touches that stand out at The Smug Fig, like the heavenly house-made potato hash and tomato relish, the tomato roasted in garlic and balsamic, the chorizo in lieu of sausage.

Coffee here is excellent and other drinks include tea, hot chocolate, chai late, babychino, fruit juices or soft drinks.

Note that some menu items may have changed since this review.