my brother-in-law had come up from the northern rivers for work one day and had proposed getting some breakfast out before he went there one day. well, knowing me there is only one answer to that suggestion - and then i had a great meal here. looking around a particular area, which was near the north of the brisbane cbd/spring hill area where he lived. seeing a high mark on the map (as of 17/2/2016), that intrigued him and it turned out to be scout. it was settled to be that one. waking up early in the morning, which i have now made a habit of doing, it was off to here for a good breakfast.
scout is a bit further down the road from the main area of petrie terrace - that is around the stadium - standing on its lonesome on such a busy main road. across from it is a small park, it is on the corner of a hill road and has the outlay of an old corner store. apparently it stood empty for so many years, and now it is a darling among the locals. in saying that, it absolutely deserves that status.
it has taken the route of being minimalistic with its interior, having exposed brick walls and making as much room as they could inside. there are a few homely aspects to it which make you feel relaxed, such as using a store-brought fridge, a couple of stools at the counter, using blackboards to write specials and some menu items, plus the general relaxed feeling. it was open plan, with a lot of throughflow of wind. for bigger groups, there was a backroom with a larger table. a good way to sum it up quickly is that they have gone for the rustic feel.
a bit here and there, they have a great standard of service. the women were very friendly, quite humble, and knew the ergonomics of hospitality quite well. you are looked after a lot here.
the menu is one that will always be changing, so whatever is underneath the menu section of this website could already be outdated (for example, the menu was totally different to when i went as it was on this website as of writing). that gives it a bit of an edge since it will promise fans of the place will always be returning to try the new selection. even so, they are really inventive and innovative with their menu: expected some kind of twist on french toast for example, or a big breakfast that mixes the idea up. there might be a chowder, or a cassoulet - it is a lucky dip. really, anything goes for that time of day.
getting to lunch or anything outside of breakfast, it is more of the basics. there is a range of sandwiches, bagels and salads, plus a dessert cabinet. the idea is still there to be inventive and creative with what they have got, using all kinds of seasonal and local produce to create distinct concoctions each time.
the business started as business does in the usual way, with getting the coffees out of the way first. they had a single origin blend and a house blend available. they seemed a lot keen on offering the single origin, and saying it was from ethiopia is enough for me to fall for it. the blend was a chelelectu, a coffee that is lighter roast so no jolt here. it has more of a floral consistency with a citrus note. give about two years ago, this would be lost on me and now i can truly appreciate it. the serving temperature was not too hot, so it got finished quickly.
this is the brother-in-law we are talking about with eating out. the two of us are 100% into the sharing, and that means the instance the meals are set down on the table, swapping items around begins in order to get a bit of everything. that is just how i like it.
the item that i had was "scout's honour", or a version of the big breakfast - often a huge winner going out. this consisted of two slices of heavily buttered sourdough toast, some kaiser bacon, two fried eggs, a few pork and maple sausages, some roast garlic mushrooms, a couple of cherry tomatoes and a bit of cheesy potato bake. you can throw away your trendy healthy-eating out; this is the kind of meal i live for when dining out.
and it was as every bit tasty as it sounds. the bits of bacon were pretty thick; they reminded me of something in between pork belly and a pork chop. they were flavoursome, and the cooking reminded me of something that would come out of german cuisine. the sausages were small, and had a mild flavour in comparison. as with the mushrooms, they were just the right length of being cooked getting the cooked flavour out of the flesh without loosing their texture as a result. the cherry tomatoes were plump and juicy, just how they should be plus the potato bake was such a great addition and a surprise - sliced thinly with some cheese mixed in it. and with the buttered toast, you could almost feel the butter coming out of your pores just as much as you could taste it. and to me, that is a good thing. this totalled to one of the tastiest and most robust breakfasts that i have had out in ages.
my brother-in-law went to order a breakfast salad. this salad consisted of kaiser bacon lardons, peas, edamame, cherry tomatoes, goat's curd, poached egg and spinach. in getting a bit of this, i got say it was not too bad either. the goat's curd mixed through it acted well as a dressing and its presence was there throughout the salad. in it, the bacon was crispy and the peas and edamame adding a mixture of tastes and flavours to it to keep it interesting. something fresh, something with flavour, this was one time i was not underwhelmed by salad.
another aspect about the brother-in-law is that he can always wedge in some desert. looking into the cabinet, there was not an awful lot that did tickle his fancy; he has got given into the raw nor vegan nor gluten free which summed up the brunt of the offerings. about the only one that stood out was a peanut butter brownie, so i went up and got a couple of them plus a second round of coffees. my one was the same as the first. this brownie was okay. if it didn't have the title of "peanut butter" it would have been perfectly fine, but with the name in it i could not detect any taste of peanut butter in there. still, a good brownie still does not find complaints from me.
there are not many places that i will say are absolutely worthy of their reputation, but this one is one of those exceptions to the rule. while it definitely delivered on having its own identity, giving a damn about the produce it gives to the customers, along with using the hipster themed "minimalism" look to the design (which i did like if it weren't obvious), what truly made it great was that it did not abandon the concept of really tasty and filling food. for that alone, it is one of the highlights of the brisbane dining scene.