Last year we called 2023 Brisbane’s year of the sandwich. But 2024’s best new bakeries and cafes are much more diverse. Sure, there’s still a sandwich spot included and two bakeries serving Italian pastries and panini, but most of these exciting new spots draw from Asian influences. Three venues are influenced by Japanese flavours, serving sandos, soba and onigiri. Snug, one of the year’s biggest success stories, serves comforting Korean-accented food. Up the M1, there's a spot serving regional Thai dishes that's worth the drive. All the food on offer here is balanced, sophisticated, moreish and decidedly grown up.

Here, in alphabetical order, are the best new cafes and bakeries in Brisbane of 2024.

In 2000 Daniel Chirico helped kickstart Melbourne’s modern wave of cult local bakeries. Now, Chirico has opened the first branch of his eponymous bakery outside his home city, in Newstead. Chirico himself has also made the move north to make sure the bakery can really rise to the occasion. The opening took place in October, six years after Chirico signed the lease. The space is all speckled terrazzo marble and brass-rimmed tables, with a high, curved ceiling covered in wooden slats designed to evoke the gentle curve of a croissant. Queues of carb lovers snake out of the bakery’s door waiting for the sourdough loaves that have earned Chirico praise from Neil Perry and Heston Blumenthal. Sweets include custard-filled bomboloni and cannoli. Savoury options include panini; calzones; and a standout potato, caramelised onion and bechamel danish.

Since opening in May there has rarely been a day when there hasn’t been a line out the door of Cerin Pasticceria. Co-owners Giuseppe Caputo and Matteo Cerin – from Turin and Vicenza respectively – took over the former Baker’s Arms space and turned it into a hub for the local Italian community. It churns out 230 cornetti a day (crowd favourites include a traditional vanilla custard and roasted pistachio). There are also fluffy maritozzi (chocolate-coated brioche buns filled with whipped cream); Nutella-filled bomboloni; fruit tarts; and ricotta cannoli. Savoury items include a carbonara-inspired danish, focaccia sandwiches and pizza by the slice.

Ask Kyoto native Minekazu Hirayama (ex-Florence Cafe and Cavalier Coffee Roasters) why he’s opened a cafe dedicated to pour-over coffee, and he gives a straightforward answer: “I love pour-over. But good pour-over is expensive, and I don’t understand [why].” His new cafe, Kimino rotates through some of his favourite Japanese roasters, including Kyoto’s Weekenders Coffee, Osaka’s Aoma and Coffee County from Fukuoka prefecture. There are also selections from Hirayama’s former employer, Cavalier, including a custom espresso blend. Baked goods are made in-house and include Hirayama’s signature sable cookies filled with buttercream and rum-soaked raisins, as well as canelés and financiers. There are also toasties on shokupan bread.

Technically this spot is in the Sunshine Coast. But it’s more than worth the drive. The casual 24-seat cafe is run by Adam Muscat and his southern Thai-born wife Patcharin “Ying” Samila. Muscat worked at Sydney’s Longrain alongside renowned chefs Louis Tikaram and Martin Boetz, before a stint at Michelin-starred restaurant Paste. He later joined Tikaram to open EP & LP in Los Angeles. The pair’s Maroochydore restaurant specialises in khao soi (egg noodles served in creamy coconut curry sauce with braised meat topped with crispy deep-fried egg noodles). Diners can customise it with pickled mustard greens, red shallot, coriander, lime and chilli oil. While the noodles alone are worth the drive up the M1, it’s not the only dish worth ordering. There’s also som tum (papaya salad), sai ua (grilled northern Thai sausage) and beef brisket massaman. And khua kling moo, a dry curry of house-minced pork shoulder, made with Samila’s mother’s recipe, with loads of lemongrass and makrut lime leaf.

Marty Coard bakes all of Sarni’s bread in-house: focaccia, ciabatta and a Japanese milk bread. He opened the bright blue cafe with Hugo Hirst (who he worked with at Suburban Social) and Noam Lissner and Mat Drummond, who co-own Ach Wine Bar with Coard. The foursome had long bonded over their love for sandwiches. Their passion is clear with combos such as smoked beef brisket with beef-fat-mayo and celeriac remoulade; lamb souvlaki with tzatziki, peppers and balsamic onions; and smoked mortadella with ’nduja cream cheese and pesto. Just like fellow new cafe Snug, they have plans to open Sarni in the evenings (once their liquor licence comes through). The evening offering will include small plates, steak, a concise wine list, a few cocktails and a couple of beers, including a lager brewed by Hirst.

After opening the original Shiro in Southport last year, Kobe-born Kei Okamoto has brought onigiri and Japanese-leaning gelato to the city. There are 12 onigiri packed tightly with spicy tuna; chicken mince with marinated egg; shallots with miso and citrus chilli paste; or salmon wrapped in imported seaweed from Japan. Nine flavours of gelato include yuzu chocolate, miso caramel, Hokkaido milk and black sesame. Shiro’s signature is gelato wrapped in mochi, known as daifuku. There’s also warabi mochi – a jelly-like confection coated in soybean flour, matcha or chocolate. The combination of Japanese-style gelato and onigiri appeals to office workers after a quick, affordable lunch option, as well as those looking for something sweet or a late-night dessert.

Co-owners (and couple) Leaham Claydon and Jianne Jeoung met while working at Yoko and Greca respectively. This year they opened an olive green spot that’s both snug by name and by nature. Coffee is St Ali’s Wide Awake blend, a dark roast with “full-on chocolate and caramel notes, with not a lot of acidity,” according to Jeong. The cafe’s biggest drawcard is its Korean-inspired brunch menu. “We don’t want to do full-blown Korean food, but we want to incorporate some ingredients. It’s more about [giving Snug] a Korean personality,” says Claydon. Comforting brunch dishes include scrambled egg brioche sandwiches, and prawn-topped omurice. There’s a twist on Korean corn cheese with artichokes and provolone. And duck leg terrine with mandarin that you wrap in sesame and roasted seaweed and eat with your hands. There are house-baked soft pretzels, and salty butter rolls. The seasonal soup of the day is one of Brisbane’s best. Snug is now also one of Brisbane’s best bars with its evening service of wines and snacks.

Brothers Tze-Huei and Chewie Choo opened croque hot spot James & Antler in October 2023. This year they bid adieu to French fare to focus on Japanese at lunchtime sando spot Supernova. There are classics like the chicken katsu sando, and the tomago sando with Japanese soft egg, chive and mayo. The pork sando is pork cutlet tonkatsu with sweet barbeque sauce. Less conventional options include spicy tuna (canned tuna and togarashi pepper), and the Supersando – a $75 Wagyu beef, caviar and gold-leaf extravaganza. Sandos share the limelight with soba dishes served in a miso and shoyu broth, which come solo or with proteins such as tuna, beef tataki, vegetable tempura or crispy-skinned barramundi. There’s coffee, ceremonial-grade matcha, hojicha, and a trendy strawberry matcha latte with a dash of Yakult and a fresh strawberry mix.

Additional reporting by Elliot Baker, Kit Kreitwaldt and Becca Wang.